SAN DIEGO – The first round of the 2019 NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball West Regional started with two tough losses for PacWest teams, but Point Loma finished quarterfinal Friday with a big 70-58 win over Western Oregon in front of a packed home crowd in Golden Gym to keep its historic season alive.
 
In the first quarterfinal of the tournament hosted at Point Loma Nazarene University, No. 6 seed Concordia suffered a narrow 63-60 loss to No. 3 seed Saint Martin’s. The GNAC regular season champion finished on top in a back-and-forth game against the Eagles to narrowly avoid a first-round upset. In the final game of his collegiate career, All-West Region first-team selection Brian Chambers registered 21 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
 
The second game of the day featured a massive comeback by No. 2 seed Seattle Pacific to escape the first round against No. 7 Chaminade. The Silverswords led by 13 with just over eight minutes left in the game when the Falcons’ offense caught fire to make an improbable comeback, finishing with a game-winning lay-up in the final seconds for a 77-75 win. Grant Dressler scored a game-high 26 points for Chaminade.
 
In the final game of the day, Golden Gym was whited out for the first NCAA postseason game that Point Loma has hosted. The Sea Lions didn’t disappoint the home crowd with a brilliant offensive performance to take down Western Oregon, making 55.8 percent of shots from the field.
 
A year ago, Point Loma was the No. 8 seed visiting host Western Oregon in the 2018 NCAA West Regional, where the Wolves earned a 73-66 victory. A year later, the roles were reversed as Point Loma picked up its first NCAA postseason win in program history.
 
Former All-GNAC performers that transferred to Point Loma, Daulton Hommes and Preston Beverly, led the Sea Lions efficient offensive performance against their GNAC opponent. Beverly made all of his first seven field-goal attempts and finished the game with 17 points, while Hommes scored a game-high 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting.
 
Western Oregon was fast out of the gates, building a 14-6 run before Point Loma settled in and answered with an 11-3 run to tie the game on a jumper by Ziggy Satterthwaite. That extended into a 24-5 run when Hommes made one of his two 3-pointers in the game with two minutes left in the first half for a 30-22 lead.
 
The tournament host led for the rest of the game, but Western Oregon did pull within four points with five minutes left in the game. However, Hommes made a lay-up and then Tanner Nelson drained a couple of free throws to push the lead right back up to eight. The Sea Lions defense did the rest in securing the win by holding the Wolves to only two points in four and half minutes of the game for a 70-58 triumph.
 
Point Loma will go on to play CCAA Tournament champion UC San Diego in the semifinals at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday in Golden Gym. The Tritons defeated Cal Poly Pomona in the first round to book their spot in the semifinals. The two teams played during non-conference play and Point Loma won the first battle with No. 4 seed UC San Diego.