Box Score

Honolulu, HI (1/24/09) -- Academy of Art University men's basketball opened their Hawaii road trip with a rough 92-61 loss against the Chaminade University Silverswords at McCabe Gym on Saturday night. Sophomore point guard Weleh Dennis unloaded a game-high 27 points (including 6-of-9 from beyond the arc), but it was not enough for a victory. Chaminade out-rebounded AAU 49-35 and the Knights had 17 turnovers to spell the difference.

Missed shots and Silversword steals caused Academy of Art University to fall behind early while Chaminade University jumped out to an early seven-point lead. Dennis nailed a 3-pointer to stop the run, but the Silverswords would then initiate a 21-4 surge before AAU called a timeout. After the short break, freshman forward Hunter Hayden and freshman point guard Marqus Crawford kept the Chaminade advantage from getting higher than 22 points before sophomore guard Phillip Samuel did his part with four consecutive made field goals.

Unfortunately for AAU, the lead would balloon to 31 in the waning minutes of the half after back-to-back 3-pointers by guard Darrell Birton and going into the locker room for halftime, the Urban Knights trailed 51-24 and only Samuel had reached double figures with 10 at the break.

After shooting 50% from behind the arc (8-of-16) in the first half, the Silverswords cooled down in the second period and managed to keep their lead above 30 points until a 12-1 run by the Knights where Dennis sank two treys of his own brought the score to 79-52 with 4:38 on the clock. It was just too little too late for AAU as numerous made free throws by Chaminade sealed the deal.

Dennis' previously mentioned 27 points were his highest point total since his career-high 33 points against Holy Names University on Jan. 6. Samuel added 12 points and Hayden 10 points to round out the three Urban Knights to hit double figures in scoring. Crawford also came off the bench to secure a team-high nine rebounds.

Chaminade University had six players score in double figures led by guard Darrell Birton who had a team-high 23 points. However, possibly a bigger story than Birton's team-high was the triple-double performance (10 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists) turned in by guard Noah Gottlieb.

The loss puts AAU's record at 3-17 overall and Chaminade's victory pushes them up to 9-7 on the season.

Academy of Art University will have one day off before they take on the Pacific West Conference's #1 team in BYU-Hawaii (11-1 overall, 4-0 in PacWest) on Monday in Laie, HI. Tip-off for that contest is set for 7:30 PM.