HONOLULU – Despite the Chaminade University men's basketball team getting the eighth and final berth into next week's Pacific West Conference Championships thanks to Holy Names' loss at Concordia University Irvine 24 hours earlier, there was a lot of unfinished business left to take care of.
For one, the Silverswords were seeking to gain much needed momentum for next week by snapping their nine-game losing streak, the program's longest since 1997.
Secondly, they wanted to redeem themselves after seeing in-city rival Hawai'i Pacific University snap a 16-game losing streak – in front of the McCabe Gymnasium crowd on the 'Swords' Senior Night, no less.
Chaminade did all of that Sunday as they ended their slide and reversed the role at The Shark Tank with their much-needed 61-52 win on HPU's Senior Day.
But the 'Swords still had to sweat out the final outcome as their 16-point second-half lead was whittled down to four with just under a minute left.
Isaac Amaral-Artharee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic) had a game-high 15 points for the Chaminade which improved to 9-17 overall and 7-13 in the conference.
Zach McIntire (Delaware, Ohio/Mercyhurst University/Delaware Hayes HS) added 14 and two blocks while
Raazhel Watkins (Concord, Calif./Sacramento State/College Park HS) came off the bench with 12 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Elijah Martinez had 13 points for HPU, which ended its season at 5-22 and 2-18 in the conference.
Chaminade opened on a 15-5 run to start and led by as many as 21-8 at the 7-minute mark.
Joseph Smoyer (Portland, Ore./Columbia University/Franklin HS) had a monster first half on the glass, pulling down 10 of his career-high 12 rebounds in the first 12-and-a-half minutes alone. The 'Swords owned a double-digit lead for most of the final 7:30 of the first half with a 29-17 edge at halftime.
Chaminade maintained its double-digit advantage for much of the second half, taking its largest lead of 16 of 39-23 with 15 minutes remaining. The 'Swords led 52-42 with 1:25 left but a technical foul led to four HPU free throws which gave them a glimmer of hope. Then 3-pointers by Jackson Young and Colton Martin, the latter coming with 52 seconds left, got the home fans in a frenzy.
However, McIntire hit the first of two free throws while an offensive board in his second missed shot led to his flush which put CUH up 59-52. Amaral-Artharee sealed it with two foul shots for the game's final margin.
Chaminade made 23-of-59 shots and 10-of-14 free throws while Hawai'i Pacific was 19-for-73 from the field. Both team had five triples but the 'Swords dominated on the boards, 54-to-38, and dished out 15 assists to HPU's seven. Amaral-Artharee had six helpers, a new career high which he set Friday at Hawai'i Hilo.
The Silverswords, who will be making a record seventh appearance in the PacWest Championships, will face regular season champion Point Loma in the final first-round game on Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. Pacific (5:15 Hawaiian Standard).
Tickets will be sold online only at this
link. Masks will be required inside Fresno Pacific's Special Events Center.
