OAKLAND, Calif. – Monday was one of the most epic rallies by the Chaminade University men's basketball team.
But two scores by Holy Names inside of 10 seconds, the last coming with 1.9 seconds remaining, left the Silverswords in disbelief in their 92-91 loss Monday at Tobin Gymnasium.
Austin Carter hit the game-winning layup, getting behind the Chaminade defense as Dimiri Lindo made a perfect pass inside the lane on a full-sprint to help the Hawks pull out an improbable win.
The Silverswords rallied from a 21-point first half deficit but couldn't get a defensive stop when they needed it the most. The loss also spoiled a milestone evening for guard
Isaac Amaral-Artharee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic), who became just the 18th member in program history to reach 1,000 career points.
The redshirt junior, who is in his second year of graduate school but still has one more year of athletic eligibility remaining, needed just nine points entering Monday to reach the millennium mark. Amaral-Artharee got 11, giving him 1,002 in his career.
Ross Reeves (Orem, Utah/Snow College/Orem HS) had a game-high 26 points and six rebounds for Chaminade, which lost its third straight in falling to 3-5 on the season and 1-3 in the Pacific West Conference.
Braden Olsen (West Linn, Ore./Gannon University/West Linn HS) added 20.
Chris Bready (Milwaukee, Wis./New Mexico Military Institute/Waukesha West HS) came off the bench and had a season-high 15 points, hitting four 3-pointers, all in the second half.
Olsen, Reeves and Amaral-Artharee also dished out four assists each as the Silverswords lost their second straight in Tobin Gym which also marked Chaminade's final game in the facility where they are 5-3 all-time there.
Dale Currie led Holy Names (4-6, 1-2 PacWest) with 21 points.
Holy Names put on a track meet in the first half, hitting 22-of-34 shots with a whopping 54 points, nearly half (28) coming on transition layups with seven 3-pointers. Meanwhile the 'Swords couldn't get a shot to drop, making just 12 of their 31 attempts. A 14-0 run midway through the half gave HNU its largest lead of 21 (36-15) at the 9:44 mark.
Things got so out of hand for the 'Swords, they burned all three of their 30-second timeouts in the first 10 minutes and stayed at their bench at halftime trailing 54-37, not even entering the locker room. The only positive news was Amaral-Artharee getting his 1,000th point on a layup with three minutes left.
Chaminade showed signs of life in the second half with Olsen,
Raazhel Watkins (Concord, Calif./Sacramento State/College Park HS) and
Scott Ator (Murphy, Texas/College of the Sequoias/Wylie HS) combining for all of the 'Swords points in a 9-1 run in the first 2 minutes, 30 seconds which cut the deficit to single digits.
After HNU got its lead to 63-49, the 'Swords scored 12 unanswered with Reeves getting eight during the surge to bring the deficit to just two. The home team managed to extend its lead back to double-digits at 82-72 with 5:18 left. Olsen's triple was followed by two treys from Bready then Amaral-Artharee's layup made it a one-point game at 84-83. After a Hawks' miss,
Jalen Brattain (Shallowater, Texas/Lubbock Christian Univ./Shallowater HS) put the 'Swords ahead on a layup. The lead changed hands twice more before two Olsen free throws with 14 seconds left put the Silverswords up, 91-88.
The Hawks then drove the length of the court for a layup by Lindo to get to within a point. After an HNU foul, the 'Swords had a chance to go back up by three, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw opportunity with seven seconds left. Lindo snagged the rebound, raced to Hawks' end where Carter slipped past two defenders in the lane and delivered the assist that led to the game-winning basket.
The second half was a complete reversal of the first with the Silverswords shooting a mind-numbing 21-of-27 (77.8 percent) and seven triples while holding the Hawks to 44.4 and only three from outside the arc.
Chaminade finished with a 56.9 percent shooting percentage with 10 3-pointers, 27 rebounds and 13 assists. The 'Swords finished, however, with just two offensive rebounds. Holy Names shot at a 54.3 percent clip and also hit 10 triples with 30 boards and 20 assists.
The Silverswords will end the road trip Wednesday at Dominican University of California. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. Hawai'i time.
