HONOLULU – The cross-town rivalry was never hotter, but for Hawai'i Pacific University it was Chaminade that had the upper hand as the Silverswords came away with a 92-78 PacWest Conference victory on Tuesday night at McCabe Gymnasium.
 
The Sharks (10-17, 8-13) saw the Silverswords (16-10, 14-7) go on a 21-7 run to start the second half for a lead they would never relinquish in the PacWest Hawai'i Challenge contest.
 
HPU was led by the combination of junior guard David Rowlands and senior forward Ronald Blain. Rowlands of Dayton, Ohio/Moorpark led the Sharks with 18 points, while Blain of McDonough, Ga./Union Grove tallied his sixth double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Tavon Tarpley of McLain, Va./Langley, added 10 points off the bench.
 
Chaminade had six players score in double-figures led by Isaac Amaral-Artharee with 18 points, while Kendall Small posted 17 points and six rebounds. Eliet Donley added 16 points, as did Kevin Kremer off the bench. Roman Young scored 12 points and Bill Awet 11 for the Swords.
 
HPU shot 45 percent from the field (29-of-65), including 10-of-25 (40 percent) from the 3-point arc. The Sharks hit 10-of-14 (71.4 percent) from the foul line. Chaminade connected on 59 percent (34-of-58) from the floor, including 9-of-20 (45 percent) from the arc. The Swords made 15-of-19 (79 percent) from the charity stripe. HPU outrebounded Chaminade 34-to-26, but CUH recorded only nine turnovers to HPU's 17.
 
The contest was tight early, with the two teams exchanging the lead three times with seven ties in the first half alone. The Sharks fought back from a seven-point deficit in the last 2:30 of the first half as Blain and Tarpley combined to pull HPU within one a 39-38, but a foul with 1.4 to play in the half gave the Swords a 40-38 lead.
 
A dunk by junior Chidoze Ndu of Lagos, Nigeria/Sunrise Christian Academy (Kan.) tied the game at 40 to start the second 20 minutes, but the Swords got a layup from Amaral-Artharee to go on the 21-7 run that put them in the driver's seat. HPU closed the contest to a seven-points with 9:18 remaining on a 3-pointer from senior Neema Namdar of Sandy, Utah/Alta to make it 71-64. However CUH recovered and rolled on to the 92-78 win.
 
HPU will close the regular season on Saturday at The Shark Tank by welcoming Hawai'i Hilo for Senior Day. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m., with Senior Day activities following the women's contest that tips at 1 p.m.