HONOLULU – Not many teams have a chance to redeem themselves after suffering a defeat on Senior Night on their home floor. For the Chaminade University men's basketball team, they had that chance with Fresno Pacific in town for a makeup of the Jan. 6 contest that was postponed due to health and safety protocols.
However, the Silverswords were not able erase to Friday's defeat to previously conference winless Hawai'i Pacific University, suffering a 65-60 loss to the Sunbirds in the team's official home finale of the 2021-22 season at McCabe Gymnasium.
Isaac Amaral-Artharee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic) paced the 'Swords with 17 points while
Zach McIntire (Delaware, Ohio/Mercyhurst University/Delaware Hayes HS), playing in final home game, added 12 and seven rebounds.
The loss – Chaminade's first-ever home defeat to FPU in eight games – dropped them to 8-16 overall and 6-12 in the Pacific West Conference. It was their eighth consecutive defeat, the program's longest losing streak against non-Division I opponents since the 1997-98 team which also dropped eight straight.
Jelani Watson-Gayle led Fresno Pacific (16-7, 10-6 PacWest) with a game-high 22 points, avenging the Dec. 17 loss in Fresno.
Despite the setback, the Silverswords are still in the driver's seat for the eighth and final spot in next month's PacWest Championships in Fresno. Their magic number (combination of CUH wins to opponent losses) over Holy Names remains at three after the Hawks upset Hawai'i Hilo earlier in the afternoon while their number against Dominican is two after the Penguins lost at home to HPU. HNU still has four games left while DUC has three. HPU is still in contention but a Sharks loss in one of its last four games will eliminate them.
Paris Taylor (Bolivar, Tenn./University of Wisconsin Green Bay/Central HS) had eight points,
Tredyn Christensen (Eagle Mountain, Utah/Snow College/Westlake HS) had four assists while
Kevin Kremer (Chico, Calif./University of Utah/Pleasant Valley HS) had five points and six boards. All three came off the bench.
Joseph Smoyer (Portland, Ore./Columbia University/Franklin HS) had four points and three rebounds in his final home game.
Although every Silversword who saw court-time got into the scoring ledger, the team never led in the game.
FPU raced out to a 14-4 lead five minutes into the game but CUH answered with seven straight to get them back to within 14-11. The Sunbirds would expand their lead to as many as nine but an 11-2 'Swords' run capped by a steal and breakaway layup by
Raazhel Watkins (Concord, Calif./Sacramento State/College Park HS) cut the deficit to 33-30 at halftime.
But like they did in the first half, Fresno Pacific had a quick start in the second, building its lead to 44-34. Chaminade would twice get to within three, the last at 47-44. However the Sunbirds went on a 13-4 run, capped by a corner triple from A.J. Kirby with 7:41 left to give them their largest lead at 60-48 to which the 'Swords never recovered.
The 'Swords finished with a 36.8 shooting percentage with 39 rebounds, 10 assists and 12 giveaways. The Sunbirds shot 46.3 percent and, although made just 7-of-13 free throws, countered it with eight 3-pointers. They also had 35 boards, 13 assists to 14 turnovers.
The Silverswords will get the next 12 days off and will next be in action on Friday, Feb. 25 at UH Hilo.
