HONOLULU – Hawai'i Pacific University made a valiant comeback attempt late, but Chaminade withstood the barrage to claim a 61-52 PacWest Conference win on Sunday afternoon at The Shark Tank.
 
The Sharks (5-22, 2-18) closed the season with the loss, while the Silverswords (9-17, 7-13) avenged an earlier loss to HPU at McCabe Gym.
 
HPU trailed by 16 points in the second half before starting a comeback. The Sharks closed the game to four points in the final minute of the contest, but the Swords held firm making free throws and getting a key rebound.
 
The Sharks were led by junior Elijah Martinez of Denver, Colo./Regis Jesuit with 13 points, while redshirt freshman Jackson Young of Kerrville, Texas/Tivy and sophomore Tucker Pellicci of Portland, Ore./Franklin each added 10 points. Pellicci and junior Trey Chapman of Healdsburg, Calif./Healdsburg both grabbed seven rebounds.
 
Chaminade was paced by Isaac Amaral-Artharee with 15 points and six assists, while Zach McIntire had 14 points with two blocked shots and Raazhel Watkins tallied 12 points with six boards. Joseph Smoyer just missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds to go with three blocked shots.
 
HPU shot 26 percent from the floor (19-of-73), and just 19 percent in the first half, including 5-of-20 (25 percent) from the 3-point arc. The Sharks made 9-of-10 free throws (90 percent). CUH connected on 39 percent from the field (23-of-59), including 5-of-15 (33 percent) from behind the arc. The Swords were 10-of-14 (71 percent) from the charity stripe. Chaminade dominated the boards 54-48, but suffered 14 turnovers to the Sharks season-low of four.
 
The Sharks took a quick lead when Martinez nailed a 3-pointer for the first score of the contest. But two Smoyer layups and an Amaral-Artharee trey gave the Swords a 7-0 run to take the lead that they wouldn't relinquish. HPU's Pellicci made a layup, but the Swords pushed on with a game-best 8-0 run – making it a 15-2 stretch – and gave CUH a double-digit lead. The Swords held a 12-point, 29-17 advantage at the half.
 
The teams swapped scores before the Swords went on a 6-0 run to claim their largest lead of the afternoon at 39-23. HPU turned up the defensive pressure and chipped away at the advantage, then used a 7-0 run to pull within eight at 44-35 on a Martinez layup with 7:10 remaining. The Swords got the lead back up to 12 only to have HPU narrow it back to eight and it stayed in the 8-10 point range until 1:16 remaining. With CUH up by 10, a foul and a technical by the Swords' Amaral-Artharee, HPU's Young made 4-of-5 free throw to cut the lead to six. HPU started fouling to get the ball back, hitting two before Young drained a 3-pointer to cut the lead to five with 1:07 left. Another four gave the Swords to more free throws, and this time it was junior Colton Martin of Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound who drilled a triple from the top of the key to pull the Sharks within four at 56-52 with 52 second remaining.
 
Alas, it was as close as HPU would get, as the Swords made 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch and got a dunk to put the game away 61-52.
 
The Sharks wrapped up the 2021-22 campaign with the Homecoming contest.