HONOLULU – For the second time in four days, the Chaminade University men's basketball used a surge in the final 20 minutes to pull out a victory.
Like they did Sunday against Holy Names, the Silverswords clawed back from a seven-point halftime deficit Wednesday to pull out an 81-69 win over Fresno Pacific at McCabe Gymnasium, their final regular season game of the season.
Graduate transfer
Braden Olsen (West Linn, Ore./Gannon University/West Linn HS) scored all of his game-high 19 points in the second half while fellow senior
Raazhel Watkins (Concord, Calif./Sacramento State/College Park HS),
Isaac Amaral-Artharee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic) and
Jalen Brattain (Shallowater, Texas/Lubbock Christian Univ./Shallowater HS) each added 13 for the Silverswords.
Ross Reeves (Orem, Utah/Snow College/Orem HS) chipped in with 11 points.
Olsen added seven rebounds and six assists while
Scott Ator (Murphy, Texas/College of the Sequoias/Wylie HS) pulled down 11 boards, his first double-digit rebound game. Watkins also had eight rebounds while Reeves dished out five assists.
The win closed out Chaminade's regular season at 14-14 overall and, at 9-11 in the Pacific West Conference, took a major step in securing a bid in the PacWest Tournament, which will be held at their home floor of McCabe in two weeks. More importantly, the sweep of the Sunbirds gives the 'Swords the tiebreaker over Dominican, which split its series against FPU.
With no more regular season contests, the 'Swords will play the waiting game to see if their season will be extended for at least one more contest.
The Silverswords can clinch a berth into the championships with a Biola win in either of its last three games (starting Thursday against Concordia Irvine) and a Hawai'i Pacific loss in either of their last four games which are in Southern California. HPU begins its trip Saturday at conference undefeated Point Loma.
Nate Kendricks led Fresno Pacific (8-17, 5-13 PacWest) with 17 points.
While Olsen and Watkins got their usual nod in the starting five, the team's third senior,
Kobe Young (Honolulu/Kamehameha-Kapalama), also playing his final regular season game, got his first start of the season. In a story book finish, Young found himself open at the top of the key and promptly buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key for the game's first score.
The Sunbirds used a 16-6 run towards the ending of the first half which helped give them a 39-30 edge, their largest lead of the game which was aided by 53 percent shooting in the first half, most of which came in the form of layups.
However, Amaral-Artharee helped give the 'Swords a bit of momentum by grabbing an offensive rebound and burying a foul-line extended jumper as the first-half horn sounded to reduce their deficit to 37-30 at the break.
Trailing 39-31 early in the second half, the 'Swords edged closer and, at the 16:39 mark, Olsen got his first points of the night on a three-point play, putting them ahead, 41-30, their first lead since midway through the first half.
Olsen, who was honored prior to tipoff for reaching his 1,000th career point which included his time at Gannon University and Seattle Pacific University, wasn't done, scoring Chaminade's next four points as the teams would trade leads over the next three possessions. Leading 45-44 with 14:20 remaining, Watkins drilled a triple which was the game's turning point. It began a 27-8 surge over the next nine minutes as the Silverswords made 10 of their 12 attempts including three triples during the stretch. Olsen had 10 during the run while Brattain added eight more to put Chaminade up, 72-52, with five minutes left to put the game away.
Chaminade shot a whopping 64 percent in the second half (16-of-25) to finish at a 45.2 percent clip. The 'Swords were 12-of-28 from 3-point range and made 13 of their 16 trips to the free throw line. They also pulled down 44 rebounds and dropped 17 dimes with 10 turnovers.
Chaminade's defense held Fresno Pacific to just 13-of-37 in the final 20 minutes, 43.5 percent overall. FPU had six triples, made just three of its eight free throws, had 31 rebounds, 10 assists and seven giveaways.
While the Sunbirds had a 48-30 advantage in the paint, the 'Swords had an 18-6 edge in fast break points.
The PacWest Men's and Women's Championships begins on Thursday, March 2, with the third through six seeds in action. The top two seeds receive first round byes and will see their first action on Friday, March 3. The championship games will be on Saturday, March 4, with the men's and women's winners earning the PacWest's automatic berth into the NCAA West Regional.
