HONOLULU – The Chaminade University men's basketball team closed out their seven-game home stand on Friday by dropping an 84-70 decision to Azusa Pacific at McCabe Gymnasium.
Isaac Amaral-Artharee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic) had 19 points for the Silverswords while
Ross Reeves (Orem, Utah/Snow College/Orem HS) added 15 more and three assists. Chaminade fell to 10-10 overall and 5-7 in the Pacific West Conference, dropping them into a tie for sixth-place with Dominican University of California.
The defeat was a sour end to the home stand for the 'Swords, who had entered Friday having won five of their last six, including four of the five PacWest games, to get them back into contention for one of the six spots in March's PacWest Championships which will be held at McCabe Gym.
Conversely, it was a big W for the Cougars who entered the game on a three-game losing streak and their first two games of their Hawai'i trip which included being upset on Wednesday to Hawai'i Pacific University.
Hayden Gray had 22 points for Azusa Pacific while Justin Hemsley, who began his college career just down the road at the University of Hawai'i, had 10 points and 11 rebounds. The wire-to-wire win improved APU to 13-6 on the season and into third in the PacWest at 8-4. APU has also won the last four meetings in the series and six of the last eight.
Scott Ator (Murphy, Texas/College of the Sequoias/Wylie HS) and
Braden Olsen (West Linn, Ore./Gannon University/West Linn HS) each added 10 points for Chaminade with Ator pulling down a team-best eight boards. Olsen had six rebounds and three assists.
APU wasted no time, hitting its first two shots of the game and opening up a 10-2 lead. Olsen accounted for four straight points to help the 'Swords get to within 12-10 but a 31-10 Coogs run over a near 10-minute span built their lead to 46-23 with two minutes remaining. Their deficit was at 24 until Amaral-Artharee splashed a 3-pointer at the end of the first half to make it a 50-29 APU lead.
After the teams traded a series of baskets in the first three minutes of the second half, Reeves and Amaral-Artharee accounted for all of Chaminade's points during a 7-0 run which got them to within 58-44 but APU countered with an 11-0 run which took the wind out of the 'Swords' sails. Chaminade would get no closer than 14 for the rest of the game.
The 'Swords shot just 39.4 percent from the floor, making just 5-of-20 from long range and 17 of their 23 free throws. They grabbed 31 rebounds with 11 assists.
Azusa Pacific 47.1 in the game and knocked down 13 triples. The Cougars owned the boards with 44 total rebounds including 15 on the offensive end which resulted in a 21-5 figure in second-chance points.
The Silverswords will now embark on a crucial five-game, 13-day road trip which takes them to Southern California which could very well determine if they will be on the McCabe Gym floor in early March. The trip begins Wednesday at conference-leading and nationally-ranked Point Loma which defeated Chaminade at McCabe on Jan. 7.
