SAN DIEGO, Calif. – A 28-12 run spanning 12 and a half minutes between the first and second halves flattened the Vanguard men's basketball team in a 90-81 loss at future Pac West opponent Point Loma on Saturday.
The Lions led for large swaths of the first half but went into a shooting funk that provided the Sea Lions the impetus to take over the game. VU made just 5 of 20 from the field during that one damaging stretch and Point Loma capitalized, opening up a 59-46 lead midway through the second half.
Vanguard rallied and chopped off a big chunk of the deficit, whittling Point Loma's lead down to as little as three points with just under four minutes to play, but ultimately ran out of gas.
Anthony Tello led the Lions with a career-high 20 points off the bench, shooting 5 of 11 from the field and making 8 of 11 free throw attempts. Jackson Larsen poured in 15 points on 6 of 12 shooting and Phillip Willis rounded out the VU double-digit scorers with 12 points. The guard also pulled down a game-high tying seven rebounds.
The Lions led in various stat categories such as points in the paint (42-34), points off turnovers (20-12) and bench points (30-25), but were derailed by clunky three-point shooting. VU made just 4 of 20 (20.0%) from distance. Conversely, the Lions shot nearly 50 percent (24 of 49) inside the arc.
Point Loma's accuracy from the foul line also contributed to VU's woes. The Sea Lions shot 86.2 percent from the stripe, sinking 25 of 29 attempts.
Four Sea Lions – Zack Paulsen, Coby Barnes, Jake Lifgren and Jaden Matingou – combined to score 75 of the team's 90 points, with Paulsen scoring 20 on 7 of 9 accuracy.
VU is now 4-2 on the year.
What Happened?: The Lions used a 19-9 push to narrow Point Loma's lead to 68-65 as Tello completed a traditional three-point play with 3:57 remaining.
Nico Dasca started the rally with two free throws at the 9:15 mark, and Tello scored seven points during the run to put a scare into the Sea Lions.
However, Matingou knocked down a three-pointer to extend Point Loma's lead to 71-65. Tello made 1 of 2 free throws to cut the deficit to 71-66, but the final nail came when Paulsen made a layup and got fouled with just under two minutes to go.
Paulsen sank the ensuing free throw to give PLU a 78-67 lead. The Sea Lions made 16 consecutive free throws at one point in the second half to seal the win.
Vanguard had a great start to the game, breaking out to a 6-0 lead on buckets from Dasca, Willis and Bryson Metz. Point Loma took its first lead at 14-13 on a Lifgren jumper with 14:14 to go, but Cam'Ron Wilson's layup snatched it back a little over a minute later.
The Lions maintained their advantage for the next seven minutes, opening up leads of 22-16 and 25-19. However, the Sea Lions outscored the Blue and Gold 17-6 over the final six minutes to take a 40-34 lead into halftime.
Why Is It Important?: The Lions continue to compete well against higher division teams, threatening NCAA Division II Point Loma one week after taking NCAA Division I California Baptist down to the wire.
What Was Said?: "Credit Point Loma for executing at a high level and hitting big time shots when needed to hold us off," said Head Coach Rhett Soliday. "I thought we had the game going in our favor for 15 of the first 20 minutes, but against good teams you can't get rattled when they make a push and we knew Loma would. We started trying to make it happen ourselves offensively and gambled a little too much on D. I was really proud of our effort to turn it late in the game, but we just needed a more consistent level of execution at both ends against one of the top D 2's in the west. Tonight had a conference game feel in terms of intensity. We will learn from it, and that will only help us as we get closer to GSAC play."
What's Next?: VU returns to Orange Coast College to face Stanton on Tuesday, December 5 at 7:30 p.m.
