Men's Basketball

Sea Lions and Urban Knights Stay Close in Quest for Crown

Point Loma and Academy of Art both go 2-0 to sit half a game apart. APU's Ken West does his best to keep his team alive for a tournament berth and is the Player of the Week.

Point Loma and ART U both had big wins at home in their quests for a conference title. Meanwhile, APU's Ken West did his best to keep the Cougars' tournament hopes alive to earn the PacWest Player of the Week award.

2023-24 Results/Schedule
2023-24 Standings
2023-24 Statistics

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Azusa Pacific's Ken West, F, Sr., 6-8, Bellevue, Wash.                                                         
Azusa Pacific's Ken West did his best to keep his team alive for a PacWest tournament berth during games last week against Westmont (79-58 win) and Biola (70-66 loss). In the victory at Westmont, West put up 31 points on torrid 10-of-12 shooting, including 8-of-9 from three-point land. The 31 points is one shy of the fifth-year senior's career best, and the eight treys equaled his best mark. In the Cornerstone Cup loss to the Eagles, the Washington native had a team-best 18 points and nine rebounds. He nailed a sizzling 14-of-15 free throw attempts. The PacWest Preseason Player of the year is now averaging 16.8 points per game, fourth in the PacWest, and leads the conference in three-point percentage at .442. He is sixth in field goal percentage (.467)and ninth in rebounds (6.0).
 
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Academy of Art's Treylon Payne, G, Jr., 6-2, Little Rock, Arkansas                            
Academy of Art's Treylon Payne earns his second PacWest Defender of the Week award, mostly for his shutdown work against Hawai`i Hilo. The Arkansas native had six steals and a blocked shot against the fourth-place Vulcans during a 100-68 home victory. He also chipped in 17 points on the offensive end of the court. The Urban Knights bulit an 18-point first half lead behind four of Payne's steals and blocked shot. “Treylon’s defensive performance this week set the tone for us going 2-0,” said ART U Head Coach Scott Waterman. “His on-ball and off-ball positioning were spot on and allowed him to come up with six steals on Saturday night which were critical in our win against UH Hilo.”

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Point Loma Sea Lions                                                                                                                
Point Loma went 2-0 on the week to move a half-game ahead of Academy of Art in the PacWest standings. Along with ART U's victory over Hawai`i Hilo, the Sea Lions had the biggest win over the week with a 64-55 victory at home over third place Hawai`i Pacific to keep distance between themselves and the Sharks. Coby Barnes poured in 22 points in that contest and freshman Jaden Matingou made his first career start and added 16 points. Wynton Brown was close to a double-double with ten points and nine boards as the hosts overcame a 30-24 halftime deficit with a 40-25 advantage in the second half. Earlier in the week, PLNU rolled to a 82-74 win over Concordia, with Luke Smith serving as the lead scorer with 20 points and seven rebounds. Zack Paulsen added 17 points as Point Loma had five players in double figures. The Sea Lions are now 13-4 in the PacWest, 18-7 overall and have won six of their last seven games. 

POINT LOMA MOVES UP TO SIX, ART U IS EIGHTH: In today's D2SIDA west region poll, Point Loma and Academy of Art lists sixth and eighth. Here is the February 19 list, with records through the weekend. (1) CS Dominguez Hills 21-4, (2) Montana State Billings 19-6, (3) Saint Martin's 20-4, (4) CS San Bernardino 19-6, (5) Chico State 18-6, (T6) Point Loma 18-7, (T6) CS Los Angeles 18-7, (8) Academy of Art 18-7, (9) CS East Bay 16-9, (10) Northwest Nazarene 15-8. RV--Alaska Anchorage, Central Washington, Hawai`i Pacific. This Wednesday (Feb. 21), the first official NCAA west regional rankings will come out, which will help determine the eight teams from the west that will qualify for the NCAA tournament. 

TWO WEEKS TO SAN DIEGO: Only two weeks remain in the regular season as the Road to San Diego inches closer to finalization. Nine of the 11 PacWest teams are still alive for a conference berth, which will feature the top six teams at the conclusion of the regular season on March 2. Point Loma (13-4) has a half-game lead on Academy of Art (12-4), with Hawai`i Pacific (10-5) holding down the third position. Biola is fourth (10-7), Hawai`i Hilo fifth (9-7) and Azusa Pacific is sixth (8-9). Concordia is a game back of the Cougars (7-10) and Dominican is just a half-game behind the Golden Eagles (6-10). Fresno Pacific (5-10) is still mathematically alive as well. The top two seeds at the end of the regular season get a first round bye in the March 7-9 tournament at PLNU's Golden Gymnasium. 

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Chaminade had a big win to start the week. knocking off Biola (69-66) on Monday. Ross Reaves had 31 points and seven assists to lead the Silverswords, overcoming 22 points and nine rebounds from the Eagles' Casey Cappo...Academy of Art tuned up for their win over Hilo with a Tuesday non-conference victory over UC Santa Cruz, 76-65. Quintan Metcalf had a career-high 31 points and eight rebounds for the Urban Knights...Fresno Pacific topped Dominican 88-72 on Thursday with Isaac Peralta accounting for 22 points, six rebounds and three steals for the Sunbirds. Marcus McCutcheon had 20 for the Penguins...Westmont drilled Chaminade (91-70) on Saturday as the McIntyre brothers (Anthony and Adrian) combined for 46 points and 17 rebounds...Latrell Williams had a case for Defender of the Week again with 13 rebounds and 12 points for Academy of Art against the Vulcans. Williams totaled 23 rebounds for the week...In front of 2,800 Cornerstone Cup fans, Biola edged Azusa Pacific, 70-66 on Saturday night. Nathan Medina had 20 and Tyus Parrish-Tillman added 16 points and seven boards for the Eagles...Dominique Winbush had a complete game in Hawai`i Pacific's loss to Point Loma with 12 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. 

THIS WEEK IN THE PACWEST:  11 games dot the calendar as the conference schedule enters the second to last week of the season. Three games are on tap tonight (Monday) when Hawai`i Pacific visits Concordia, Chaminade is at Fresno Pacific and Hawai`i Hilo travels to Dominican. Wednesday features Westmont at Point Loma. On Thursday Domincan is at Academy of Art, Hilo is at Fresno Pacific and Hawai`i Pacific visits Azusa Pacific. Saturday wraps up a busy week with Academy of Art at Fresno Pacific, Concordia at Azusa Pacific, HPU at Biola and Hawai`i Hilo at Westmont.