FULLERTON, Calif. – Point Loma Nazarene shot just 40 percent from the field yet still notched its third straight Golden State Athletic Conference win Tuesday night by beating Hope International, 52-46. The victory gives PLNU a 10-4 overall record with the team improving to 3-2 in conference.

The Sea Lions scored the first 12 points of the game while preventing the Royals from making their first bucket until nearly seven minutes into the opening stanza. Loma would go in front by 13 twice during the half and looked to be headed to an easy win.

That advantage slowly evaporated.

PLNU went into a collective slump down the stretch, adding just four points to their tally over the final 7:41 of the first half. Hope International, meanwhile, had 12 points during that span to close the gap to just five. At the break the score was 24-19, PLNU.

The Green and Gold shot just 30 percent over the opening 20 minutes of play in Hope's Darling Pavilion and were blanked (0-9) from past the three-point arc. A bright spot for the Sea Lions was forward Greg Murray who came off the bench to score nine points by making 3-for-5 shots.

Loma guard Hayden Lescault opened the second with a three-pointer. That would be the last bucket for Point Loma for the next five minutes though. The Royals forged a 27-27 tie at 15:48 before Wil Bush stopped the bleeding with a trey on the next Sea Lion possession.

The two GSAC foes traded four leads until a Marek Klassen jumper at 9:11 put the Sea Lions up for good. Loma's lead ballooned to eight points but Hope International sliced the margin in half and trailed by just four points with 1:53 remaining in the game.

Point Loma lost the ball on its next possession but the Royals failed to capitalize. A Murray dunk to open the last minute of play pushed the Sea Lion lead to six. Both sides made a pair of free throws late; PLNU clinching the win after HIU missed on a pair of threes.

Murray paced the Sea Lions with 15 points followed by 10 from Rhett Beal. Lescault and Bush added nine and eight points, respectively.

Steve Jurich led HIU with 14 points and nine rebounds. The Royals (8-4, 1-4 GSAC) shot just 34 percent.

Point Loma will host Biola at 7:30 pm this Saturday.