(HAYWARD, Calif.) No. 3 seed PLNU Men's Basketball battled to the end in the NCAA West Regional championship game on Monday night before unbeaten No. 1 seed Cal State East Bay pulled away late, 73-58.
Point Loma's historic season ends in the Sweet 16 for the third time in the last four years, as the Sea Lions appeared in back-to-back regional title games for the first time in program history.
PLNU led at the half in a hostile environment, as Point Loma got the tournament hosts into foul trouble early while outscoring CSUEB 11-4 during the second media timeout segment to take its first lead of the game.
The Sea Lions led by as many as eight halfway through the first half following a
Caden Harris 3-pointer, before the Pioneers battled back to briefly regain their advantage.
Another Harris triple then put PLNU up 31-30 going into the locker room, only for CSUEB to blitz Point Loma to start the second half to go up by double digits.
A midrange jumper from
Jake Lifgren and
James Nobles' coast-to-coast layup cut the Sea Lions' deficit to six, before 3-pointers from
Tyce Paulsen and
Andrew Nagy made it a one-point game with 8:39 to play.
Point Loma kept battling, as another Nagy 3-pointer kept the Sea Lions close before Paulsen's 4-point play made it a two-possession game with 1:15 remaining.
However, Cal State East Bay (33-0 overall) scored the final nine points of the game as PLNU was forced to foul in the final minute, with the double-digit margin of victory not indicative of the intense battle throughout.
The Pioneers' pesky defense lived up to its billing, as the No. 6 scoring defense in the country held the Sea Lions to their lowest scoring output of the season and forced PLNU into a season-high 24 turnovers, with CSUEB holding a 31-8 advantage in points off turnovers.
Nagy led the Sea Lions with 15 points, while
Jaden Matingou (13 points), Harris (11 points) and Paulsen (11 points) joined him in double figures.
Point Loma (27-6) appeared in the NCAA West Regional for the eighth time in the past nine seasons after PLNU won a PacWest record fifth-straight conference regular season title.
The Sea Lions also became the first team in PacWest Conference history to win back-to-back regular season and tournament championships.
