LAHAINA >> You need not say anything to Chaminade — and two Silverswords big men in particular — about making this count.

Brett Reed and Erik Scheive could easily not be here right now. Not here as in the Maui Invitational, but here, breathing. Alive.

The two juniors had near-death experiences as high schoolers and beat the odds to make it this far, on national TV playing in their sport’s best-known early-season tournament.

They started in the Silverswords’ game against Michigan in the consolation semifinals Tuesday, combining for 14 points and nine rebounds in a 102-64 loss.

“This tournament had a lot to do with it,” Reed, a Stage 3 lymphoma survivor, said Sunday of coming to Chaminade. “I’ve always wanted to play against the best in the country. … I actually have been to Maui before, on a Make-A-Wish trip when I was a (high school) junior. So this is like me coming back here for the first time since, and I’m playing in the tournament. It’s cool.”

A Make-A-Wish trip, the shaved head of a cancer patient, all of it — circumstances were that dire for Reed, a Houston native who was diagnosed during his sophomore year of high school in 2012. There was a “Battle for Brett” fundraising campaign. He had to leave the game entirely for nearly a year while he underwent treatment.

By the time Reed recovered, he’d grown from 6-foot-1 to 6-6 (he’s now 6-8), meaning he had some guard skills in a forward’s body. Amazingly, he was able to play out his high school career at Woodlands College Park and earned county MVP as a senior.

Scheive, of Marysville, Calif., dealt with his own daunting situation.

He collapsed during an AAU game the spring of his junior year, going unconscious and into cardiac arrest. Someone at the game applied CPR to him; he remembers waking up in the hospital with sore ribs.

The 6-foot-10 forward needed to have an ICD (implantable cardioverter defibrillator), a device similar to a pacemaker, inserted to help monitor his heart.

“It was pretty tough for me going through it all,” Scheive said. “I had some doctors say I’d probably never be able to play sports again, stuff like that.”

He got a second opinion and was able to resume playing later that summer. He was told there was “nothing wrong with him … people randomly have it and they’ll never find a reason for it happening.” But the incident also made some recruiters back off.

“I decided not to let my dream die and kept working at it,” Scheive said.

Both Reed and Scheive went the junior college route, gained all-state accolades, and came to Chaminade with two years of eligibility. The initial thought was that they’d get two cracks at Maui. Six games to show their stuff.

But all of Chaminade’s 12 juniors and seniors are making their last Maui appearance.

Chaminade is getting phased out of the tournament in alternating years starting next year, and will play mainland games at Maui participants’ home arenas in those years instead.

Attitudes are mostly undimmed, thanks in part to two guys with everything to play for.

“They bring our practices to a different level,” coach Eric Bovaird said. “I’m just thrilled to have those two on my team right now. They’re both good kids, they’re fun to be around. They’re going to make us better. I know we can compete for a championship with those two on our team.

“They’re battlers. They’re going to make the most out of life, I know that.”

Both players have required regular testing since their respective ordeals. Reed, past remission, now gets checked once a year, down from two.

In the first round Monday, an 83-56 loss to Notre Dame, Reed got his team pumped up at halftime of his ’Swords debut by sticking a one-footed 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer. Scheive scored a team-high 17.

Chaminade faces California (2-3) in the seventh-place game at 9:30 a.m. today, seeking its eighth all-time win in its event, and first since 2012.

“Oh man, it would be big to me,” Reed said. “I’m one of the most competitive guys. I’m not just happy to be here. I’m trying to win games.”