FRESNO, Calif. – The Chaminade University men's basketball completed a 13-day, five-game road trip Saturday with a 96-72 win over Fresno Pacific at the Special Events Center.
Raazhel Watkins (Concord, Calif./Sacramento State/College Park HS) paced the Silverswords with 19 points, hitting five of the team's 13 3-pointers to help them close the long road trip with two straight wins. Chaminade, which posted its fifth 90-point game this season, had just one victory on the continental United States entering the afternoon which was Wednesday at Concordia University Irvine.
Chaminade, which had to make the four-hour drive to Fresno from Irvine, California, on Thursday. improved to 12-13 overall and, more importantly, 7-10 in the Pacific West Conference. Combined with Dominican University of California's 93-62 loss at Azusa Pacific, the Silverswords moved into a tie with the Penguins for the sixth and final spot for the PacWest Championships. The tournament will be held at Chaminade's home floor of McCabe Gymnasium starting March 2.
Isaac Amaral-Artharee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic), who had just one 3-pointer in his last two games, hit a pair against the Sunbirds for 18 points while adding a career-high nine rebounds.
For the second straight contest,
Jalen Brattain (Shallowater, Texas/Lubbock Christian Univ./Shallowater HS) had a productive contest off the bench, posting 17 points and five rebounds.
Ross Reeves (Orem, Utah/Snow College/Orem HS) and
Braden Olsen (West Linn, Ore./Gannon University/West Linn HS) each contributed with 11 points. Reeves hauled in eight boards while Olsen logged 10 assists, his second double-digit assist game of the season.
Kyle Monk led the Sunbirds, who fell to 6-15 and 3-11 in the PacWest, with 18 points.
Brattain hit a pair of field goals including a 3-pointer early in the first half which helped the 'Swords forge 6-6 and 8-8 ties after Fresno Pacific took early leads. Olsen put Chaminade ahead for good at 10-8 on his three-point play at the 14:42 mark. After Monk hit the first of his five triples to draw FPU to within 13-11, the Silverswords went on a 20-8 run over the next five minutes to open a 33-19 lead, capped by
Chris Bready's (Milwaukee, Wis./New Mexico Military Institute/Waukesha West HS) triple with 7:45 left in the first half.
Dorian Harris (Cerritos, Calif./Cerritos College/Cerritos HS), Watkins and Amaral-Arthree would each hit 3-balls during another Chaminade surge, this time at 15-4, pushing their lead to 20 at 48-28 late in the first half for a 50-35 halftime lead.
FPU managed to whittle their deficit down to 14 in the opening minutes of the second half but Amaral-Arthree and Watkins again answered with treys on consecutive possessions, building CUH's lead back to 60-42. Fresno Pacific never got closer than 16 the remainder of the game.
Chaminade hit 51.4 percent of its shots, the second-highest shooting road percentage of the season while their 13 triples are the most in a mainland game since also drilling 13 in December 2019 at Notre Dame de Namur. The 'Swords also converted 11-of-14 free throws, pulled down 35 rebounds with 20 assists and just seven turnovers. They also forced 16 Sunbirds giveaways, resulting in a 20-to-9 points-off-turnovers rate.
Fresno Pacific was held to a 40.3 percent shooting clip with 6-of-28 from long distance and making 16-of-25 from the charity stripe. FPU had 32 boards and 15 assists.
The Silverswords return home to McCabe Gym for their final three regular season games, including a rematch against Fresno Pacific, a stretch which may determine if they will play on their home floor for the upcoming PacWest Championships. The home stand begins Wednesday when they face in-city rival Hawai'i Pacific University. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
