CHAMINADE BASKETBALL
Chaminade’s run comes to an end
Chaminade's first trip through the NCAA Division II basketball tournament ended with its two best players on the bench last night.
Leading scorer Chris Reaves fouled out with 1:32 remaining and point guard Zach Whiting was ejected on the first play of the second half as Western Washington ousted Chaminade 101-91 in the second round of the tournament in Seattle.
"It was a big-time flop," Chaminade coach Matt Mahar said. "It's not fair for an official to take everything you worked for away with the blow of a whistle. But what can you do?"
The Silverswords went into halftime down by a basket, 48-46, but Chris Powell erased it with a dunk on the first possession after the break. But Chaminade suffered a blow at the other end when Whiting was ejected for catching a Viking with an elbow in the lane. The Viking stayed down but returned to the game, while Whiting had to watch the rest of the proceedings away from the court. Whiting finished with 11 points and three assists after entering the game averaging 14.4 points and 8.2 assists.
The Vikings went on an 11-1 run after the ejection and led the rest of the way.
Reaves was held to 14 points on 2-for-11 shooting from the field while holding Western Washington's Ryan Diggs to 16 points in 23 minutes. Diggs put 47 points on Humboldt State in the first round of the tournament, while Reaves had scored more than 30 points in each of his last four games. But he scored those points from his customary shooting guard position.
Mahar asked Reaves to take over the point when Whiting was ejected, and it threw off his scorer, although he did dish out nine assists.
"We had to move him to the point spot, and that takes away his driving a little bit and all of his scoring opportunities are from a little bit of a different angle," Mahar said. "It seemed like he was getting bumped around a lot."
Senior Corey Campbell filled in for Reaves and led Chaminade with 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting in 23 minutes. But he couldn't touch Western Washington's second option.
"He's capable of playing well and we know it," Mahar said. "It's just hard to get him on the floor when Chris is going so well. We knew he would be able to step up."
Forward Grant Dykstra led the Vikings with 29 points on seven 3-pointers
"We held Diggs to 16 points, so we did a good job on him, but that Dykstra has one of the prettiest shots I have ever seen," Mahar said. "I felt like we defended him pretty well, but he scored 29 points, so I guess I can't say we held him down."
It was Chaminade's first trip to the tournament and first year under Mahar, who had been a lifelong assistant before Aaron Griess left the program after last season.
"I'm not satisfied with losing, but I'm happy with the way the season went," Mahar said. "The effort all year was tremendous."