(SAN FRANCISCO) PLNU Men's Basketball clinched its third-straight PacWest championship, and fourth in the past five seasons, with a 60-57 road win at Academy of Art on the final day of the regular season.
Point Loma (20-8 overall, 15-5 PacWest) entered the day a game behind ART U (20-8, 15-5) in the conference standings and needing a win to earn a share of the conference crown.
The Sea Lions did just that, as
Wynton Brown's block on a game-tying 3-point attempt sealed a seemingly improbable PacWest title for the Sea Lions and earned PLNU the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament hosted by Point Loma.
As impressive as its last two PacWest titles were – closing the 2021-22 regular season with 11-straight wins and going a perfect 20-0 in conference play in 2022-23 – this year's championship might stand above the rest.
With a brand new coaching staff and an entirely new starting five, Point Loma was picked to finish fourth in the PacWest Preseason Poll.
But despite the roster turnover, two key returners who never saw the court because of injury and multiple season-ending injuries to starters during the season, the Sea Lions defied the odds and still found itself atop the conference standings.
Point Loma showed it was ready for the moment on Saturday, scoring the first five points of the game and leading by as many as nine after a
Luke Smith triple with 7:36 left in the half.
Despite leading for most of the first 20 minutes, PLNU trailed by one at the half after a last-second ART U 3-pointer beat the buzzer.
The teams then traded the lead seven times in the second half in a back-and-forth affair.
With the game tied late in the second half, Point Loma went on a crucial 9-0 run, as Smith and
Coby Barnes each knocked down a triple to help PLNU lead by nine with 1:55 to play.
The Urban Knights then fought back to within two before a Barnes free throw put the Sea Lions up by three.
That set the stage for Brown's game-sealing block in the closing seconds that capped off a stellar defensive performance from Point Loma, who limited ART U to just 30.0% shooting from the field and only one made 3-pointer in the second half.
Smith (17 points, 13 rebounds), Barnes (17 points, 8 rebounds) and
Zack Paulsen (16 points) all scored in double figures for the Sea Lions, with Paulsen scoring 14 of his 16 points in the second half.
PLNU, winners of 20-plus games for the sixth-consecutive season, receive a first-round bye in the PacWest Championships and will advance straight to Friday's semifinals, where the Sea Lions will take on the winner of Thursday's First Round matchup between fourth-seeded Biola and fifth-seeded Hawai'i Hilo.
Tip-off on Friday is scheduled for 2:45 p.m.
