HONOLULU – After a less-than-memorable road trip that saw them lose all five games in California, the Chaminade University men's basketball was looking forward to getting back to the comfortable confines of McCabe Gymnasium to start their final home stand of the season.
After a storm that dumped heavy rain and put O'ahu under a flash flood warning which rendered their home floor unplayable, the Silverswords instead found themselves, in a few hours notice, in their home-away-from-home Thursday at Hawai'i Pacific University's Shark Tank.
The 'Swords were able to overcome that obstacle with a much-needed 84-69 win over Dominican University of California to sweep the season series for the first time since 2019-20 and improving them to 13-9 overall and 7-8 in the Pacific West Conference. Chaminade is also 11-6 all-time at the Shark Tank since they first began playing there in the 2019-20 season.
Jamir Thomas (Berkeley, Calif./City College of San Francisco/Berkeley HS) hit six 3-pointers for a game-high 21 points while
Jackson Last (Hurricane, Utah/Robert Morris University/Hurricane HS) added 17 and six assists for the Silverswords. The victory vaulted them into the sixth and final PacWest Tournament berth with just over a month left in the regular season.
Kameron Ng (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Univ. of Hawai'i Hilo/Saint Francis HS) buried a career-high four triples for 16 points which tied the career high he set as a member of the University of Hawai'i Hilo in February 2022.
Fletcher MacDonald (Wollongong, Australia/Lubbock Christian Univ./Newington College HS) returned after missing the road finale at Westmont last Saturday with an injury and had 12 points and nine rebounds.
DM Sanders led the Penguins (8-12, 3-9 PacWest) with 19 points.
Trailing 6-5 minutes after the opening tip, the 'Swords outscored DUC, 17-2, and didn't allow a field goal during an eight-minute stretch.
CUH led by as many as 23 early in the first half. Although the Pengs got to within 58-44 at the 13:02 mark, the 'Swords were able to stretch their lead back to 20 and were never threatened the rest of the way.
Chaminade made 45.5 percent of its shots and was 14-of-37 from the 3-point arc with 10-of-18 made free throws. They grabbed 32 boards, dished out 20 assists to 11 turnovers.
Dominican shot at a 43.6 percent clip, made seven triples and was 14-of-22 at the charity stripe. They hauled in 39 boards with 10 assists and 24 giveaways.
The Silverswords will face Academy of Art on Saturday, scheduled for McCabe Gym at 4 p.m.
