ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Pac West Conference MVP forward Lucas Alves scored 18 points, but it was a cast of BYU-Hawaii team members that helped the lowest seeded team remaining in the West Region to continue their winning ways and keep their Cinderella dreams of winning the tournament alive with an 83-62 win over conference rival Chaminade University to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.
The Region Title game for the west will be played this Monday evening at 5 p.m. (HST) and can be viewed online for free by accessing the goseawolves.com website and setting up a free account to view the championship game.
BYU-Hawaii’s play exemplified a team effort as nine different Seasiders contributed points to the final score in today’s match, including four players who scored in double figures. Senior point guard Corey Nielson had 15 points and six assists, while guard Jeremy Brown came off the bench to provide quality minutes while adding 13 himself, and Senior guard Paul Peterson had a well balanced game contributing 10 points, seven assists and six boards at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex in Alaska. As a team the Seasiders shot 46.4% from the field on the night compared to just 34.8% by the Silverswords.
What makes this game special, besides the play-off atmosphere, is that the Seasiders had previously gone 0-3 against their conference foe Chaminade this year prior to this match-up, and each game between the two was a battle back and forth: Chaminade always ended-up on top, until today. BYU-Hawaii managed to turn the tide of their bad fortune and were relentless in keeping the pressure on the Silverswords from the starting whistle to the finish, hustling to win loose balls, sinking clutch free-throws and shots, and coming up with big steals and stops when the score drew closer late in the game.
The Silverswords seeded No. 3 in the region and ranked 25th nationally, were led by 17 points from guard Mike Green in the loss and end their season with a 21-8 overall record. This was the second upset win by BYU-Hawaii over a top 25 ranked opponent in as many days.
The Seasiders (20-7) will take on the winner of Saturday’s late night semifinal between top-seeded Alaska Anchorage and 5th-seeded Seattle Pacific on Monday March 17th for a chance to advance to the elite 8 in the nation. BYU-Hawaii has faced both of these region foes earlier this season, playing them close as they fell in double-overtime to Alaska Anchorage, and lost on a last-second shot to Seattle Pacific University.