COSTA MESA – After a stale loss on Thursday, Vanguard bounced back to upset the four-time defending Pacific West Conference champions Point Loma in a 76-67 win Saturday evening at the Freed Center. The Blue and Gold led for 28 of the 40 minutes played, shot 50% (29-58) from the field, and held the best three-point shooting team in the conference to just 5-24 (20.8) from distance. VU (10-7, 6-3) becomes the first team to best Point Loma in 2026 and also claims victory over the Sea Lions for the first time since November 2011. With Loma's six-game win streak snapped, the defending champions now sit in second place (14-4, 9-3), two games ahead of freshly crowned Chaminade (10-6, 8-2).

The Lions were led by the backcourt tandem of Erik Howlin and Bryson Metz, with both peppering Point Loma for a combined 41 of VU's 76 points. Howlin clipped 23 points, five rebounds, and three steals on 9-17 shooting. The graduate student's game-high performance was his seventh 20-point outing this season and fourth in 2026. Metz delivered 18 points with rebounds and four assists, going 6-11 overall and pinning 4-6 of three-point tries on frame.

Sammy Howlin made it three consecutive games with double-figures, sporting a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double in 23 minutes played. Dylan Swillis tallied eight boards and six boards, and Carson Frawley was perfect from deep (2-2) to net six points in the win.

The Sea Lions were led by the PacWest player of the week, Andrew Nagy, who had 17 points and eight boards on 50% shooting (5-10).

What Happened? Erik Howlin's downhill drive to open the scoring set the tone for a different Vanguard than fans saw on Thursday night. The Lions would go straight to the rack for all eight of their first points in the contest, as buckets from Pape Cisse and Aibigho Ujadughele set the course for an 8-7 Lion lead.

The Lions were lethal from three and showed their prowess going 7-15 from deep in the first half alone, with Swillis connecting from the wing off the Erik Howlin chest-pass on the kickout (11-9 VU). The pair of sides traded ties on the interior before Frawley nailed a three from a deep to redirect the hosts in the front (16-15 VU). After a Nagy hammer down the open lane, Loma carved out an 8-5 run to drift away, giving the Lions problems defending the perimeter.

VU's response was a full-scale three-point assault, commandeered by Metz, who reached into his bag for a score or assist or 11 of the next 14 Lion points. Loma never led again after their 21-18 advantage with 6:13 to go in the half, as flustered the league leaders on a 14-5 run to go up 32-26 with 2:32 remaining. The Sea Lions, who hit just 1-9 from three in the half, sank their lone trey courtesy of Nagy to get it down to three, but Erik Howlin had a deuce out of the timeout, and Metz drained a triple from the parking lot for a 37-29 halftime score.

The Sea Lions improved from three-point range (4-15) in the second half, but started having leaks in other areas. PLNU suffered all seven of their turnovers in the second half and also fell behind in bench points as the Lions outscored them 27-13 to maintain their lead.

Loma coughed up two early turnovers and took the Lions out to a double-digit advantage (39-29 VU). PLNU continued to whittle down the deficit, becoming aggressive in the paint and forcing early second-half foul trouble for the Lions. They shot 19 of their 25 total free throws in the second period and split a pair through Nagy to keep the VU dent at 7 (40-33 VU).

The two sides traded points at a relatively even spread over the next seven minutes (17-11 VU), but a pair of Lion tip-ins from Sammy Howlin and a Tony Colley three-ball from the corner handed Vanguard their largest lead of the night at 13 (57-44) with 10:44 left to go.

Vanguard's game management was primarily split between Metz and Howlin, who each coined jumpers in isolation to keep the lead in double-figures (66-54 VU). Loma's best push came in the last five minutes after VU earned a tech to gift PLNU two free throws and keys to an 11-4 run (70-65 VU). The Sea Lions hit two three-pointers during the stretch, while VU's only field goal came a low block finish from Swillis.

A five-point game (70-65 VU) with 2:00 left to play, PLNU cleverly pulled out the hack-a-shaq to prey on VU's poor 50% (9-18) free throw percentage on the evening. Metz, however, foiled the game plan, clasping a late steal and making both free throws amid a 0-4 charity stripe stretch. Loma stretched out the runtime in the final minute of play but had no answers to pull their way. Erik Howlin capped off the night with a breakaway rim-wrecking dunk to cement the upset for the Blue and Gold.

What Was Said? "Tonight was a complete team win," started Head Coach Rhett Soliday. I thought our guys were incredibly resilient tonight in a game that took every ounce of effort and focus to get done. Point Loma is the best team in the PacWest and has been for the last several years. That's not an opinion; they've proven it year after year, and so our guys knew that the way we show the level of respect they deserve is to absolutely empty the tank and focus on being really connected."

"We weren't happy with how Thursday played out in terms of our fight and our purpose. I love the step our team took tonight in being a player-led team. We took care of the ball, shared it with timing and precision, and got some huge offensive rebounds at key moments to keep possessions alive.  Erik and Bryson were elite as lead guards tonight, and Sammy played his most complete game as a Lion. We need to just keep getting better one day at a time and prepare for a big upcoming week."

What's Next? The 5-game homestand continues against Dominican, Jan. 29 at 7:30 p.m.