HONOLULU, Hawai'i – Most college basketball coaches and players will tell you that they need to be focused on playing a full 40 minutes to come out with a victory.

It's a good thing the Concordia University Irvine Eagles didn't have to play 40 minutes and one second on Saturday against Chaminade.

CUI escaped with a 61-59 win against one of the top teams in the PacWest Conference after a crazy sequence in the final seconds. The Silverswords had a chance to force overtime or go for a three and the win on their final possession of regulation. As the clock ran down, Andre Arissol had a good look from behind the arc on the wing and drained a three to the delight of the home crowd. For a second, the Silverswords thought they had eked out the victory.

However, the referees immediately ruled that the basket did not count and that Arissol did not release the shot before the final buzzer. The Eagles breathed a sigh of relief and improved to 1-1 on their three-game road trip in Hawai'i.

"That final sequence was very crazy," said senior Kyle Gray. "If that guy had even a half-a-second more time than we would have lost. That sequence almost erased all our hard work that we put in throughout the game. I am very proud of my team. We played defense like our lives were on the line tonight. No one wanted to let down the guy next to them and when we are locked in, we are a defensive force."

"Really proud of the way our guys fought today," said CUI head coach Ken Ammann. "Chaminade is a great program and extremely well-coached. We had a hard time scoring in the second half. We stayed focused the entire game and we needed every second."

Jalen Sanders led the Eagles in scoring with 14 points and Darius Lee chipped in with 10 to help pace the offense. Both were key down the stretch on the offensive end.

With the game knotted at 57 with about three minutes to go, Lee hit a floater to put CUI up 59-57. On Chaminade's next possession, Cameron English came up with a huge block in timely fashion to preserve the lead. The Eagles (14-6, 8-3 PacWest) quickly transitioned to offense and Jamel White found Sanders for a quick bucket to give their team enough of a cushion.

The Eagles were often at their best when they capitalized off of turnovers. They led by as many as a dozen early in the second half. Rob McCoy scored six straight points during an 8-0 run to make it 41-29 Concordia.

The Silverswords (11-7, 9-4 PacWest) rallied but the Eagles did a good job slowing down their leading scorer Tyler Cartaino. The Chaminade senior was held to only 12 points on 6-for-16 shooting.

"We were very focused and keyed in on their best players," added Lee. "We got the job done."

The Eagles were in charge 33-27 at halftime. Lee led the first half charge with eight of his ten points coming in the first 20 minutes. White led the Eagles with six assists and also added four points.

"Jamel was outstanding and Jalen and Darius hit some big shots for us," added Ammann. "Rob McCoy and Andre Green really worked hard on the defensive end. Cartaino and Small are very hard to stop and our team really worked together to make that happen."

The Eagles complete their three-game road trip with a Monday matchup against Hawaii Pacific before returning to California for Homecoming Weekend.

For the full CUI men's basketball schedule, click here.