(OAKLAND, Calif.) No. 12 PLNU Men's Basketball clinched at least a share of the PacWest title on Monday night, defeating Holy Names by a score of 67-56.
And it's still January.
That's how dominant Point Loma (21-3 overall, 16-0 PacWest) has been this season, having just completed a road sweep of every PacWest team, with four conference home games remaining for the Sea Lions.
"I couldn't be prouder of our guys' resiliency this past month," Head Coach
Matt Logie said. "Ten games in 28 days, with eight on the road, and you cap it off with clinching a share of the PacWest regular season championship. Just an incredible amount of toughness and togetherness through this stretch."
Point Loma won its 17th-straight game, tying the 1953-54 team for the second-longest winning streak in program history.
Although, HNU made PLNU work for it throughout in a game that featured four lead changes and three ties in the first half.
"Tonight was a grind, tip your hat to Holy Names," Logie said. "They played with great spirit and made a ton of plays to make tonight tough on us."
The Sea Lions threatened to run away with the game when
Kaden Anderson gave the visitors a double-digit lead with 7:47 to play, but the hosts wouldn't go down lightly, fighting back to make it a one-possession game just a minute-and-a-half later.
However, Point Loma went on a 10-0 run over the next six minutes to seal the victory and preserve its unbeaten start to conference play.
"I thought our experience showed late with guys like
Tobin Karlberg and
Brian Goracke hitting a couple big shots," Logie said. "
Luke Haupt stuffed the stat sheet tonight once again."
Haupt led PLNU with 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, while Anderson recorded his ninth double-double of the season with 15 points and 14 boards.
Goracke and Karlberg each pitched in with 11 points for the Sea Lions, who only committed four turnovers all game and dominated in the low post with a 34-14 advantage in points in the paint.
Point Loma now returns home to Golden Gym for the remainder of the regular season, beginning on Feb. 8 against Biola at 7:30 p.m.
A win in that game would clinch a second-straight outright conference title for the Sea Lions.
