Alves, Reilly Spark Win Over Chaminade

Honolulu, HI—Brigham Young University Hawaii’s Lucas Alves showed some of the form that made him the Daktronics NCAA II Player of the Year last year as he scored 15 points in just 22 minutes of play to lead the Seasiders to an 80-74 road win over Chaminade in Pacific West Conference action tonight.  A.J. Reilly matched Alves’ 15 points and hit eight consecutive clutch free throws down the stretch as the Seasiders improved to 9-5 for the season and 3-2 in the PacWest.

BYU–Hawaii held a 41-32 halftime lead and increased the margin to 12 points early in the second half only to see the Silverswords rally to take a 60-55 lead with under eight minutes to play in the second period.  Alves checked back into the game at that point and, after a Heath Gameren three-pointer and a Garrett Sandberg putback tied the score at 60-60, took charge for the Seasiders.  First he blocked a Chaminade shot and then hit a short jumper to give the Seasiders the lead for good.  Then he pulled down a defensive rebound followed by an offensive rebound and a pair of made free throws to push the lead to four.  After a Silversword three-pointer cut the lead to one at 64-63, Sandberg scored on a layup and Alves finished the run with another defensive rebound and an assist on a Marques Whippy layup that pushed the score to 68-63 with two-and-a-half minutes to play.  Reilly took over at that point, hitting a jumper and then the eight consecutive free throws as the Silverswords tried to play catch-up.  Alves finished the BYU–Hawaii scoring with a pair of free throws with eight seconds to play.

Alves finished with nine rebounds and two assists to go with his 15 points and Whippy turned in his usual stellar game with a double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds.  Whippy also made two steals and dished out three assists.  J.R. Buensuceso and Rory Patterson each contributed nine points, with Buensuceso’s all coming on three three-pointers.  Sandberg finished with eight points and Gameren added six on a pair of three-pointers for the Seasiders.

Steven Bennett scored 19 points and had six assists to lead Chaminade, now 5-9 for the year and 2-3 in the conference.  Shane Hanson and Matt Cousins each had 17 points and Waly Coulibaly 12 for the Silverswords.

BYU-Hawaii will face Notre Dame de Namur next, on Monday in Laie at 7:30 pm HST in another Pacific West Conference contest.

Box Score