LA MIRADA, Calif. – The Chaminade University men's basketball team, who were on the 11th day of their road trip on Thursday, were defeated by Biola University, 92-72, at Chase Gymnasium.
The short-handed Silverswords were down to nine healthy players, although all of them got into the scoring ledger, led by
Kent King (Washington, D.C./Vincennes University/Fork Union Military Academy), who posted 20 points and six rebounds.
Jamir Thomas (Berkeley, Calif./City College of San Francisco/Berkeley HS) added another 12.
Brycen Shackelford (Folsom, Calif./Folsom) came off the bench to post his first career double-digit scoring game with 11 points while adding three rebounds.
Chaminade, which has lost all four games on the current trip with one more remaining, fell to 12-8 overall and 6-7 in the Pacific West Conference.
Biola got 37 points from Daniel Esparza, who hit eight 3-pointers, to help them sweep the season series as well as get its sixth win over Chaminade in the past eight meetings. The Eagles improved to 13-6 and 7-4 in the conference.
The 'Swords never led and went without a score until Thomas buried a 3-pointer with over three minutes gone. Another triple from Thomas got CUH within 15-14 but Esparaza scored eight points in Biola's 10-0 run which built its lead to double-digits, helping the home team gain a 39-27 halftime lead.
A pair of
Fletcher MacDonald (Wollongong, Australia/Lubbock Christian Univ./Newington College HS) layups followed by a breakaway flush by King helped Chaminade close to within 43-35 at the 15:48 mark of the second half. The Eagles, however, would build their lead back to double-digits on their next possession and held it until the final buzzer.
The Silverswords shot 38.9 percent from the floor and made five 3-pointers while going 11-of-18 at the charity stripe. They grabbed 38 rebounds with seven assists with nine turnovers.
Biola shot 47.7 percent from the field, including 51.6 in the final 20 minutes, and made 11 triples and made 19 of its 26 trips to the free throw line. The Eagles pulled down 45 boards, dished out 13 assists and had just 12 turnovers, the fewest forced by the 'Swords this season.
The Silverswords will conclude their two-week long road trip Saturday at Westmont College. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. Hawai'i time.
