HPU, Chaminade head to PacWest playoffs

Postseason aspirations for Hawaii’s Division II basketball teams hinge on this week’s PacWest tournaments.

Winning it all in Irvine, Calif., will guarantee an automatic berth to the NCAA West regional. Coming up short could potentially end the seasons for the Chaminade men and Hawaii Pacific men and women. The regional poll, used to select at-large teams to fill up the eight-team West regional, has the HPU men (26-2, 18-2 PacWest) at seventh despite a national ranking of eighth in the coaches poll. Chaminade (17-10, 13-7) dropped out of last week’s regional poll despite not losing a game. The HPU women (20-5, 17-3) are also seventh.

“I was shocked,” said HPU men’s coach Darren Vorderbruegge, whose team won the PacWest regular-season title on Saturday by beating Chaminade. “I thought that was low. The only good thing that came out of that was it angered our team.”

The Sharks, who have never made the regionals in Vorderbruegge’s nine-year tenure, secured the tournament’s top seed and a bye into Friday’s semifinals. While they’re at a precarious position in the regional poll, Vorderbruegge feels his team’s resume speaks for itself.

“We feel like we got a good resume,” said Vorderbruegge. “What we got to do right now is sustain what we’re doing. We look for things to improve on. At this point of the year, when you’re having this kind of success, I think it’s important to remember what’s given you that success and make sure you bring that every game.”

HPU runs and scores at abandon, averaging 87 points while shooting 49 percent from the field. Chauncey Orr leads the Sharks with 19.2 points per game, one of three players averaging double figures. Orr and Connor Looney (17 points) both shoot over 40 percent from 3-point range.

“We’ve had a balanced approach, a good inside-out game,” Vorderbruegge said. “Everybody loves to shoot. That’s not really a coaching thing. That’s having some guys who can put the ball in the hole.”

Chaminade, the tournament’s fourth seed, plays fifth-seeded Azusa Pacific (16-14, 11-9) in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Chaminade beat Azusa Pacific on Jan. 30 before the Cougars closed out February by winning six of seven games. The winner faces HPU, and Azusa Pacific beat HPU in February.

“They turned it around,” Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird said of Azusa Pacific. “There was a stretch in the beginning of February where I thought they were the hottest team in the conference.”

Fourth-year players Kiran Shastri and Kuany Kuany were members of the 2014 squad that won the PacWest title. Shastri is Chaminade’s career leader in 3-pointers and Kuany moved into third on the program’s all-time scoring list on Saturday.

“They came in as freshmen and they won a championship,” Bovaird said. “We’re hoping for them to go out as seniors as champions.”

The HPU women, seeded third, play sixth-seeded Dominican (16-11, 12-8) in Thursday’s quarterfinals. The winner faces second-seeded Point Loma (23-4, 17-3) in Friday’s semifinals. HPU dropped a spot to seventh in last week’s regional ranking after losing to Point Loma.

Briana Mackenzie leads the Sharks with 12.5 points per game. VeAnne Navarro is averaging 10.3 and was named to the all-tournament team in 2015 when they last won the PacWest.