By Jacob Norling
January 2, 2025
 
(HONOLULU, Hi.) Westmont Men's Basketball (5-8, 3-2 PacWest) could not overcome a slow start in their first game of 2025, as the Chaminade Silverswords (10-3, 4-2) handed the Warriors a 78-74 loss in Hawaii on Thursday night. While a strong second half gave the Warriors an opportunity to overcome their mishaps, Westmont could not quite beat Chaminade to the finish line in their first conference contest of the calendar year.
 
As has been the story on many nights this season, Westmont took a while to find scoring outside of their star senior, Adrian McIntyre. McIntyre was once again near the top of his game on Thursday, as the senior dropped a career-high 39 points to go along with six rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
 
For the Warriors, however, their offensive attack was not much of a secret in the first half, which led to the Silverswords leading 36-28 at the break. At halftime, McIntyre had already scored 25 points on 10 of 14 shooting. Elsewhere, the rest of the squad collected just three points on one of 14 shooting.
 
Drew Ramirez started the game by missing his first eight attempts from the field, but the senior answered the call in the second half when the Warriors needed him most. Ramirez ended up making five of 10 second-half heaves from three-point range, which gave the Warriors a huge 15-point boost down the stretch.
 
Ramirez' final three of the night came with 4:22 remaining, when the Warriors pulled ahead 68-66. The Warriors would continue to trade blows with the Silverswords over the game's final minutes, with a basket from Will Smith III, and free throws from McIntyre and De'Undrae Perteete putting the Warriors up 73-72 with under a minute remaining.
 
With 23 seconds remaining, however, a converted jumper from Chaminade put the home team up 74-73, putting all the pressure on Westmont as the clock ran down. With eight seconds to go, McIntyre forced his way inside to try and sneak a left-handed layup through heavy traffic. The shot would not fall, however, and on the other end of the floor, the Silverswords all but ended the game with a successful trip to the free throw line.
 
Westmont outscored Chaminade 46-42 in the second half, but in the end it was the depth of the Swords that allowed the home team to prevail. For Westmont, both McIntyre and Perteete never left the floor, with Westmont's bench providing just six points of relief at night's end. For Chaminade, the Silverswords reserves provided 34 of their 78 points. Neither side performed particularly well at the free throw line, where Chaminade made just 14 of 25, and Westmont made 13 of 20.
 
Westmont concludes its Hawaii road trip on Saturday night, when the Warriors battle the Hilo Vulcans at 7:30 p.m. HST/9:30 p.m. PST. Links to live coverage will be available on the Westmont Athletics website.