Point Loma Nazarene’s men’s basketball team had pushed ahead of Cal State Dominguez Hills midway through the second half of Monday’s NCAA Division II regional final when CSUDH guard John Soloman was hit with a technical foul.
Sea Lions coach Justin Downer walked onto the court and waved his arms in the direction of a packed and raucous PLNU student section inside Golden Gymnasium.
Sea Lions forward Luke Smith made one of two free throws, the Sea Lions had a four-point lead and it felt as though PLNU was on its way to a win.
In the end a 61-58 loss was decided in the final 8.1 seconds.
After PLNU guard Tyce Paulsen rolled off a Zackry Paulsen screen and missed a clean look at a potential game-tying 3-pointer, then CSUDH’s David Cheatom missed a pair of free throws with 3.1 seconds on the clock.
After snagging a rebound off the second missed free throw, PLNU forward Luke Haupt heaved a half-court shot that hit the back of the rim and bounced away.
Just like that, a magical season ended for PLNU (29-6).
“It looked like it may go in,” CSUDH guard Jeremy Dent-Smith said of Haupt’s heave. “Your heart kind of stops for a second in that situation. If he makes it, you just have to live with that.”
PLNU guard Zackry Paulsen led the Sea Lions with 22 points while the Toros were paced by center Adam Afifi, who finished with a game-high 23 points along with 10 rebounds while Cheatom scored 16 points and guard Dent-Smith scored 12.
In a game that produced 10 lead changes and was tied eight times, sticky man-to-man defense was the difference for a CSUDH team which shot 2-for-17 from 3-point range and was whistled for 23 fouls along with a pair of technicals.
A key play: With 37 seconds remaining and the Toros leading by one, Dent-Smith drew a charge call on PLNU guard Coby Barnes after Barnes drove and scored but was whistled for dipping his shoulder thus erasing the score.
The key stat: the Toros finished with a 20-7 edge in points of turnovers.
The Toros carried a 33-27 lead into halftime after playing excellent team defense and mostly contesting every shot the Sea Lions were able to create.
PLNU shot 3-for-11 from 3-point range in the half. Leading scorer Zackry Paulsen especially had a tough time; he was blanketed by Jordan Hillstock and still went 5-for-6 from the field and scored 12 first half-points.
“It’s just too bad these guys don’t get to go to practice tomorrow and continue the journey,” Downer said. “I was really hoping we could celebrate what this team is all about with our fans and everyone. We fought hard. We didn’t shoot it well. We didn’t rebound it when we needed too …. It just didn’t fall our way.”
