FRESNO, Calif. – When the Chaminade University men's basketball team defeated Point Loma in San Diego on Jan. 20, little did anyone know the directions both teams were headed in the weeks that followed.
The Silverswords would lose their next nine contests while the Sea Lions rolled to an 11-game winning streak including a win over Chaminade nine days later, en-route to capturing the Pacific West Conference regular season title.
In Wednesday's rubber game at the PacWest Championships at the Special Event Center, the 'Swords were hoping for more of what happened in the first meeting. However Point Loma continued its momentum by defeating Chaminade, 74-60, in the tournament's first round.
The Silverswords, who were the No. 8-seed in the temporarily expanded PacWest Championships (from six teams), ended their season at 9-18.
Point Loma extended its winning streak to 12 and improved to 21-8. The Sea Lions will face Academy of Art in a Friday semifinal.
All-PacWest Third Team honoree
Isaac Amaral-Artharee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic) led the 'Swords with 17 points.
Zach McIntire (Delaware, Ohio/Mercyhurst University/Delaware Hayes HS), who also was named to the conference third team on Tuesday, finished his one-year CUH career with 15 points and five rebounds.
Raazhel Watkins (Concord, Calif./Sacramento State/College Park HS) chipped in with 13 points and five assists with
Paris Taylor (Bolivar, Tenn./University of Wisconsin Green Bay/Central HS) adding six points and five boards.
Conference player of the year Kaden Anderson had 19 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Sea Lions.
Watkin's 3-pointer opened the game's scoring but the 'Swords missed their next five shots, allowing PLNU to go up, 6-3. McIntire's wing jumper at the 16-minute mark got them back to within 6-5.
The Sea Lions went on a 13-0 run over the next six minutes before Amaral-Artharee's floater at 10:13 ended the streak. That began a 7-0 'Swords run that got them back to 19-12 with 8:42 remaining in the half.
However, a 23-5 run over the next six minutes put the Sea Lions up, 42-17, to help spring them to a 44-22 halftime lead.
The Silverswords still showed a lot of fight in the second half, cutting the deficit down to 15 with just under five minutes left on
Joseph Smoyer's (Portland, Ore./Columbia University/Franklin HS) dunk but it proved to be too little, too late, ending the 'Swords hope to pull out the first major upset of the tournament
Chaminade shot 41.1 percent in the game, making 7-of-17 from 3-point range while pulling down 30 rebounds with seven assists.
Although Point Loma entered the evening as the PacWest's most efficient 3-point shooting team, they made just 9-of-34 triples in the game for 26.5 percent, well-below its 39.4 season percentage. However, the Sea Lions shot 51.5 percent from the floor, pulled down 40 boards and dished out 17 assists.
The 'Swords managed to outscore PLNU, 38-30, in the second half, shot over 48 percent and held the Sea Lions to just 11-of-29 from the field including just 2-of-11 from downtown. They also forced seven turnovers to committing just four in the final 20 minutes.
Chaminade will serve as hosts of next year's PacWest Championships at McCabe Gymnasium set for March 2-4, 2023.
