HONOLULU – Coming off a disappointing Southern California road trip, the Chaminade University men's basketball team was hoping their final home stand would help get them back on track.
However, the Silverswords' woes continued in Saturday's opener of their final six-game home stretch, surrendering a 17-point second half lead in dropping an 85-78 overtime decision to crosstown rival Hawai'i Pacific University in front of a boisterous crowd of 350 at McCabe Gymnasium.
Four 'Swords cracked the double-digit scoring plateau, paced by
Kent King's (Washington, D.C./Vincennes University/Fork Union Military Academy) 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The Silverswords, who on Jan. 28 was atop the Pacific West Conference standings, have dropped four straight to fall to 10-10 overall and, at 8-6 in the PacWest, fell to fifth in the standings, leading sixth-place Dominican by a half-game. The top six qualify for the PacWest Tournament in early March.
Nathan Medina (Long Beach, Calif./Biola University/Valley Christian HS) had 14 points for the 'Swords while
Nate Sasser III (West Palm Beach, Fla./Casper College/Suncoast HS) and
Kris King (Washington, D.C./Vincennes University/Fork Union Military Academy) chipped in with 12 and 10, respectively.
Roland Banks II (Bakersfield, Calif./Fullerton College/Cathedral HS) hauled in a career-high 13 rebounds and also dished out eight assists while posting seven points in the scorebook.
Quentin Meza led HPU with 19 points including the game-tying layup towards the end of regulation that sent the game into overtime. The Sharks (15-6, 11-5 PacWest), who lost to Chaminade back on Dec. 2 at home, evened the season series while also taking two points in the PacWest Hawai'i Challenge.
HPU had early control with a 15-7 lead before the 'Swords charged back in taking the lead and forcing the Sharks to use two 30-second timeouts in a span of a minute midway through the first half.
Early in the second half, Sasser's layup gave CUH a 17-point cushion at 49-32. HPU, which had expended all four of its timeouts by the 12-minute mark of the second half, charged back and eventually took a 63-62 lead with 5:18 left.
Trailing by three, Medina was clutch, knocking down a triple with 1:21 remaining for a 67-all tie. Chaminade's defense then forced a shot clock violation on HPU's ensuing possession where
Kent King's layup put the 'Swords up by two with 23 seconds left. But Meza drove the lane and hit the tying layup to send the game into overtime.
In the extra session, HPU made five of its seven shots while Chaminade made just three of eight.
The Silverswords made 33.8 percent of their field goals while taking a season-high 44 3-pointers, 11 of which were successful, and was 17-of-26 at the free throw line. They had the rebounding advantage, 51-to-43, with 18 assists while forcing 19 turnovers.
The Sharks shot 45.5 percent from the field, hitting 10 of their 34 attempts from downtown and was 15-of-23 at the foul line. HPU had a big advantage in paint points with 38 to CUH's 22.
The Silverswords will look to snap their skid Tuesday when they host PacWest-leading Point Loma on Tuesday at McCabe Gym. Tipoff will be 25 minutes after the completion of the women's game.
