Chaminade stuns the college basketball world again

Chaminade University is a Catholic school with 1,200 students with a Division II men’s basketball team that is probably best known for hosting the annual Maui Invitational tournament.

Oh, and for knocking off a big-time program every few decades.

Thirty years after pulling off one of the biggest upsets ever in college basketball, the Silverswords beat Texas, 86-73, Monday night during the first day of the invitational.

“We are ecstatic,” said Coach Eric Bovaird, whose team immediately became a hot topic all over Twitter following the game. “We believed all along that we had a chance to play with these guys over here. We knew if we got down to a close ballgame that there was a good chance we were going to win.”

De’Andre Haskins had 32 points and nine rebounds for the Silverswords (3-1), who pulled away in the second half. Freshman Kevin Hu scored 16 points in 14 minutes off the bench.

The victory -- which came 30 years after Chaminade, then a member of the NAIA, defeated top-ranked Virginia, 77-72 -- was a rare one for the Silverswords at their invitational, which is in its 28th year. Chaminade now has a 7-76 record at the event and has a chance to do something its never done before -- win two games during the same Maui Invitational.

And maybe more.

“We just talked about it in the locker room,” Bovaird said after Monday’s game “You know, Lee Bailey said this summer: ‘Coach, we can win that. We can win that tournament.’ And these guys believe that. They believe that. That is the first step in achieving something like that. They believe it.”

Chaminade plays Illinois in the second round Tuesday.

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