IRVINE, Calif. – The Chaminade University men's basketball team nearly had one of the most epic rallies in school history on Monday but could not complete the comeback in a 77-73 loss to Concordia University Irvine at CU Arena.
The Silverswords trailed by as many as 26 points in the second half but managed to knot the score before running out of steam inside of a minute left.
Jamir Thomas (Berkeley, Calif./City College of San Francisco/Berkeley HS) came off the bench for a team-leading 16 points while
Kent King (Washington, D.C./Vincennes University/Fork Union Military Academy) added 15 and 12 rebounds for the Silverswords, who lost for the third time in as many games on their current five-game road trip.
Chaminade fell to 12-7 on the season and 6-6 in the Pacific West Conference while seeing their four-game win streak in the series come to an end.
Roland Banks II (Bakersfield, Calif./Fullerton College/Cathedral HS) added 14 points for Chaminade while
Amound Anderson (Los Angeles, Calif./Fullerton College/Leuzinger HS) chipped in with 12. Anderson and
Kameron Ng (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Univ. of Hawai'i Hilo/Saint Francis HS) both had four assists.
Kaden Minter had 32 points to lead the Golden Eagles who won the only meeting of the season and improve to 10-7 and 5-5 in the conference.
Almost nothing went right for the 'Swords in the first half, who trailed by double-digits midway through the first half and didn't make their first 3-pointer until Thomas connected with 5:46 left. Chaminade would trail, 38-22, at the break.
CUI's lead swelled to 52-26 with 11:45 left and two minutes later, still had a seemingly comfortable 65-44 edge. But the 'Swords suddenly found the bottom of the net, going on a 29-8 surge over the next nine minutes, hitting 10 of their next 16 shots with three triples. The run was capped when King got an and-one layup to tie the game at 73-all with 1:32 remaining but couldn't hit the free throw to give CUH the lead.
The 'Swords had another chance for the lead on their next possession but couldn't get a shot to drop and CUI hit its final four free throws to survive the rally.
Chaminade made 38.4 percent of its shots including 50 percent in the second half. They finished with six 3-pointers, were 11-of-15 at the foul line, grabbed 39 rebounds and dished out 12 assists to 12 turnovers.
CUI shot 43.1 percent with six 3s and was 21-of-27 at the charity stripe. The Golden Eagles had 46 boards, 14 dimes and 18 giveaways.
The Silverswords face Biola University in the fourth game of their roadie on Thursday. It will be a rematch of the Jan. 9 meeting won by the Eagles in overtime at McCabe Gym. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Hawai'i time.
