(HONOLULU) Fourth-ranked PLNU Men's Basketball claimed its third PacWest Tournament title in four full seasons on Saturday, as top-seeded Point Loma ran away from second-seeded Azusa Pacific in the second half to win by a score of 80-69.
"These guys are battle-tested and have been through a lot this year together," Head Coach
Matt Logie said. "I thought early in the year we really tested ourselves against some really tough competition when we were very new as a group. That toughened us and brought us together.
"It created a bond that you could see tonight in the second half. I'm really proud to see that come forth and I can't say enough about their togetherness."
The Sea Lions trailed by only one at halftime in large part to
Kaden Anderson's 20 points in the opening 20 minutes.
"First off, you've got to tip your hat to Azusa," Logie said. "They came out and played extremely hard and had a really great start to the game. I thought our guys really hung in there."
Then
Shamrock Campbell took over in the second half, scoring 14 of his 17 points after the break, sparking a 28-6 PLNU run over an eight-minute span that helped the Sea Lions cruise down the stretch.
"When things don't go your way, you just have to look at the next possession," Anderson said. "We battled that first half and then Sham hit three 3's which was pretty huge and got us going."
Campbell's trio of triples turned a seven-point deficit into a two-point Point Loma lead, giving PLNU's strong traveling contingent of fans much to cheer about and swinging the momentum completely in the Sea Lions' favor.
"Sham had an incredible spurt there in the second half," Logie said. "It's a credit to his poise. He's so tough, calm and stoic that it settled everybody down. Our guys were able to piggyback off that and build some momentum."
First Team All-Conference player
Luke Haupt was limited to just nine first-half minutes of action because of injury, but Campbell and others picked up the scoring slack in Haupt's absence.
"When you lose somebody in the middle of the first half who's as integral to our success as
Luke Haupt, it requires everybody to step up," Logie said. "I thought our bench did a really good job of holding down the fort and making some big plays."
Coby Barnes scored seven points off the bench, including a 3-pointer in the second half that gave PLNU its largest lead of the game, 73-58, with 6:28 remaining.
From there, Point Loma maintained its double-digit lead the rest of the way, before Barnes dribbled the clock out to close out the victory and begin PLNU's title celebrations.
Anderson (31 points), Campbell (17 pts) and Goracke (10 points, 8 rebounds) were all named to the PacWest All-Tournament Team, with Anderson being named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Point Loma (27-3 overall), winners of 23-straight games, now sets its sights on next week's NCAA West Regional (March 10-13), which will be PLNU's sixth-straight regional appearance.
The Sea Lions were ranked first in the most recent regional rankings and are expected to be announced on Sunday (8 p.m. PT) as the regional host.
"It's a great opportunity for our community," Logie said. "They've come out and supported us all year long and have made a difference with their energy and the momentum that they create. These guys have fed off that, so that's exciting. It's a reward in of itself for these guys and what they've accomplished this year.
"Ultimately, what we talked about when our regular season was done, there were six teams this weekend and there are eight teams in the regional. You've got to beat three of them to win it, so just take it one game at a time like we have all year and get back to work."
Watch Sunday's Selection Show
HERE.
