IRVINE, Calif. » Addressing a pressing need enabled Brigham Young-Hawaii to dominate its opponent in the first round of the PacWest Conference men’s basketball tournament.
By improving their defense, the fourth-seeded Seasiders routed Point Loma Nazarene, 74-49, Thursday night at Concordia University.
The 49 points allowed matched season low for BYUH, which won its fourth in a row.
"We definitely took a step forward," said guard Pablo Coro, who led the Seasiders with 16 points. "We haven’t been where we wanted to be defensively, so that was our main focus going into this game."
BYUH (22-5) reached Friday’s semifinals against top-seeded Dixie State, which has either won or shared five of the past six regular-season conference championships.
"Everyone wants to play well against Dixie because it’s a rival," said forward Luke Aston, who came off the bench to score 12 points and grab a game-high eight rebounds. "We had a really tough loss against them last year."
Seasiders coach Ken Wagner views the semifinals as a second chance for his team.
"We’re really looking forward to the challenge," Wagner said. "When we came here, we felt that we hadn’t accomplished what we wanted this season, so this is an opportunity to turn it around and play well."
Going into the first round, BYUH had allowed 74.3 points per game. But fifth-seeded Point Loma (21-8) shot only 35.8 percent and secured just 25 rebounds, compared to the Seasiders’ 38.
"They were real physical and they got us out of rhythm," Sea Lions coach Bill Carr said. "They guarded the basket really well. In the paint, we struggled early. If we’re not making shots on the perimeter, we have to try to go inside — and it was tough."
Going inside meant facing 6-foot-10 Jordan Stone and 6-foot-11 Ian Harward. Stone blocked four shots while Harward contributed two.
"They beat us defensively by blocking shots and altering our shots a lot," Point Loma forward Zach Burnham said. "We didn’t pump fake as much as we probably should have. They beat us physically and mentally."
The beating began early. The Sea Lions held a 7-4 lead when BYUH used a 12-2 blitz to move ahead, 16-9, with 11:51 left in the first half. Justin Yamzon and Cory Lange culminated the surge by making 3-point shots within 35 seconds.
The Seasiders solidified their advantage in the second half. Point Loma scored only eight points — and made just one basket — in a span of 11 minutes, 52 seconds as BYU-Hawaii built a 26-point lead with 4:59 to play.
The Sea Lions missed 21 of 28 field-goal attempts in the second half. BYUH made 10 of 19 shots from 3-point range while shooting 55.3 percent. Coro converted three of his six shots beyond the arc, with Aston making three of his five.
Cal Baptist 99, Hawaii Pacific 84
The sixth-seeded Sharks (16-11) narrowed a 20-point deficit to 72-67 with 9:34 to play. But Cal Baptist’s Michael Smith scored four points, grabbed a rebound, made a steal and distributed an assist during an 11-2 surge that extended the third-seeded Lancers’ lead to 83-69 with 6:37 left.
Justin Long led four players in double figures with 22 points for Hawaii Pacific. Teammates Darry Jones Jr. and Colfax Nordquist added 14 points apiece. Gelaun Wheelwright scored 28 points and Smith finished with 26 for Cal Baptist (23-5), which meets second-seeded Azusa Pacific in Friday’s semifinals.
WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT
Point Loma 88, BYU-Hawaii 65
The third-seeded Sea Lions (19-10) shot 64.7 percent in the first half to build a 56-30 halftime lead. Whitney Fieldsted made nine of 12 field-goal attempts in scoring 19 points to lead the sixth-seeded Seasiders (15-12). Celeste Claw added 16 points and eight assists. Madison West scored 18 points for Point Loma, which faces second-seeded Cal Baptist in the semifinals.
