SAN DIEGO – The first time the Chaminade University men's basketball team faced Point Loma this season, the outcome was decided on the final shot.
The rematch, however, had a much different outcome.
The Silverswords opened their 12-day, five-game road trip to Southern California on Wednesday with a 107-61 loss to the nationally-ranked and Pacific West Conference-leading Sea Lions at Golden Gymnasium.
Point Loma, ranked No. 13 in the NABC Coaches Top 25 Poll and 12th in the D2SIDA Media Poll, made its first seven shots, including three 3-pointers, in the game's opening six minutes to pull away midway through the first half.
It was in stark contrast to the meeting on Jan. 7 in Honolulu, where the 'Swords missed the game-winning shot with a second left.
The defeat dropped Chaminade to 10-11 overall and 5-8 in the PacWest, putting them a game behind Dominican University of California (6-7) for the sixth spot in the conference standings. The top six teams earn a bid to the PacWest Championships which will be held at Chaminade's home floor of McCabe Gymnasium in early March.
Braden Olsen (West Linn, Ore./Gannon University/West Linn HS) paced the 'Swords with 16 points. The PacWest's assists leader at 5.2 per game, dished out six more.
Isaac Amaral-Artharee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic) added 10 points with
Ross Reeves (Orem, Utah/Snow College/Orem HS) chipping in with nine.
Raazhel Watkins (Concord, Calif./Sacramento State/College Park HS) was the 'Swords' high rebounder with five.
Brian Goracke hit all five 3-point tries for a game-high 19 points for the Sea Lions, who won their 15th straight in improving to 19-3 and 14-0 in the PacWest. Point Loma has already clinched a bid to the PacWest Tournament with still five weeks remaining in the regular season. Two-time PacWest Player of the Year Kaden Anderson had 13 points.
Scott Ator (Murphy, Texas/College of the Sequoias/Wylie HS) got things started for Chaminade with a layup in the game's opening possession. But PLNU went shot-crazy from there, hitting on its first three possessions, all of them beyond the arc. Their first miss didn't come until 14:18 was showing on the first half clock, to which Point Loma already led, 19-6.
Fortune kept favoring the Sea Lions, who made 11 of their first 16 attempts from the field with 5-of-7 from triples territory to build their lead to 29-6 in the first eight minutes. Meanwhile Chaminade struggled, making just 2-of-12 in the same stretch. The 'Swords would trail, 56-28, at the half.
It didn't get any better in the second half for the 'Swords, who were outscored, 51-33. With the outcome all but decided, Chaminade managed to get quality playing time in the second half with several reserves including
Dorian Harris (Cerritos, Calif./Cerritos College/Cerritos HS) and
Patrick Renane (Havdrup, Denmark/Dublin, Calif., HS), both of whom had season highs in minutes with 22 and 14, respectively.
Chaminade shot 32.8 percent from the field and was 6-of-23 from 3-point range. The 'Swords were a perfect 11-of-11 from the free throw line while pulling down 30 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists.
Point Loma, which has won four straight meetings against Chaminade including nine of the last 11, made 40-of-72 (55.6 percent) from the floor and hit a whopping 18 triples with 27 assists. The Sea Lions also hauled in 48 rebounds and blocked 11 shots.
The 46-point margin of defeat is the largest since a 123-72 defeat to Kansas in the 2015 Maui Jim Maui Invitational. It is also the largest against a non-Division I foe since a 55-point setback (121-66) at Montana State Billings in January 1997.
The Silverswords will look to rebound Friday when they face Biola in La Mirada, Calif. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. Hawai'i time.
