Box Score

HONOLULU - The Point Loma men's basketball team dropped a tough game on the road to Hawaii Pacific, 79-74, on Wednesday, Jan. 8.

Hayden Lescault put together another outstanding performance for Point Loma with 23 points, six rebounds and eight assists. This was his third straight game with at least 23 points, and the junior is averaging 25.7 point per game over that span.

Despite a strong effort on the road by Lescault and his teammates the Sea Lions (9-5, 4-4 Pacific West Conference) could not overcome a 15-point advantage for HPU at the free throw line. The Sea Warriors (10-2, 5-2 PacWest) went 30-of-35 from the charity stripe in the game, while PLNU was 15-of-23.

Justin Long was a perfect 14-of-14 from the line to lead five Hawaii Pacific players in double-figures with 19 points. Farbod Farman recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Point Loma came out early in the game and built a 10-point lead at 21-11 with 9:11 remaining after a 3-pointer by Taylor Wetherell and a free throw by Malcolm Collins. HPU continued to chip away at the lead and scored eight of the final 11 points of the first period to take a 31-28 lead into the half.

Even with the break in the action the Sea Warriors kept their moment they built before the half and scored 11 of the first 14 points in the second period to go up 42-31. PLNU kept battling back and cut the Sea Warriors' lead to one point on a Sam Okhotin 3-pointer with 10:22 remaining. The Sea Lions would again cut the lead to two points at 6:45 and to three at 2:51 but they could never take the lead.

The game looked to be getting away when Farman knocked down a free throw with 00:50 left to give HPU the eight-point lead. Marek Klassen responded quickly with a 3-pointer five seconds later and then after a turnover by Hawaii Pacific AJ Ussery sank two free throws with 38 second left to pull PLNU within three (77-74).

With the three second differential in the shot clock and game clock Point Loma elected to play defense, HPU took the clock down to 10 seconds before Malte Ziegenhagen drove to the hoop and had his pass tipped. The ball went to the ground where PLNU jumped on it and called for timeout with four seconds left. However, the Sea Lions were without a timeout, resulting in a technical foul, and the HPU hit two free throws to win the game 79-74.

Point Loma struggled shooting on the evening hitting just 37 percent of its shots. But PLNU kept in the game by grabbing 17 offensive rebounds and outscoring HPU 19-9 on second-chance points. 

Lescault scored 16 of his 23 points in the second half, including hitting four of his five 3-pointers. Junior Morgan had 11 points, and Sam Okhotin added 10 for PLNU.

The Point Loma men's basketball team will return to action on Friday, Jan. 10 at 9:30 p.m. (PST) against BYU-Hawaii.