Point Loma is making history on the men’s basketball court, now with 30 consecutive conference victories over two seasons and the opportunity to be the first team to go 20-0 in a PacWest season. They are the Team of the Week. Academy of Art’s Mike Asante had 40 points and 20 rebounds to claim Player of the Week and Dominican freshman Jaayden Bush had a PacWest-season high seven steals to grab the Defender of the Week.

2022-23 Results/Schedule
2022-23 Standings
2022-23 Statistics

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Academy of Art’s Mike Asante, F, Sr., 6-7, 230, Toronto, Ontario Canada               
2022 PacWest Tournament MVP Mike Asante is getting warmed up right before the 2023 tournament. The Canadian totaled 40 points and 20 rebounds in two Urban Knight victories last week, putting up 21 points and 11 rebounds against Holy Names and 19 points and nine rebounds in a non-conference victory over UC Santa Cruz. Asante, who won the PacWest Defender of the Week award earlier this season, is averaging 12.1 points and 8.2 rebounds a game for ART U. The 21 points against Holy Names was a season high.
 
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Dominican’s Jaayden Bush, G, Fr., 5-10, 150, Carson, Calif.                            
Dominican freshman Jaayden Bush had seven picks during a 88-78 loss to Holy Names, the highest steal total in the PacWest this season. He also had a Penguin-high 23 points in the contest. It is the SoCal native’s second Defender of the Week award this season. His 23 points were two points shy of his career best. Bush ranks second in the PacWest with 55 total steals (2.0 per game) and is averaging 12.8 points per game.

SEA LIONS REWRITING THE RECORD BOOKS: The PacWest Team of the Week is the POINT LOMA SEA LIONS. Point Loma won its’ 30^th consecutive PacWest Conference regular season game on Saturday with a 120-74 rout of Hawai`i Pacific, dating back to January of 2022. BYU Hawaii had the previous record of 23, from 2008 to 2010, which included 12-0 PacWest season in 2009. The Sea Lions also splashed home 22 three-pointers in the win over the Sharks, a PacWest and Point Loma record. The previous conference mark was 21, equaled by Point Loma (2022) and Hawai`i Hilo (2018). PLNU set the record in front of a packed house at Homecoming crowd of 1,166. Point Loma had 58 first half points and eight different players knocked down three-point attempts. Point Loma now has a chance for the first 20-0 season in PacWest men’s basketball history on Thursday night against Hawai`i Hilo.

FIELD IS SET, SIX TO CONVENE IN OAHU NEXT WEEK FOR TOURNAMENT: The final six are cemented for the 2023 Pacific West Conference tournament, the earliest that the field has been settled in a long time. The final seedings cannot yet quite be established, but regular season champion Point Loma has secured the top seed with a 19-0 record and a first round bye. Azusa Pacific (14-4) and Hawai`i Hilo (13-5) are jockeying for the No. 2 seed and the other first round bye. Academy of Art (12-6) is next, followed by Biola (10-8) and host Chaminade (9-11). On Thursday, March 2, the No. 6 seed will take on No. 3 to open the tournament (5 pm HT), followed by No. 4 vs. No. 5 (7:15 HT). The winners advance (loser’s are out) to Friday’s semifinal games at those same two times. Saturday’s championship is set for 4:30 pm. Ticket information and other tournament info can be found at the Tournament Central webpage, for the March 2-4 tournament in McCabe Gymnasium at Chaminade University.

FIRST OFFICIAL NCAA POLL TO BE RELEASED THIS WEDNESDAY: The first NCAA poll of the 2022-23 season will be released this Wednesday (Feb. 22). Last week, the NCAA had a practice poll with teams "under consideration" listed alphabetically, and the PacWest had five teams on the 10-squad list—Azusa Pacific, Academy of Art, Biola, Hawaii Hilo and Point Loma. In today’s unofficial D2SIDA weekly west region poll, Point Loma was the top pick again for the fourth consecutive week, while Azusa Pacific, Hawaii Hilo and Academy of Art all moved up a slot. (1) Point Loma 24-3, (2) Cal State San Bernardino 22-3, (3) St. Martin’s 22-4, (4) Azusa Pacific 19-6, (5) Montana State Billings 19-7, (6) Hawaii Hilo 17-6, (T7) Academy of Art 18-8, (T7) Cal State San Marcos 16-9, (9) Seattle Pacific 15-10, (10) Biola 15-10.

THE SHUFFLING CONTINUES THIS WEEK: The final week of the regular season is here, and all that is left is the shuffling of who ends up where—thus determining who plays who in Honolulu. Any of the games can effect that situation, but games directly involving playoff teams include Tuesday’s Hawaii Hilo at Biola game and Thursday UH Hilo at Point Loma contest.

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Azusa Pacific had just one game last week, but it was a big one during a victory over Hawai`i Hilo, 77-64. The win give the Cougars the inside track at securing the second seed and first round bye in next week’s conference tournament. Bryce Sloan had a monster all-around game for APU with 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals…Holy Names’ Damari Lindo filled the stat line for HNU’s two games last week with 38 points, 12 rebounds, five steals and nine assists…Chaminade secured a date at the prom they are hosting thanks in part to a 81-69 win over Fresno Pacific. Braden Olson had 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Silverwords and Ross Reeves added 11 points, six rebounds and five assists…The Sunbirds defeated Hawaii Pacific (64-62) behind Nate Kendrick’s 20 points…Biola knocked off Concordia (66-61) with Alex Wright providing a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds…Hawai`i Hilo bounced back from their loss to APU with a 79-75 victory over Concordia, with both Darren Williams and Carlos Ramsey, Jr. providing 22 points…There were mind boggling numbers everywhere in Point Loma’s win over the Sharks, so almost lost in the shuffle was Kaden Anderson’s 27 points in 22 minutes. Melo Sanchez had 24 to pace HPU...Holy Names picked up its third win of the PacWest season with an 88-78 verdict over Dominican. Roman Behrens had 25 points and seven assists in the victory.