Senior guard Kirby Gardner scored a game-high 24 points 12 in the second half as top-seeded Cal State San Bernardino rallied past eighth-seeded Chaminade 79-78 Friday night in the NCAA II West Regional quarterfinal in San Bernardino, Calif.
The Coyotes (24-4) No. 1 in the West Region, No. 10 nationally completed the CCAA’s trifecta against the three PacWest teams that played in Friday’s quarterfinals at Coussoulis Arena. Cal Poly Pomona eliminated Dixie State 73-65 and Chico State ousted Cal Baptist 77-71.
It was a tough way to end the season for the Silverswords (19-13), who won the PacWest tournament last week as a five seed. Chaminade led 41-34 at intermission and had a 47-37 lead two minutes into the second half. But CSUSB, with four Division I transfers, wasn’t about to go quitely.
The Coyotes, taking advantage of the absence of 6-foot-7 Swords senior forward Tyree Harrison (three fouls) took their first lead of the half (56-55) on a free throw by Joshua Gooch at 10:19. That sparked a 12-2 run that appeared to give CSUSB which had only lost once in 13 games a very comfortable 67-57 lead.
Chaminade cut it to 77-75 behind seven points from freshman guard Kuany Kuany, who scored off a steal and ensuing layup with 32 seconds left. The ‘Swords had a chance to at least tie following a Coyote turnover with nine seconds to go but junior guard Lee Bailey was called for a travel replays showed he was tripped by a CSUSB player and the Coyotes iced the game with two free throws by Andrew Young.
A 70-foot heave at the buzzer from freshman guard Kiran Shantri counted, but "I think the fans appreciated the 3-pointer more than I did; I knew we needed four points," said Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird. "Now if it had won the game or sent it into overtime then
"I’m being a biased coach when I say I thought it was a foul (on Lee). There were a lot of close calls. But the bottom line was they are No. 1 in the region for a reason. The key was we had to stop (senior guard and CCAA player of the year) Lacy Haddock. We did a good job, but they have so many good players."
Besides Gardner, who played at Oklahoma State the past two years, Gouch and Haddock also finished in double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Gardner and Gouch also double-doubled with Gouch grabbing 11 rebounds and Gardner 10.
Chaminade had five players in double figures in Kuany (19), Shastri (18), sophomore guard Kevin Hu (14), Harrison (12) and Bailey (11). The ‘Swords, who hit 15 3-pointers in last Saturday’s upset of Dominican, were 6-for-11 Friday night, a function of the Coyotes’ extended defense.
