(SAN DIEGO) Sixth-seeded Azusa Pacific continued its magical postseason run and prevented top-seeded PLNU Men's Basketball from repeating as PacWest Tournament champions, with the Cougars beating the Sea Lions 78-66 in the conference title game on Saturday.
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Luke Smith's four-point play after being fouled on a made 3-pointer gave Point Loma a lead in the first minute, but the Sea Lions only led one other time after a
Zack Paulsen jumper at the 14:27 mark in the first half.
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Then with APU ahead by one, 19-18, the Cougars went on the longest scoring streak of the game, a 7-0 run to go up by eight.
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With just over five minutes remaining in the first half, a missed goaltending goal against the sixth seed then led to a 3-pointer on the other end in a five-point swing that put APU up by nine.
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Paulsen responded for the Sea Lions with a corner 3 before Barnes hit a floater to make it a four-point game, but the Cougars scored the next six points to take a 10-point lead going into the half.
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After overcoming a double-digit halftime deficit in its semifinal victory over Hawai'i Hilo on Friday, Point Loma threatened to do the same in the championship after scoring the first four points of the second half to get to within six.
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But that was as close as the Sea Lions got the rest of the way, as APU managed to hold off PLNU's second-half comeback attempt.
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Smith led the PacWest regular season champions with 18 points, while Barnes (15 points) and Paulsen (13 points) also scored in double figures.
Paulsen and
Wynton Brown represented PLNU on the All-PacWest Tournament Team.
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Point Loma (21-9 overall), ranked seventh in last week's NCAA West Regional Poll, will now hope to receive an at-large berth when the tournament bracket is announced on Sunday night at 8 p.m.
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
