THIS WEEK:Two of the top teams in the West Region will meet up at Golden Gym this Saturday night (Jan. 24) when the Point Loma Sea Lions host the California Baptist Lancers on Fox Sports West, Fox Sports San Diego and Prime Ticket in Los Angeles. This feature Pacific West Conference game will tipoff at 7:00 p.m.
The Sea Lions will look to truly paint Golden Gym gold as the first 1,500 fans in attendance will receive a replica, jersey t-shirt.
The Sea Lions (13-4, 6-4 PacWest) come into the game seeking revenge from last week's two-point loss (57-55) at California Baptist which snapped Point Loma's seven-match winning streak. CBU (14-2, 8-1 PacWest) is second in the Pacific West Conference standings, and will be looking to keep pace with Azusa Pacific, which it currently trails in the standings by a half-game.
FOLLOW ALONG:In addition to the game being shown on Fox Sports West, Fox Sports San Diego and Prime Ticket in Los Angeles, the game will be available for fans to follow on through live video, live stats and on Fox Sports XTRA 1360 AM. Live stats and radio as always will be free. Both the live stats and the live video may be accessed through Point Loma's website at
www.plnusealions.com or by clicking the following links: [
Live stats] [
Live video]
A LOOK AT THE SEA LIONS:Point Loma will be looking to bounce back after back-to-back losses for the first time this season. The Sea Lions currently stand in sixth place in the PacWest standings at 6-4 (13-4 overall). All four of the Sea Lions' losses have come against teams ranked in the top 3 in the PacWest standings. The top six teams in the standings at the end of the season will qualify for the PacWest tournament. PLNU is currently up a 1.5 games on Dominican (CA) and hold the tiebreaker with their victory earlier this season.
Four of PLNU's five starters are averaging over 11 points per game, and the fifth starter is averaging 9.2 points.
Sam Okhotin leads the Sea Lions with 12.0 ppg. He is shooting 54 percent from the field, 53 percent from long range and 94 percent at the free throw line. He leads the PacWest with a .532 3-point field goal percentage, and is fourth with 2.9 treys per game. His free throw percentage would lead the league if he had enough to qualify.
Hayden Lescault leads the league with 2.2 steals per contest, and is second with 4.4 assists per game.
Marek Klassen is fifth in assists-to-turnover ratio (2.1).
As a team, Point Loma leads the PacWest in scoring defense, allowing just 63.7 points per game. PLNU also paces the conference in 3-point field goal percentage (.429), and ranks third in field goal percentage (.483).
A LOOK AT THE LANCERS:California Baptist is 14-2 on the season, and a half-game out of first place in the PacWest standings with an 8-1 conference mark. Gelaun Wheelwright leads CBU and ranks ninth in the PacWest with 15.4 ppg. Cal Baptist ranks fourth in the league in offense with 79.1 points per game, and third in defense allowing only 65.8 ppg. It also paces the conference in 3-point percentage defense (.294) and 3-pointers made per game (9.6).
RECAP OF PLNU VS. CBU (1/17/15):Hayden Lescault's game-winning 3-point attempt at the buzzer skipped off the iron to allow No. 11 California Baptist to hold on, 57-55, against the Point Loma men's basketball team on Saturday, Jan. 17.
Both teams entered the contest riding long winning streaks. PLNU had won its last seven in a row and CBU its last nine. Unfortunately, it was PLNU that saw its winning streak snapped as it walked away with a loss.
"This was a really good college basketball game between two teams that competed hard and played till the end," said Point Loma head coach
Bill Carr. "This is why you coach and play college basketball."
Point Loma built a 31-25 halftime lead, but cold-shooting in the second half led to the Sea Lions' first road loss of the season. PLNU made just 33 percent of its shots in the last 20 minutes, and it committed six of its eight, turnovers, to help aid the Lancers' comeback. CBU opened the second half on an 11-3 run to erase the halftime deficit and would never relinquish the lead back to the Sea Lions.
But despite the cold shooting Point Loma battled till the end and had the ball in their senior's hands win the final seconds with a chance to win the game. With 12 seconds left, Ryan Berg's first shot in a 1-and-1 attempt hit the front rim and PLNU grabbed the rebound.
Marek Klassen rushed the ball down to Lescault and the two exchanged the ball with a handoff on the right side of the top of the 3-point line. Lescault took two dribbled and pulled up with a look at the basket from three feet behind the arc. His shot had the distance but it hit the rim and skipped off as time expired for the Sea Lions' first road loss of the season.
NEXT WEEK:PLNU will go on the road to the Bay Area to face three opponents. It will open against Holy Names on Thursday, Jan. 29, before facing Notre Dame de Namur on Saturday (Jan. 31) and Academy of Art on Monday (Feb. 1). This will be the Sea Lions' last multi-game road trip of the season.
