IRVINE, Calif. >> Cory Lange put Brigham Young-Hawaii into the semifinals of the PacWest Conference men’s basketball tournament by single-handedly turning a close game into a rout.
Lange scored a tournament-record 44 points to lead the fifth-seeded Seasiders to a 96-78 victory over fourth-seeded Hawaii Pacific on Thursday night at Concordia University.
“I hope it doesn’t stop,” the 6-foot-2 junior said about his career-best outburst.
BYUH (15-11) will face top-seeded Azusa Pacific in the semifinals after Lange made 14 of 17 shots — including all seven from 3-point range — and nine of 10 free throws. The swingman scored 28 of his points in the first half.
“It was just an amazing performance,” Seasiders coach Ken Wagner said. “He did a little bit of everything — taking it to the hole, using the glass, hitting those jumpers coming right off screens — and I thought they did a good job defensively. They didn’t give him a lot of room, but he was going up the court quick, and his teammates did a real nice job of getting him the ball. I’ve been coaching for 37 years and that’s as good a game as we’ve had.”
Lange scored 12 points during a span of 1 minute, 4 seconds late in the first half to repel the Sharks (19-9), who used a 7-0 spurt to narrow their deficit to 32-29 with 3:34 before halftime. Chauncey Orr ended the surge by driving the baseline for a reverse lay-in.
But HPU sabotaged itself with untimely mistakes, and would not score again until 12 seconds remained in the first half.
Elliott DeFreitas appeared to draw the Sharks within one point when he made another reverse lay-in with 2:45 to go. But DeFreitas stepped on the baseline, nullifying the basket.
Lange responded with a 3-pointer to extend BYUH’s lead to 35-29 with 2:32 remaining. The Seasiders’ Scott Friel then intercepted Clayton Guy’s pass and fed Lange for an apparent breakaway lay-in. But Guy grabbed Lange’s jersey and received a flagrant foul. Lange converted the ensuing free throws, then drove for a lay-in 11 seconds later to increase the lead to 39-29 with 2:05 left.
After the junior made another 3-pointer, HPU’s bench received a technical foul. Lange ended his one-minute blitz with two more free throws, and BYUH held a 44-29 advantage with 1:28 before halftime.
Orr led the Sharks with 22 points and Connor Looney came off the bench to contribute 20 points.
women’s tournament
Dominican 66, Hawaii Pacific 62
Allyssa Weatherd scored a tournament-record 37 points to lead the fifth-seeded Penguins (18-10) past the fourth-seeded Sharks (17-11), the defending champions. Dominican coach Tim LaKose earned his 400th career victory in guiding the Penguins to their first win ever in the women’s tournament. Breanna Mackenzie led HPU with 14 points, Spencer Gray and Cece Pearl added 13 points apiece and Aminata Cole grabbed 17 rebounds.
