(SAN RAFAEL, Calif.) Top seed PLNU Men's Basketball won its fourth PacWest Tournament title in the last six postseasons, defeating Academy of Art 67-64 on Saturday.
Point Loma's fourth PacWest Tournament championship extends its own conference record. No other PacWest school has won more than two.
Jaden Matingou got a go-ahead reverse layup to go with 1:18 remaining before
Zackry Paulsen's steal on the other end got a crucial stop.
Paulsen (19 points) then calmly went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 16 seconds to close out the victory and put the finishing touches on his Tournament Most Outstanding Player performance.
Luke Haupt (14 points) joined Paulsen on the All-Tournament Team, scoring 10 points in the first half to keep the Sea Lions within striking distance.
After PLNU trailed 25-29 going into the locker room, Haupt's steal then led to a Paulsen fastbreak layup that gave PLNU its first lead in the second half at the 14:08 mark.
ART U briefly retook its advantage only for
Tyce Paulsen (13 points) to drain back-to-back triples to put the Sea Lions back in front.
Point Loma led by as many as seven in the second half after
Wynton Brown's layup, but Academy of Art came back to lead by one with 2:08 to play.
That set the stage for Matingou's go-ahead basket and
Zackry Paulsen's clutch free throws down the stretch to help PLNU complete a second PacWest regular season and tournament sweep in three seasons.
Point Loma (27-5 overall), seeded No. 1 in the latest NCAA West Regional rankings, is expected to be seeded first with the right to host the regional when the tournament bracket is released on Sunday night at 8 p.m.
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
