HONOLULU - Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018 will be a day Josh Rodriguez will never forget. Tonight, he became the PacWest's all-time assist leader and knocked down a pair of clutch free throws in the final seconds to help lead the Point Loma men's basketball team to a crucial 71-67 win at Chaminade.
 
The Silverswords would not go away all night despite multiple double-digit leads for PLNU. Austin Pope scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second half as Chaminade cut Point Loma's 44-32 halftime lead down to one midway through the half, and had it down to 68-67 with 28 seconds remaining. Following a pair of made free throws from Rodriguez, CUH had a look from '3' to tie, but luckily for the Sea Lions it was not Pope that took the last shot, and Nick Anderson's attempt fell off the rim giving PLNU its ninth win in 11 games.
 
Skyler White and Ziggy Satterthwaite led the Sea Lions with 15 points apiece. White scored 12 of his 15 points on 3-pointers as he went 4-of-5 from behind the arc. He also tied for the team-lead with seven rebounds. Preston Beverly added 14 points and seven boards off the bench. This meant the three PLNU big men combined to score 44 of the Sea Lions' 71 points and shoot 18-of-23 from the field. Rodriguez added 10 points and a season-best seven rebounds on this special night as he passed Holy Names' Joshua Crum (452) for the PacWest all-time assist record.
 
Team Records
Point Loma (15-7, 9-4 PacWest), Chaminade (12-6, 7-4 PacWest)
 
PacWest Implications
The victory moved Point Loma past Chaminade into fourth place the PacWest standings. The Sea Lions are two games up in the win column on CUH.
 
The Turning Point
PLNU closed out this game in the final 19 seconds. After seeing its lead cut to one, PLNU was able to get the ball into the hands of its best free throw shooter with the game on the line. Rodriguez sunk both to extend the lead from one to three. PLNU followed it up with a defensive stand.
 
Words from Coach Looney
On the turnover differential: "We always take a lot of pride with our rebounding, so as bad as the turnover differential was we did a very good job on the glass with our plus-12 margin."
 
On playing in a tight game: "Chaminade is a potent offense and they went on a couple nice runs on us in the second half. I am just happy our guys were able to play with poise and make good decisions down the stretch."
 
On Chaminade: "They are very long and athletic. They present some matchup problems. Our game plan was to take Eric Scheive out of it, and he was almost a non-factor for them."
 
On Rodriguez breaking the PacWest assist: "That was a special moment for him. We celebrated it as a team after the game. I am just happy for him that he was able to achieve something special like that. It is hard for any player to be consistent enough and stay healthy enough to do it."
 
News and Notes
> Point Loma is 11-0 when scoring 70 or more points
> Nelson's consecutive game streak of hitting a 3-pointer ended at 16 when he went 0-for-2 tonight
> Point Loma led for 87 percent of the game
> PLNU lost the turnover battle 16-7
> The Sea Lions held Chaminade nearly 14 points below its scoring average (80.8 ppg).
 
Up Next
The Point Loma men's basketball team will continue its trip in Hawaii with a game at Hawaii Hilo on Saturday, Jan. 27 at 9:30 p.m. (PST)