HONOLULU – The Cal State Dominguez Hills men's basketball team nearly erased a 16-point deficit in the second half but ran out of time as Chaminade narrowly defeated the Toros 85-81 Sunday afternoon.
 
It was a career day for Mikey Hatfield as the junior forward scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Fifteen turned out to be the number of the day for senior Jonathan Nichols as that was the amount of points and rebounds he tallied while being credited for five assists.
 
The tall Silversword ballclub narrowly won the rebounding category 45-40. Erik Scheive score 20 points and had 14 boards to lead Chaminade in both statistics.
 
After shooting a cold 28 percent at halftime, the Toros bounced back in the second and got their average up to 35.7 in the end. The Silverswords shot 42 percent overall.
 
Chaminade had led from start to finish. Trailing 45-33 at halftime, Dominguez Hills managed to get a couple of rhythms that enabled it to get to 75-74 with 1:38 left. Chaminade would score half of its 10 points on the free throw line to keep ahead.
 
The Toros not only return to the Mainland but to California Collegiate Athletic Association play with a trip to Northern California starting with Sonoma State Friday and San Francisco State Saturday. Both are 7:30 p.m. starts. The Toros are 0-2 to start the conference season.