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Led by senior guard Nic Walters, HPU outscored the Silverswords
55-40 in the second half to pick up the victory. Chaminade had
no answer for Walters on either side of the ball as he had five
steals to go along with his team-high 23 points.
Also contributing to the win were junior guards Aaron Abrams
and Marvin Noble, as well as senior forward Leandro Muraoka.
All scored in double figures for the game with 18, 13, and 17,
respectively. Perennial board-crasher Nate Block, a senior forward,
also added to the rally with a team-high 11-rebound effort.
The win pushed HPU’s record up to 14-7 overall and 3-6 in PacWest
play.
Despite a 24-point effort from forward Leon Ballard, Chaminade
couldn’t maintain its first half intensity and fell behind early
in the third quarter. The Silverswords would never regain the
lead and fell to 5-6 in conference games with the loss.
In the second game, HPU was not able to overcome a 20-point
halftime deficit despite a late rally led by Walters, who was
the games high scorer with 31 points on 10-of-14 shooting. A
free throw by Walters with 53 seconds remaining cut the deficit
to seven points, the closest the Sea Warriors would get.
“Walters cannot do everything by himself. We all need to help
him,” Maruoka said. Maruoka ended the game with 14 points and
nine rebounds.
“It’s always more difficult when you lose the first half by
20 and then try to come back,” said Maruoka. “We’ve been in
that situation three times this year, and we came back in all
of them, but we have never won.”
Bryon Sykes led the Silverswords with 25 points while teammate
Leon Ballard poured in 21. Donald Rogers had a game-high seven
assists with no turnovers while scoring five points for Chaminade.
HPU’s Aaron Abrams had the most field goal attempts in the
game, but only made five of 18. Teammate Marvin Noble, who led
HPU in assists with four, also struggled from the field, scoring
five points. Nate Block added 14 points.
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