BOX SCORE
Bourbonnais, Ill. - Point Loma Nazarene was outscored 19-7 in the final five minutes of play as they dropped their 2010-11 season opener, 87-76 in front of a Homecoming crowd at Olivet Nazarene Friday night in the McHie Arena.
The Sea Lions (0-1) shot 52 percent from the field (41-60) but struggled from long-range, making just 6-of-20. PLNU was good on just 2-of-9 threes in the first. The Tigers (1-0) maintained a hot-hand from beyond the arc, sinking 11-of-22 – the same shooting percentage they had from the field (27-54). ONU pulled in 31 rebounds to 27 from Point Loma.
PLNU was down 40-33 at the break and in a 10-point hole early into the second half. The Green and Gold rallied, though, and closed the gap to just one point on two occasions over the next eight minutes. The Tigers regained the advantage on both occasions thanks to a Mike Banks three-pointer.
Finally, at the seven minute mark - after a pair of Nate Van Weelden layups and a basket from Greg Murray - the Sea Lions took their first lead of the half, 63-62.
Olivet went right back ahead until Wil Bush sank his first trey in five attempts. Todd Campbell followed with a bucket and Point Loma was up by four.
The Tigers keep shooting - and making - threes. Matt Funkhouser and Torey Laferney each hit from downtown to erase the deficit and put Olivet in front for good.
PLNU was still in contention, yet four misfires and three turnovers over the final five minutes of play sabotaged any comeback attempts. Even with the misques the Sea Lions still managed to get to within four with 50 ticks on the clock but were forced to foul to try to regain possession. The Tigers sealed the deal by making seven from the stripe.
The opening stanza saw PLNU taking a quick 8-4 lead. ONU rolled off the next nine points, however, to go in front by five. The Sea Lions responded with a 12-3 run, capped by a Jake Johnston three, to push thier lead to five (22-18). Loma stretched its lead to a game-high 13 at 5:43 only to see Olivet regain the momentum over the final few minutes of the half and go into intermission ahead by seven.
Hancock paced the Sea Lions with 19 points on an 8-for-11 shooting night and pulled in a team-best six rebounds. Murray added 16 points (7-11), Campbell had 14 points (5-8) and Van Weelden scored 11 points (5-8). Marek Klassen contributed nine points, five boards and three assists.
The Olivet Nazarene trio of Cory Hainlen, Funkhouser and Matt Mitchell scored 27, 19 and 16 points respectively. Chuck Rideout pulled in 10 rebounds.
The Sea Lions head to Chicago on Saturday where they will take on Saint Xavier in a non-conference tilt at 3:00 pm (CST).
