HONOLULU – While the Chaminade University men's basketball team was eliminated from a berth in next week's Pacific West Conference Tournament in San Diego two weeks ago, the Silverswords had a chance to play a bit of a spoiler role in their final game of the 2023-24 season on Thursday against the biggest rival.
Despite again being short-handed with an active roster down to just eight, the Silverswords nearly pulled off an upset before succumbing to Hawai'i Pacific University, 77-72, in front of a full house of 550 at the HPU Shark Tank.
Wyatt Lowell (Gilbert, Ariz./University of Portland/William Fields HS) had a season-high 18 points – just two off his career high while playing at the University of Portland – in the final game of his collegiate career.
Ross Reeves (Orem, Utah/Snow College/Orem HS) finished his season with 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists while
Isaac Amaral-Artharee (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic) capped his brilliant career with 10 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Kelton Samore (Portland, Ore./Seattle Pacific University/Grant HS), who was the primary defender against HPU's 7-foot-4 center Matt van Komen, had eight points and seven rebounds.
Chaminade, which split the season series against HPU, ended its season at 10-18 and 6-14 in the PacWest.
Maj Dusanic had 18 points and 11 boards as HPU improved to 18-9 and 13-6 in the PacWest but still missed out on a first-round bye in the PacWest Tournament after Point Loma dispatched Dominican earlier in the day.
The 'Swords led by as many as eight in the first half thanks to Reeves and Lowell, who combined for 13 of the team's 17 points after the first seven minutes. HPU's 15-1 run gave them a 26-20 lead with eight minutes left in the first half before CUH countered and took a 40-39 advantage into halftime, thanks to Amaral-Artharee's triple with 45 seconds left.
Melo Sanchez's triple to open the second half tiled the lead back to HPU's favor and over the next 12 minutes, the Sharks held the advantage on the scoreboard before Lowell's second triple of the game at the 8:09 mark put the 'Swords ahead, 63-62, before HPU re-captured the lead on its next trip up the floor.
With 4:41 left, Lowell buried his final triple, drawing Chaminade to within 71-68 but consecutive buckets gave HPU a seven-point advantage at 75-68. The 'Swords would get no closer than five the remainder of the game.
Chamimade shot 35.2 percent from the floor and made 10 3-pointers. The 'Swords, who entered the evening third in Division II in free throw percentage, made 12-of-13 from the charity stripe, putting them at 80 percent for the season, vaulting them past Wingate (79.97) for the D2 lead.
HPU was 48.4 percent shooting including 50 percent in the second half with eight triples and seven free throws.
Chaminade had 40 boards to HPU's 39, dished out 15 assists and committed a season-low three turnovers, the fewest during head coach
Eric Bovaird's 13-year tenure as head coach. The Sharks had 17 assists and six giveaways.
Amaral-Artharee ends his career with 1,732 points during his brilliant six-year career, which included a redshirt freshman season in 2018-19. His point total ranks second all-time in the long and storied history of Chaminade men's basketball.
Fellow seniors
Scott Ator (Murphy, Texas/College of the Sequoias/Wylie HS) had six points and six rebounds while
Chris Bready (Milwaukee, Wis./New Mexico Military Institute/Waukesha West HS) had five points in their final games in Silversword uniforms.
