HONOLULU, Hawai'i – Brian Chambers scored 24 points while Geoff Gerlach and Kyle Gray each added a dozen but the Concordia University Irvine Eagles came up just short in a tight affair with Chaminade, 79-76.

Grant Dressler led the Silverswords with 34 points and carried the hosts while Chambers helped rally the troops in the second half.  Chaminade (14-3, 8-3 PacWest) built a 70-58 advantage down the stretch after a 14-0 run which started with a Dressler layup and ended with his fifth trey of the evening.

After Concordia head coach Ken Ammann called a timeout to help his guys regroup, Cameron English converted three layups and Austin Clarke added another bucket to spur an 8-2 response and cut the deficit to 72-66.  About a minute later, Chambers sank a triple to draw the Eagles within three, 74-71.

Robert Taylor then stepped into the spotlight with a steal, a three-point play and another layup to trim the Chaminade lead to 77-76 with under 30 seconds to go in regulation. 

Moments later, Chambers had a potential game-tying layup rim out after going half down with about ten seconds to play. 

The Swords sank two of their last four free throw attempts to leave the door open for overtime, but with the Eagles needing a three to tie it on their final possession the iron was unkind once again.  Chambers and Kayle Knuckles each forced up a three-point attempt but Chaminade escaped and tightened the PacWest race in the process.

Concordia (13-7, 9-2 PacWest) still sits in second place in the conference standings behind first-place Point Loma.  Chaminade is now one game behind the Eagles and one game ahead of fourth-place Azusa Pacific.  The top two teams at the end of the regular season earn first-round byes in the PacWest Conference Tournament which will be hosted by Dominican University this March up in San Rafael, Calif.

Gerlach scored eight of his 12 points in the first half.  The Green and Gold led by as many as seven on multiple occasions but the Swords rallied thanks to Dressler.  The senior guard from Las Vegas personally oversaw a 10-2 run to erase the CUI lead.  The teams went to the halftime locker room knotted at 34.

"We started off well on Dressler but let him get going and he had a tremendous game," said Ammann.  "Chambers was great as well but we need to get better on both ends to finish where we want in the PacWest.  Overall, we had a good week of focus and I was very proud of the way we competed.  Tonight we had too many sort lapses in concentration which is not good enough to get it done vs. a really good Chaminade team."

The Eagles rounded out their Hawai'i road trip 2-1 and will return to CU Arena for their first home game since New Year's Eve on Thursday, Jan. 24.  The Green and Gold will welcome Academy of Art to Irvine that night at 7:30 p.m. following the women's game between the two schools which begins at 5:30 p.m.

For the full Concordia University Irvine men's basketball schedule, click here.