The little things aren’t so little come March, when games are won or lost on seemingly mundane and often overlooked things such as boxing out for a key rebound, knocking down clutch free throws and playing tough defense without fouling.
Point Loma Nazarene (21-8,16-5 Pac West) advanced to the PacWest championship game with a gritty 74-69 win over Hawaii Hilo on Friday afternoon at Golden Gymnasium by executing in those areas.
In a game that featured four ties and only two lead changes, the Sea Lions trailed most of the way, were behind 38-27 at the half and wound up leading for a total of 5:10 of game clock.
As has been the case all season, they got it done thanks to a combination of pesky defense, clutch free-throw shooting (11 of 12) and late-game rebounding.
Junior forward Wynton Brown led the way with 23 points, junior guard Zack Paulsen added 16 and a team-high seven rebounds, and junior guard Coby Barnes scored 11.
The big shots: Paulsen drained a contested pull-up jumper to beat the shot clock at 3:02 and give PLNU a 64-62 lead.
After a Hilo miss and Luke Smith rebound, Smith drained a 3-pointer off a drive and kick from freshman guard Jaden Mantingou (St. Augustine High School). Mantingou scored nine points, dished six assists and turned it over only twice against intense pressure.
That shot provided the Sea Lions with their largest lead of the game and proved to be the key moment of a tightly played contest.
With 19.7 seconds remaining, Paulsen calmly drained a pair of free throws in a one-and-one situation to make it 72-69.
“As basketball players growing up, you always want to be in those situations,” said Paulsen, an 86.1 percent free-throw shooter for the season. “We talked before the game about being extraordinary in extraordinary moments. That’s what you practice every single day. Just step the line like its just another ordinary shot. That’s where my mind was.”
After Charles Elzie III drove and missed a layup, Brown secured the rebound and drained a pair of free throws in another one-and-one situation to for the final score.
“We have a mantra in our program: don’t flinch,” PLNU coach Justin Downer said. “These guys never, ever flinched.”
The Sea Lions will face No. 5 seed Azusa Pacific in Saturday’s championship game. APU upset No. 2 seed Academy of Art 79-72 in Friday’s first semifinal.
PLNU and Azusa Pacific split a pair of regular season meetings, with PLNU winning 74-71 at Golden Gymnasium on Jan. 6 and APU holding serve at home 75-71 on Jan. 23.
With guards Jake Lifgren and Tyce Paulson unavailable with season-ending injuries and would-be starter Luke Haupt still recovering from knee and ankle injuries, Point Loma dressed just nine players.
Downer primarily went with a six-man rotation, which has been the case for the past month or so.
Hilo took an 11-point lead into halftime after doing an excellent job of staying out on Point Loma shooters and not fouling.
The Sea Lions went 4-for-12 from 3-point range in the first half and shot one free throw (Barnes made it) while turning it over seven times, miscues the visitors turned into nine points.
They opened the second half by making a concerted effort to feed the 6-foot-8 Brown in the paint and he responded by scoring 13 straight points to draw PLNU within 43–40.
That push proved to be essential as neither team put together a big scoring run the rest of the way.
“The focus coming out of the half was: get Wynton Brown the ball,” Downer said. “I feel like he’s probably the best paint scorer in the league. That’s no disrespect to anyone else. We have emphasis on getting him the ball. He’s so unselfish, almost too unselfish. So get it to him, and force them to collapse on him. Once that happened, some 3-point shots opened up.”
Saturday’s winner will receive an automatic bid in the Division II NCAA Tournament when the field is announced Sunday night.
PLNU women fall in semis
The Point Loma Nazarene women’s basketball team fell 63-61 to Fresno Pacific in Friday’s semifinal round at Golden Gymnasium.
The Sea Lions had opportunities to get a game-tying basket in the closing 10 seconds but Eiley Tippins and Hannah Golan missed short attempts and Shayla O’Neil missed a pair of free throws.
The Sea Lions (18-12,13-8 PacWest) will now wait to see if they receive an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament when the field is announced Sunday evening.
Fresno Pacific (21-8,15-6 PacWest) advanced to Saturday’s PacWest conference championship game and will play the winner of Friday night’s semifinal between No. 1 seed Azusa Pacific and No. 4 seed Dominican.
Carter is a freelance writer.
