For the third time in school history, Point Loma Nazarene’s men’s basketball program will play for a chance to make the NCAA Division II Tournament quarterfinal round.
The top-seeded Sea Lions (29-5) advanced with an 82-64 victory over Cal State San Bernardino in a West Regional second-round matchup Saturday night at Golden Gymnasium.
PLNU guard Zackry Paulsen led the way with a game-high 24 points, his brother Ty Paulsen scored 12 and Jaden Matingou scored 10 while PLNU shot 48.8% from the field and 42.9% from 3-point range, while the Sea Lions went 33-for-43 from the free throw line on a night when the visitors collected five technical fouls.
PLNU also finished with a whopping 23-0 edge in bench points as coach Justin Downer again utilized a deep rotation as his team attempts to win three games in four days to advance.
The Sea Lions will face Cal State Dominguez Hills (27-5) Monday night at 7 p.m. in a Golden Gymnasium gym that will be once again packed with students after their return from spring break.
The Sea Lions have won eight straight overall including a pair to capture the PacWest conference tournament and advanced to Saturday’s semifinal with a 68-54 win over No. 8 Seattle Pacific Friday night while Bernardino beat Biola 88-77.
Dominguez Hills advanced to Monday’s matchup with a 77-65 win over No. 6 seed Central Washington in the first semi Saturday evening behind 20 points and 10 rebounds from guard David Cheatom and a dominant 44-25 team edge in rebounding.
When the teams met on Nov. 16 at Bernardino, the Coyotes earned a 76-65 win over the Sea Lions, who went a season-worst 2-for-21 from 3-point range.
On Saturday night, the Sea Lions took control with an early second-half run while Bernardino coach Gus Argenal and his bench increasingly got hot before Argenal eventually got ejected after his team picked up its fifth technical foul with 4:23 left and PLNU up 70-51.
PLNU’s perimeter defense was key: the Sea Lions limited the Coyotes to 4 for 23 from 3-point range, with a majority of those shots contested.
Zackry Paulsen went 4-for-8 from the field, 3-for-5 from 3-point range and 13-for-15 from the free throw line as he backed up his 20-point effort in Friday night’s win over Seattle Pacific.
A victory Monday would put the Sea Lions into the Elite Eight for the first time since 2019, when All-American Daulton Hommes led them to the national title game, where they fell to Northwest Missouri State
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