(SAN DIEGO) PLNU Men's Basketball had been here before.
Facing a double-digit halftime deficit against Hawai'i Hilo in Golden Gym for the second time this season, the top-seeded Sea Lions didn't flinch and came back once again to beat the fifth-seeded Vulcans, this time in the PacWest semifinals 74-69.
Point Loma (21-8 overall, 15-5 PacWest) now advances to Saturday's PacWest Championship to take on sixth-seeded Azusa Pacific, who beat second-seeded Academy of Art in the other semifinal.
Wynton Brown scored on six-straight possessions to start the second half, sparking the Sea Lions' comeback while scoring 17 of his game-high 23 points after halftime.
PLNU made five 3-pointers in the second half at a 56% clip, all of which came in big moments.
As Hilo threatened to run away with the game again, leading by nine,
Nick Watkins confidently drained a triple to keep Point Loma within two possessions.
After a Vulcans basket,
Luke Smith pulled up from deep to make it a five-point game and then sank a pair of free throws on the Sea Lions' next trip down the court.
Brown then tied it with a lay-in before coming up with a huge block on the defensive end, leading to
Zack Paulsen's midrange jumper with 3:05 left in regulation that beat the shot clock and gave PLNU its first lead since early in the first half.
Smith then sank another shot from behind the arc to put the Sea Lions up by five.
Hilo got to within one with 19 seconds remaining, but Paulsen knocked down a pair of free throws before Point Loma got a defensive stop to seal the win.
Paulsen finished with 16 points, 11 of which came in the second half, while Barnes also scored in double figures with 11 points.
PLNU and APU, who split their two regular season matchups, will square off on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Golden Gym in a rematch of last year's PacWest Championship, which the Sea Lions won by a score of 80-69.
The winner of Saturday's conference title game will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA West Regional.
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
