AZUSA, Calif. - Four of the six Point Loma men's basketball student-athletes that played in tonight's game scored in double-figures and the Sea Lions pushed Azusa Pacific to the final buzzer but the Cougars prevailed, 77-72 (Feb. 13).
 
Point Loma moves to 12-10 on the season and 7-8 in the PacWest. Azusa Pacific goes to 17-6 and remains in second place in the PacWest standings (11-4).
 
Zach Burnham manned the middle for Point Loma and recorded his first career double-double. He netted 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting and added 11 rebounds. Mike Planeta led PLNU with 18 points. Josh Rodriguez scored 17 points and had nine assists. Aaron Roedl had a career-high 12 points as he went 4-of-6 from behind the arc.
 
PLNU relied on the 3-point shot all game. The Sea Lions took over half of their field goal attempts from long range and connected on 44 percent of them (14-of-32) to outscore APU by 30 points from deep. Unfortunately they only got to the free throw line four times (2-of-4) and on the other side of the ball the Cougars owned the lane, outscoring Point Loma 44-18 on points in the paint.
 
Petar Kutlesic led Azusa Pacific with 24 points and 16 rebounds. He went 11-of-14 from the field with most of his attempts coming right at the rim. Austin Dyer came off the bench and went 9-of-10 from the floor to score 19 points in 19 minutes.
 
The game featured 10 ties and 11 lead changes. The lead was never more than four points on either side in the first half with APU sinking a pair of free throws with 00:01 left to take a 35-34 lead at halftime. Point Loma would take a lead early in the second half on a 3-pointer by Mike Planeta and tie the game at 51-51 with 11:40 remaining.
 
APU then went on a 10-3 run to take its largest lead of the game at eight points. Point Loma answered with a 10-4 run capped on a 3-pointer by Jack Langborg to get the game to two points but they would not be able to break through for the lead. A 3-pointer by Roedl with 00:10 cut the Cougars' lead to three (75-72) but LyDell Cardwell hit two free throws to secure the game.
 
The Sea Lions will return to action on Monday, Feb. 15 against Academy of Art (5-17, 3-13 PacWest) at 7:30 p.m.