HONOLULU — Hawai'i Pacific University made a statement on Sunday afternoon at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center, leading wire-to-wire to beat Chaminade 80-73 in PacWest action.
 
The Sharks (8-0, 2-0) extended their winning streak to eight straight to open the season with their second straight PacWest Hawai'i Challenge win. The Silverswords (4-4, 2-1) evened their record as they dropped their first game against a Division II opponent this season.
 
"We came out strong early and made it stand," said HPU coach Darrin Vorderbruegge. "We played some great defense against a very good Chaminade team. I'm proud of the way we held our focus all the way through."
 
The Sharks were paced by the play of swingman Chauncey Orr, the 6-4 graduate student from Bowling Green, Ky./Bowling Green, who chalked up his fourth double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds as he led the team with four assists. Guards Connor Looney and Jordan Martin both nearly double-doubled as they tallied 14 points. Looney, the 6-2 senior from Palmer, Alaska/Palmer, posted eight rebounds and led the team with four steals. Martin, the 5-11 guard from Goodyear, Ariz./Millennium, grabbed nine rebounds with three assists and three steals.
 
Forward Jonothan Janssen, a 6-9 sophomore from Noosa Heads, Australia/Mountain Creek, added 13 points and senior Elliott DeFreitas, a 6-10 forward from Essex, England/County Upper, tallied 10 points with two blocked shots.
 
Chaminade placed four players in double figures as guard Rohndell Goodwin double-doubled with 31 points and 12 rebounds. Kuany Kuany added 12 points with eight boards, while Austin Pope scored 11 points with eight boards and Sam Daly posted 11 points.
 
HPU shot just 40 percent from the floor (29-of-72), but hit 33 percent from the 3-point arc (11-of-33) and 73 percent from the foul line (11-of-15). The Silverswords hit 44 percent (30-of-69) from the field, however connected on 28 percent from the arc (5-of-18) and 61 percent from the charity stripe (8-of-13). The Sharks outrebounded CUH 46-to-40.
 
The Sharks opened the game with a 5-0 run and extended it to 13-4 on a Martin fastbreak layup with five-and-a half minutes elapsed. Chaminade battled back with HPU throughout the first cutting the lead to 29-27 with 1:49 left.
 
That's when HPU kicked it into gear with a 7-0 run that included Martin burying a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to take a 36-27 advantage to the locker room at the half.
 
The Sharks weathered another mini storm at the start of the second half when Chaminade trimmed the lead back to three at 37-34 on Goodwin's first 3-pointer of the second half. Martin answered with a 3-pointer and a Goodwin turnover led to an Orr layup, HPU was back up by eight.
 
The Sharks later added an 11-3 run to lead by 16 at 59-43 with 10:35 to play, before the Swords made a comeback.
 
Goodwin, who scored 23 of his 31 points in the second half, had a run of his own with nine straight points as part of a 9-2 run in a two minute stretch to cut HPU's lead to four at 69-65 with 5:39 to go.
 
The next possession Looney buried a 3 to pull HPU back to seven and the Sharks held off the attack, then used the play of Orr down the stretch to come away with the win.
 
"I'm so proud of how these guys played together as a team," said Vorderbruegge. "This was a huge win."
 
The red-hot Sharks are now off for 11 days in part for fall final examinations. HPU is back in action on Thursday, Dec. 15 in PacWest play against Dominican (Calif.). The game tips at 6:30 p.m. at Moanalua High School gymnasium.