ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Home or away, it's abundantly clear Brigham Young-Hawai'i and Chaminade players aren't friendly enough to exchange lei unless forced.

That's why the Seasiders enjoyed yesterday's laugher of a basketball game even more.

Four Seasiders hit for double figures and BYUH advanced to its first NCAA Division II West Regional title game with a fiercely played 83-62 semifinal win over rival Chaminade at the University of Alaska Anchorage's Wells Fargo Sports Complex. Chaminade had beaten BYUH in the teams' first three meetings this season.

Tomorrow, the seventh-seeded Seasiders (20-7) will meet Alaska Anchorage, which beat Seattle Pacific, 56-55, in the other semifinal, for a trip to the Elite Eight later this month in Springfield, Mass.

"Losing to Chaminade on senior night at home (on Feb. 23) was depressing for me personally," said BYUH senior Corey Nielson. "Now, to be in the Sweet 16, that's what you dream about. We've still got a lot more to accomplish, but this is fun."

Last night proved chippy as well.

The Seasiders roared to a 36-22 halftime lead and extended it to 50-27 on Marques Whippy's layup with 14:24 remaining. Chaminade then went on a 23-8 run to close to 58-50.

A pile of players then met on the floor near half court with 8:37 left. Nielson landed on top of Chaminade's Stewart Kussler, who was assessed a technical foul for pushing away Nielson. The heated rivalry between the teams was evident.

"You have no idea," said BYUH senior Paul Peterson, who hit both technical free throws.

The Seasiders then closed the game with a 23-12 run.

"Both teams respect each other a whole lot," Nielson said. "But when it's time to battle, everyone is competing. No one wants to lose on this stage."

Chaminade, the Pacific West Conference champion and regional's second seed, won the first three games of the season series with BYUH by a combined 10 points. Last night, the Silverswords suffered shooting woes, converting only 25 percent of their shots (5 of 20) in the first half and missing their first six shots of the game.

"We made a great run," Chaminade coach Matt Mahar said. "It's hard to beat a team three times, let alone four. (BYUH) played real well, though.

"You play your little brother in the driveway a bunch of times, he's going to beat you once. He's going to knock down some shots. They shot it real well tonight and we didn't shoot it at all."

Mike Green paced Chaminade (21-8) with 17 points, including four 3-pointers.

Super sophomore Lucas Alves scored 18 points for BYUH (21-7). Nielson added 15 points, Jeremy Brown 13 and Peterson 10. The Seasiders finished 46.4 percent from the floor (26 of 56) and looked like a contender doing so.

"People seem to forget we were ranked ninth in the nation earlier in the season," said Peterson, who was born in Anchorage. "Coming in, we didn't care who it was we played as long as we got the chance."

Matt Nevala is a former Anchorage Daily News sports reporter. Contact him at nevs@gci.net.