IRVINE, Calif. - The Point Loma men's basketball team took out the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds en route to making it to the PacWest Championship game, but they came up short against the No. 1 seed, Hawaii Pacific, falling 82-73 on ESPN3 in the program's first-ever appearance in the PacWest title game.
 
Facing their third game in three days, PLNU (17-13) hung with the nation's No. 6 team throughout the game, but in the end the Sharks (28-2) were just a little fresher and a half-step faster. Chauncey Orr led all scorers with 22 points, en route to being named PacWest Tournament MVP. He was 8-of-14 from the field and 3-of-6 from 3-point range. He also added game-high nine rebounds. Connor Looney also had 19 points and Jordan Martin added 10 as the three combined to score 52 of the Sharks' 82 points.
 
The seniors Mike Planeta and Zach Burnham had 15 points apiece to pace four Sea Lions in double-figures. Planeta was 6-of-11 from the field and also had four rebounds. Burnham led PLNU with six boards. Tanner Lancona chipped in with 10 points, and Yusuf Shehata came off the bench to notch 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Josh Rodriguez, who was named to the all-tournament team, had nine points and nine assists.
 
The fatigue for the Sea Lions showed mainly on the defensive end, where it allowed the most points (82) it had given up in the tournament or since beginning its four-game winning streak. HPU shot 50.9 percent from the field and won the rebounding battle by plus-8 (37-29). The Sharks also had just eight turnovers in the game.
 
However, Point Loma never quit despite Hawaii Pacific extending their 36-31 halftime lead to as many as 17 points (74-57) with only 3:47 remaining. PLNU then rattled off 12 of the next 16 points and cut the lead to nine (78-69) with 40 seconds left and had another good look from 3-point range, which would have cut it to six with 32 seconds left, but the shot found iron and HPU knocked down four free throws in the last 28 seconds to seal the win.
 
"I thought we competed well early but the reality of it was that we have faced some adversity in this tournament," said PLNU head coach Ryan Looney. "Trevor Peterson went down with an injury and we really needed his defense and we didn't have the depth we needed. Tanner Lancona also went down in this game and that is right when HPU made its run. We simply ran out of gas.
 
"But from my experience coaching in a lot of these conference tournament, you have to take care of business in the regular season so you can be the No. 1 or No. 2 seed and not have to play three straight days," Looney explained.
 
The Sea Lions run from the No. 6 seed to the championship game came with two last second baskets to get them past No. 3 seed Dixie State on Thursday (71-69) and No. 2 seed California Baptist on Friday (72-69).
 
"As a senior to go out this way (with the tournament run) is something I can hang my hat on," said Mike Planeta, who made the game-winner against CBU and was also named to the all-tournament team. "You want to keep playing forever but these are memories and bonds that you make forever. But as competitor it really hard, but man it was fun."
 
"I wanted this so bad for the seniors on this team," said Looney. "I wanted these guys to have the chance to get to the NCAA Regional. It is a magical experience and not many people get to do it."
 
"I thought we fought to the best of our ability all weekend, we just couldn't quite get it done," added Looney.
 
Point Loma completes its first season under coach Ryan Looney at 17-13. The Sea Lions knocked off CBU twice when the Lancers were ranked in the top 8, and made it to the program's first-ever PacWest Tournament Championship.