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IRVINE, Calif. –  BYU-Hawaii won its first PacWest Men’s Basketball Championship tournament title, beating California Baptist, 84-79, in the finals Saturday. One of only two teams to make the tournament each of the last three years, BYUH won in its first finals appearance and claimed the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA West Regional.
 
Robbie Mitchell scored a team-high 18 points for BYUH and had four steals. Pablo Coro added 14, while Daniel Berger and tournament MVP Scott Friel chipped in 11 apiece. Gelaun Wheelwright netted a game-high 25 for CBU, making five three-pointers. Taj Spencer had 16 points and seven rebounds.
 
Cal Baptist scored eight-straight points in less than two minutes to take an early 18-10 lead. Eric Nelson put an exclamation point on the run with an alley-oop dunk, assisted by Berg. Corey Lang hit a three-pointer from the left wing to cap a 9-2 run that put BYUH ahead 32-31. CBU scored twice to retake the lead at halftime, 35-32.
 
BYUH came out on fire in the second half, making 8 of its first 10 shots to outscore the Lancers 19-4 and take a 53-39 lead. Berger scored nine points, including a transition three-pointer. CBU answered right back with a 12-3 spurt, taking the ball inside for five shots in the paint, to pull within five, 56-51, just past the midway point of the half.
 
Wheelwright grabbed two offensive rebounds and made a pull-up three, but Lang came right back with one of his own to keep BYUH up by six as the game went under five minutes. From then on, BYUH shot 16-for-16 at the free throw line to keep CBU from completing a comeback.
 
2015 PacWest Men’s Basketball Championship All-Tournament Team
Scott Friel (MVP) – BYU-Hawaii
Daniel Berger – BYU-Hawaii
Ian Harward – BYU-Hawaii
Taj Spencer – California Baptist
Gelaun Wheelwright – California Baptist
Troy Leaf – Azusa Pacific