HONOLULU – The Chaminade University men's basketball team was looking to finish the Hoops in Hawai'i Holiday Classic presented by Outrigger Resorts and Hotels as lone tournament undefeated
Instead, a slow start in Monday's final day to Simon Fraser University proved too much to overcome in the Silverswords' 74-69 defeat at the Hawai'i Convention Center. The 'Swords found themselves down 8-0 in the opening minutes and trailed by as many as 16 in the first half.
Ross Reeves (Orem, Utah/Snow College/Orem HS) scored a game-high 20 points with four 3-pointers as the 'Swords fell to 5-7 on the season.
Jalen Brattain (Shallowater, Texas/Lubbock Christian Univ./Shallowater HS) was the only other Silversword to reach the double-digit scoring ledger with 10 points.
Raazhel Watkins (Concord, Calif./Sacramento State/College Park HS) and
Isaac Amaral-Artharee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic) had nine and eight, respectively.
The Silverswords joined Emmanuel University, Saint Martin's, Simon Fraser and Texas-Permian Basin with 2-1 records in the round-robin tournament.
Chaminade suffered its first-ever defeat at the Hawai'i Convention Center, falling to 5-1 all-time in the building. The Silverswords previously won the 2018 D2 Power Invitational, the Hoops in Hawai'i's previous incarnation, which was a traditional eight-team tournament format, and captured the first two games of the current event.
Georges Lefebvre, a 6-foot-8 big man, had 17 points for the Red Leafs (5-6) in the victory.
Amaral-Artharee, Brattain and
Scott Ator (Murphy, Texas/College of the Sequoias/Wylie HS) were Chaminade's high rebounders, each pulling down five while Watkins dished out a team-best three assists.
Chaminade got off to a ragged start, missing its first six shots as SFU tallied the game's first eight points. The 'Swords faced their first double-digit deficit, 17-6, at the 13:35 mark and twice, trailed by 16, the last at 29-13 with just under eight minutes remaining in the half.
Reeves help Chaminade get back on track with five straight points with a pair of Watkins free throws got them back to single digits. A 3-pointer from
Dorian Harris (Cerritos, Calif./Cerritos College/Cerritos HS) and Reeves' layup to beat the first-half buzzer would draw them to 37-30 at halftime.
Braden Olsen (West Linn, Ore./Gannon University/West Linn HS) opened the second half scoring by knocking down his only triple of the game which drew the 'Swords to within four. But Chaminade could never get past that four-point differential as Simon Fraser continually countered with scores of its own.
With two minutes left, SFU led 69-61 but Chaminade made a final push. Reeves hit a pair of buckets and Watkins hit a pair of foul shots to make it a 70-67 game with 32 seconds left. But David Penney hit all four of his free throw attempts down the stretch to maintain a two-possession lead inside of the final 27 seconds.
Chaminade finished at a 39.3 percent field goal clip, was 8-of-22 from the 3-point arc and made 13 of its 18 free throws. The 'Swords pulled down 30 rebounds, dished out 12 assists and committed just nine turnovers.
Simon Fraser shot at a 50 percent clip with seven made 3s. They had 41 rebounds, 15 assists and 13 giveaways.
Reeves was named to the all-tournament first team after totaling 63 points and 11 triples while shooting 53.3 percent (24-of-45) from the field during the tournament. Amaral-Artharee was selected to the second team with totals of 53 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists while making nine 3s.
The Silverswords will take the mandated NCAA Division II Christmas week off and return to Pacific West Conference action on Saturday, Dec. 2 at the University of Hawai'i Hilo. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
