HONOLULU-The hosts were unwelcoming early and the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (1-5 overall, 0-1 PacWest) fell 67-55 to the Chaminade Silverswords (3-6 overall, 1-2 PacWest) Saturday afternoon at McCabe Gymnasium.

Chaminade found open windows and knocked down 12 threes while an early slump put Fresno Pacific in a hole it would not recover from.

The hosts jumped out to a 16-2 lead before Harrison Pennisi's nifty post move got to the rim for a difficult layup.

Avery Lewis backed it up with another layup for his second field goal in the first nine minutes.

But Chaminade's lead hovered in double-figures for much of the first half as they shot 54% from beyond the arc, knocking down seven threes to take a 37-17 lead into the halftime break.

The Silverswords spread the lead to as much as 24, just past the midway point in the second half, with much of the difference coming from deep.

With 7:30 left in the game, Chaminade had a 58-33 lead thanks to 11 threes, four of which came in the first 12 minutes of the second half while FPU had made just three triples up to that point in the game.

"Our grit and toughness on defense continues to shine brightly for us," Head Coach C.J. Haydock said. "Lots of comprehensive, connected efforts on that end of the floor, against one of the most talented offensive teams in the league."

Pennisi led the way for Fresno Pacific with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Isaac Peralta also had 13 points for the Sunbirds.

"Offensively, we did a good job tonight taking better care of the ball tonight," Haydock said. "We continue to generate quality looks from three, and just have some shooting woes that we must solve. We've got to be a little tougher about paint finishes and generating free throws, and trust that our shooting work is going to pay off to generate some more scoring. I thought Ryas Vang and Harrison Pennisi were both very bright spots tonight for us."

The Sunbirds remain on Oahu for a Monday night matchup against Hawai'i Pacific in the Shark Tank.

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