HONOLULU – After suffering an agonizing defeat to rival Hawai'i Pacific University on Saturday to begin their final six-game home stand, the Chaminade University men's basketball team was hoping to turn their fortunes around against the Pacific West Conference's top dog.
Instead, the Silverswords ran into a hot-shooting Point Loma squad on a cold and dreary rainy Tuesday evening, falling, 93-61, at McCabe Gymnasium.
The Sea Lions hit 15 3-pointers – 10 in the second half – to send the 'Swords to their fifth straight defeat. Chaminade is 10-11 on the season and 8-7 in the PacWest, hanging on to the sixth and final spot in the six-team PacWest Tournament, mere percentage points over Jessup University and Fresno Pacific, both of whom are their upcoming opponents this week.
To make matters worse, the depleted 'Swords' roster did not have the services of second-leading scorer
Kent King (Washington, D.C./Vincennes University/Fork Union Military Academy) because of an injury. They were paced by his twin brother
Kris King's (Washington, D.C./Vincennes University/Fork Union Military Academy) 11 points.
Fletcher MacDonald (Wollongong, Australia/Lubbock Christian Univ./Newington College HS) and
Nate Sasser III (West Palm Beach, Fla./Casper College/Suncoast HS), the latter who got his second start of the season, added 10 points each.
Roland Banks II (Bakersfield, Calif./Fullerton College/Cathedral HS) had nine points, seven rebounds and four assists.
The 32-point margin of defeat was CUH's worst McCabe Gym loss since an 80-44 setback to Division I Northern Arizona in January 1994.
Point Loma, whose 15 triples is the most by a Silversword opponent since Azusa Pacific also sank 15 in January 2024, got 16 points each from Andrew Hommes and Caden Harris. The four-time defending PacWest champions increased their lead to two over second-place HPU at 13-3 in the conference and 18-4 overall.
The 'Swords led after the first two minutes but Point Loma took its first lead with 16:40 left in the first half and never relinquished it. The Sea Lions led by as many as 13 in the opening 20 minutes and owned a 41-30 halftime edge.
Nathan Medina's (Long Beach, Calif./Biola University/Valley Christian HS) lone 3-pointer of the game at the 16:14 mark of the second half sliced Chaminade's deficit to 46-39 but that would be as close as they got. PLNU went on its 3-point barrage with six of its next seven field goals coming from beyond the arc during a 20-3 run that put the game well out of reach.
The 'Swords made 42.9 percent of their shots with their 13 3-point tries being the second-fewest this season. They also had 28 rebounds and 12 assists.
Point Loma shot 51.5 percent from the field, pulled down 40 boards with 21 assists.
The Silverswords face Fresno Pacific on Thursday in a critical meeting at McCabe Gym that has postseason implications for both teams. The Sunbirds (8-8 PacWest) are currently a half-game behind the Chaminade for the final conference berth. Tipoff will be around 7:30 p.m.
