HONOLULU – Chaminade guard Nick Anderson nailed a 3-pointer with two minutes to play that held off Hawai'i Pacific University's upset bid as the 18th ranked Silverswords downed the Sharks 92-85 Monday night at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center.
 
The Sharks (5-15, 2-13) dropped their fourth straight contest, while the nationally ranked Silverswords (16-4, 10-4) survived for a second straight victory.
 
The game came down to the free throw line, as CUH connected on 18-of-19 (95 percent) from the charity stripe, and HPU hit just 4-of-14 free throws (29 percent).
 
Senior Jonathan Janssen of Noosa Heads, Australia/Mountain State led the HPU charge with 22 points and eight rebounds with two steals and a blocked shot. Junior Scott Ulaneo of Rome, Italy/St. George's International came off the bench with 18 points, five rebounds and four assists, as sophomore Lorenze Gordon-Haynes of Columbus, Ohio/Africentric added 13 points with four boards and four assists. Senior Darnell Bettis of Los Angeles/University posted 11 points.
 
Chaminade was paced by Grant Dressler with 25 points to go with five rebounds and four assists, with Tyler Cartaino adding 24 points with six boards and two steals. Erik Scheive just missed a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds, and Andre Arissol chipped in 11 points.
 
From the field, HPU connected on 38-of-69 shots (55 percent), including 5-of-12 (42 percent) from the 3-point arc. The Silverswords shot 49 percent (32-of-65), but buried 10-of-23 (44 percent) from the arc. CUH outrebounded HPU 38-34 and both teams suffered only nine turnovers.
 
HPU got layups from junior Ronald Blain of McDonough, Ga./Union Grove and junior Daniel Melifonwu of San Diego/Lincoln for the early lead before Chaminade rallied to take the lead and inched out to a 10-point lead on a 3-pointer from Arissol with 12:25 remaining in the first half, the largest Sword lead in the game.
 
The Sharks chipped away at that lead, getting it down to six points at 36-30 when Bettis used a layup to start a 9-0 run capped by a traditional layup-free throw 3-point play by Gordon-Haynes to take a 39-36 lead with 3:07 to go in the half. The teams swapped opportunities down the stretch until Melifonwu slammed a rebounded shot home with a minute left for a 46-44 HPU that the Sharks took to halftime.
 
HPU built a six-point lead to start second half as a Janssen layup put the Sharks up 51-45 with 18:26 remaining for their largest lead of the game. The lead exchanged hands until  Cartaino made two layups and a free throw for a personal 5-0 run that gave the Swords a 3-point advantage. CUH never trailed again.
 
HPU twice cut the Chaminade lead to two in the final three minutes, but both times the Swords used either a 3-pointer or layup-free throw 3-point play to jump back to a five-point lead.
 
Down three in the last 90 seconds, the Sharks missed a layup and that was all the Swords needed. HPU fouled to try to get possession and CUH converted free throws to finish with the seven-point 92-85 win.
 
HPU will again need to put this one away quickly, as the Sharks host Dominican (Calif.) on Wednesday night at the Blaisdell. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m., following the women's game between the teams.