SAN DIEGO - The Sea Lions nearly overcame a 19-point deficit but came up short in an 86-76 loss to visiting William Jewell (MO) Monday afternoon in Golden Gym. The setback evens Point Loma's overall mark to 6-6 on the year while the No. 17-ranked Cardinals improved to 11-1.

PLNU started the non-conference tilt slowly and trailed by seven less than four minutes into the first half. That margin grew to double-figures at 4:31 and a game-high 19 at 2:32. A Marek Klassen three and pair of layups by James Hancock and Rhett Beal late helped the Sea Lions shave five points off the gap at the break.

Loma came out of the blocks fast to open the second stanza. Robbie McDaniel started the rally with a pair of makes at the free throw line; Klassen put in a jumper and Todd Campbell slammed in a dunk and made the and-one. Beal grabbed a steal and followed with a layup. With just three minutes off the clock the score was 46-41 Cardinals.

After some back-and-forth another Sea Lion burst saw the team close to within two points of WJC with 11 minutes to play. The Cardinals were able to keep PLNU at arm's length though and pushed their advantage back to the high single-digits.

William Jewell was unshakable at the line, making 26-of-32 tries. Those points sealed the victory for the Cardinals when PLNU was forced to foul to slow down the clock.

Though the game goes down in the loss column, an encouraging sign was PLNU's play at the free throw line - something that has cost them in previous contests. After another trying start there early Monday, the Sea Lions started making their shots from the stripe and ended up going 17-of-23.

Point Loma shot 41.3 percent from the field compared to 46.3 percent from WJC. The Cardinals made 10 three pointers, six of which came from Chris Uz. The Sea Lions managed to control the boards, outrebounding the Cardinals 42-30.

Klassen paced the PLNU attack with 22 points. Campbell added 16 points and seven boards. Hancock also scored 16.

Jonathan Benson finished with 24 points for WJC, Uz followed with 22.

PLNU takes a few days off for the Christmas break. The team's next contest is on Thursday, December 30, when they host Mount Vernon Nazarene at 8:00 pm.