Chapman Win Streak Ends as Hawaii Pacific Prevails

The Chapman College Panthers were feeling pretty good about themselves before Monday night’s game against Hawaii Pacific College.

They owned a four-game winning streak and had moved above .500 last weekend. That’s usually not considered a big deal. But the Kevin Wilson era at Chapman hasn’t had many high points.

Well, the Panthers came screeching back to reality, courtesy of Richard Tillman, in the first minute of play in Hutton Sports Center at Orange.

Chapman took control of the opening tipoff, but turned the ball over. Tillman raced downcourt and made a reverse dunk.

It was an appropriate opening for the ending of Chapman’s winning streak as Hawaii Pacific won, 90-82.

No, it wasn’t a mirage. The Panthers did have four victories after losing their first three. But those victories came against little-regarded schools such as Susquehanna University, Point Loma, and Southern California College.

Meanwhile, Hawaii Pacific, which had defeated Chapman earlier, traveled to Stanford to play against Alabama-Birmingham and Columbia.

“We played awful,” said Hawaii Pacific Coach Paul Smith of the first meeting, a 90-83 victory in Hawaii. “We didn’t play very well over there. I don’t think we played nearly as well as we did here. But I think we learned to do some things better.”

Hawaii Pacific did a much better job defensively on Alan Erickson and Kelly Huston. Erickson had 12 points in the first meeting and scored just six last night. Huston, in particular, struggled the whole game. He committed six turnovers and scored six points. Huston scored 28 against the Sea Warriors in Hawaii.

Fred Jones, who led the Sea Warriors with 30 points against Chapman in the first meeting, was game high with 33. David Everett had 20 and Tillman scored 12. Jon Samuelson, who missed the first meeting in Hawaii, led Chapman with 23 points. Chris Perine added 13 and Karl Tompkins had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Despite committing 17 turnovers in the first half and 21 in all, and despite being down by 12 points with 5:49 remaining, Chapman nearly pulled it out.

The Panthers outscored the Sea Warriors, 10-0, in the next three minutes. Chapman cut the lead to 79-77 with 2:43 left. But the Sea Warriors went five of six from the free-throw line before the Panthers could score again.