HONOLULU – The Chaminade University men's basketball team entered their final home game still in the thick of a Pacific West Conference Tournament berth.
Their opponent, the University of Hawai'i Hilo, has struggled for most of the season with five victories.
However, as the saying goes, throw out the won-loss records when rivals meet. And that certainly applied in Thursday's meeting between the two longtime rivals whose history dates back to the mid-1970s.
In the end, it was the Silverswords who ended prevailing on Aloha Senior Night at McCabe Gymnasium with an 86-78 win in the 134th all-time meeting, the longest running series in program history.
Kent King (Washington, D.C./Vincennes University/Fork Union Military Academy), one of eight seniors playing their final home game, had 18 points, six rebounds and three assists. Twin brother
Kris King (Washington, D.C./Vincennes University/Fork Union Military Academy) added 17 points and three steals while
Nathan Medina (Long Beach, Calif./Biola University/Valley Christian HS) also had 17 in the scoring ledger in his final McCabe Gym appearance.
Another senior,
Brandon Haddock (Southlake, Texas/University of Utah/Carroll HS), added 14 points.
The other four Chaminade seniors include
Fletcher MacDonald (Wollongong, Australia/Lubbock Christian Univ./Newington College HS), who had six points and five boards,
Roland Banks II (Bakersfield, Calif./Fullerton College/Cathedral HS) with five assists and seven rebounds,
Brycen Shackelford (Folsom, Calif./Folsom) with two points and
Mykiah Wyche (San Jose, Calif./Foothill College/Piedmont Hills HS) who saw six minutes of action. Four-year manager
Adrianna Nichols was also part of the senior celebration after the game.
Nate Sasser III (West Palm Beach, Fla./Casper College/Suncoast HS) was the only underclassman to log minutes, scoring seven points.
After suffering a six-game losing streak, Chaminade won its third straight and improved to 13-12 overall and, at 11-8 in the PacWest, moved them into a three-way tie with Concordia and Fresno Pacific for the No. 4 spot in the conference tournament which begins March 5 in San Diego.
Julio Montes II led UH Hilo (5-22, 5-16 PacWest) with a game-high 24 points. Jessiya Villa, who called McCabe Gym for four years as a Silversword from 2020-24, had four points and four assists in his last game in the building.
Closely played throughout the first half, there were three ties and five lead changes in the first 20 minutes with the biggest lead owned by the Vulcans at 32-25 with 4:40 left and, ultimately, a 40-37 edge at the break.
Through the first seven minutes of the second half, there were five more lead changes, the final being
Kris King's driving layup tipped the advantage back to CUH at 52-51. Medina accounted for five points including a three-point play while the 'Swords held UH Hilo without a basket during a three-minute stretch in the waning minutes that pushed their lead to 76-69 with 2:35 remaining.
Chaminade made 7-of-8 free throws in the final 1:53 to allow them to pull away and give them their first series sweep of the Vulcans since the 2019-20 season.
The 'Swords shot 48.1 percent from the floor, making 7-of-21 at the 3-point arc, 27-of-34 at the free throw line with 30 rebounds, 14 assists, 14 steals, nine turnovers while creating 16 giveaways.
UH Hilo made 39.4 percent from the field, 8-of-23 from long distance, 18-of-23 at the charity stripe, 44 rebounds and nine assists.
The Silverswords will look to continue the momentum in their final regular season road trip of the season, a three-game swing starting Tuesday at Menlo College. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Hawai'i time.
