SAN DIEGO - The Point Loma men's basketball team suited up just seven student-athletes for their PacWest Conference game against Dominican. Despite being outmanned, all seven Sea Lions stepped up to lead PLNU to a 72-69 victory over the Penguins.
 
The win evened the Sea Lions' (12-9) conference record at 7-7, and moved them within half a game of Dominican (12-10, 8-7 PacWest) in the standings.
 
All seven Sea Lions scored at least five points in the game as PLNU shot 48 percent from the field and won the turnover battle (16-14). Josh Rodriguez led the way with 24 points, six assists and four steals. He was 9-of-16 from the field. He has now reached the 20-point plateau seven times during his freshman season. Tanner Lancona came off the bench to post 12 points and help PLNU outscore Dominican in the paint 32-24. Mike Planeta also added nine points, while Aaron Roedl and Zach Burnham each chipped in with eight. Burnham paced PLNU with nine rebounds.
 
"I thought we competed very well and we got good production from everyone that played," said Point Loma head coach Bill Carr. "Everyone had a contribution in this win."
 
The key was a 12-0 run for Point Loma late in the second half. PLNU was down 32-31 at halftime. Dominican came out strong in the second half and built a seven point lead (55-48) with less than 10 minutes remaining. That is when the Sea Lions found their offensive stride. Rodriguez scored seven of the 12 points during the run, assisted on an old fashion three-point play by Burnham and had two steals.
 
"Josh grew up a little today as a competitor and a leader," explained Carr. "He is a guy that can take a game plan and execute it, and get his teammates to execute it as well."
 
The Sea Lions would extend that run to 20-5 and go up 68-60 with 2:54 remaining. DUC went on a 7-0 spurt to close the game within one point at 68-67, but Mike Planeta hit all four of his free throw attempts in the final 24 seconds to seal the victory.
 
Dominican had five student-athletes in double-figures led by Josh Ramirez with 12 points and nine rebounds.
 
"Dominican is well coached and they are not easy to play," said Carr. "There is a reason they win games."
 
The Point Loma men's basketball team will face another tough test on Saturday, Feb. 13 when it travels to Azusa Pacific (16-6, 10-4 PacWest) to take on the Cougars at 8:00 p.m. PLNU knocked off APU earlier this season in overtime 92-86.