HONOLULU – In a battle of two of the hottest teams in the Pacific West Conference, it was the Chaminade University men's basketball team who survived in the end.
The Silverswords on Monday, secured a 72-68 win in overtime on Monday over Biola at McCabe Gymnasium, giving them their fifth victory in their last six contests.
Isaac Amaral-Artharee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic) had a game-high 22 points, giving him 1,200 in his career, just the 12th player in program history to reach the 1,200-point plateau, while hauling in six rebounds.
Braden Olsen (West Linn, Ore./Gannon University/West Linn HS) added 20 with team-highs of seven boards and four assists.
Chaminade which earlier in the day was named the PacWest Team of the Week, improved to 10-9 overall, putting them over .500 for the first time since Nov. 29. They are also 5-6 in the PacWest, moving them in a tie with Dominican University of California for sixth place in the conference. The top six teams in the standings at the end of the regular season earn a berth into the PacWest Championships which will be played on the Silverswords' home floor in early March.
Biola saw its four-game winning streak halted, falling to 11-6 overall and 6-4 in the PacWest. Daniel Esparza led the Eagles with 21 points, playing 44 of a possible 45 minutes.
Raazhel Watkins (Concord, Calif./Sacramento State/College Park HS) had 14 points in the win with
Ross Reeves (Orem, Utah/Snow College/Orem HS) adding nine points.
Neither team was able to take early control in the first 16 minutes of the game, with the largest lead held by the Eagles at 15-10 midway through the first half. But the 'Swords managed to get buckets from
Scott Ator (Murphy, Texas/College of the Sequoias/Wylie HS) and Watkins to end the first half, helping Chaminade take a 33-25 edge at the break.
Chaminade took the game's first double-digit lead on a jumper from Amaral-Artharee on the opening possession of the second half at 35-25 and eventually led 48-36 with 13:36 left in the game. But Biola went on a 15-7 run over the next six minutes, pulling within 57-55.
Tied at 57-all, Olsen stuck a put-back with 48 seconds left but Alex Wright countered with a layup on Biola's next possession which sent the game into overtime, marking the second time in the last three meetings at McCabe Gym where the game went into extra sessions (the last being in January 2019 which lasted four overtimes, won by Biola).
Olsen's triple on the opening possession of OT put the 'Swords up but Maximo Milovich countered with a layup which put the Eagles up, 63-62. Amaral-Artharee answered with a 15-foot baseline jumper to give Chaminade a 64-63 advantage with 2:13 remaining. Biola twice got to within a deuce but the 'Swords would hold them off, sinking all eight of their free throws in the final 33 seconds to pull out the win.
Chaminade shot 37.9 percent in the game and 6-of-24 from 3-point range, which included just 1-of-14 in the second half. However, they also made 16-of-19 from the line with 35 rebounds and nine assists.
The Eagles shot at a 44.1 percent clip, making 4-of-15 from long range. However, they hurt themselves making just 4-of-14 from the free throw line. Biola had 46 rebounds with 13 turnovers.
The Silverswords will wrap up their seven-game home stand Friday when they face second-place Azusa Pacific at McCabe Gym. The Cougars are 7-2 in the conference with both losses coming to conference-leading Point Loma. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
