Zackry Paulsen missed just a handful of shots in running to 52 points and Player of the Week honors. His Sea Lions beat two of their top title challengers (Biola, Chaminade) in claiming Team of the Week and Hawai`i Hilo went on the road held two teams a total of 22 points below their average for a collective Defender of the Week honor.

2024-25 Results/Schedule
2024-25 Standings
2024-25 Statistics

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Point Loma's Zackry Paulsen, G, Sr., 6-4, 195, University Place, Wash.        
Point Loma's Zackry Paulsen was light's out during a pair of huge wins for the Sea Lions last week. The senior guard averaged 26.5 points per game (52 points), and the route that he took to get there was most impressive. Paulsen hit 17 of 25 shots (68 percent), including 8-of-11 from three-point range and he was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line. He equaled a career high with 29 points in a huge win at Biola, nailing 9-of-13 shots in that game. The Washington native had 23 against Chaminade, missing only two shots (8-of-10). Going back to Jan. 11, when Paulsen also had 29 points (11 of 12) against Hawaii Pacific, the sharpshooter is 28-of-37 for a sizzling shooting percentage of .757, and is 13-of-13 from the free throw line.

DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Hawai`i Hilo's Team                                                                                          
Hawai`i Hilo went on the road and took their lockdown defense with them during wins on Saturday and Monday. The Vulcans held Azusa Pacific eight points below their scoring average during a 69-63 win, and on Monday in a 72-68 victory at Vanguard they held the second highest scoring team in the conference to 15 points below their average. UH Hilo held the Lions to 41 percent shooting from the field and 31 percent from three-point range. Against the Cougars, UHH clamped APU to 44 percent from the field and 24 percent from behind the arch. On the season, the Vulcans lead the PacWest in scoring defense at 67.4 points per game.

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Point Loma Sea Lions                                                                                                    
Point Loma answered the call again, twice, in winning two top tier games last week. In both cases, they topped teams that were/are in contention along with the Sea Lions for the conference title. On Thursday, they topped Biola in La Mirada (76-70) behind Zackry Paulsen's 29 points (see above). That win gave PLNU the season sweep over the Eagles, having also topped BU in December in San Diego (82-67). On Saturday, Point Loma took out visiting Chaminade (97-84), using a balanced attack with five players in double figures. Z. Paulsen had 23, Tyce Paulsen added 20 and Pierce Davis had 17. After dropping a pair of games to end the 2024 calendar year, the Sea Lions have now won six straight to improve to 16-4 overall and 9-1 in the PacWest. They moved up to No. 1 in the west region in this week's D2CSC poll and are now No. 13 nationally. 

THIS WEEK: There are a number of games on this week's Thursday-Saturday schudule that will have an impact in the race for the six PacWest tournament slots in March. Point Loma is at Vanguard on Thursday, along with Hawaii Hilo at Concordia, Fresno Pacific at Dominican, Hawaii Pacific at Westmont and Jessup at Menlo. On Saturday, Azusa Pacific goes to Jessup, Academy of Art is at Menlo, Chaminade is at Westmont, Hawaii Hilo travels to Point Loma, Vanguard is at Fresno Pacific and Hawaii Pacific visits Biola.  To see the complete list, click here.

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Seven PacWest teams have conference records of .500 or better and four more are just a game under even. Point Loma leads the pack at 9-1, followed by Academy of Art (6-3), Hawai`i Hilo (5-3), Biola (6-4), Chaminade (6-6), Vanguard (5-5), Concordia (5-5), Azusa Pacific (5-6), Menlo (4-5), Jessup (4-5) and Westmont (4-5)...ART U, Menlo, Point Loma and Hawai`i Hilo all went 2-0 last week. The Urban Knights took out Jessup and Fresno Pacific, Hilo beat APU and VU, and Menlo edged Concordia and Westmont by three points each...The Oaks pulled to within a game of .500 with the wins. In a 78-75 victory over Concordia, Nick Davidson hit two clinching free throws with seven seconds left, and Landon Seaman had a double-double with 24 points and 11 rebounds. In the 67-64 victory over Westmont, the Oaks won the second half 44-29 and Seaman had 24 again...In ART U's 85-77 victory over Jessup, Robbie Armbrester had 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting. Against the Sunbirds (66-48), the Urban Knights broke open a tied game at the break to roll to a second half victory...Westmont's Arian McIntyre had 48 points in two games to put his average at 26.5, still tops in all of Division II...To tip off the week last Wednesday, Fresno Pacific's Jonah Geron had 30 points to lead the Sunbirds to a 92-83 win over Chaminade. Geron came off the bench to hit 7-of-9 three-point attempts and 9-of-10 free throws. Head coach CJ Haydock became FPU's all-time MBB wins leader with 88...Vanguard trailed Azusa Pacific by nine points with 2:20 left, but rallied for a 80-77 win on the road. Jackson Larsen had 23 points for the Lions, missing only three shots from the floor. The Lions also won a wild one at home against Hawai`i Pacific, 91-89 in overtime. HPU's Bryson Metz hit a three with four seconds left to send the game to extra time, but VU's Leonard Turner's free throws with 14 second left in overtime won it. Turner finished with 24 points and Aibigho Ujadughele had 23 for the Lions. Pavle Kuzmanovic had 24 to lead the Sharks...Daniel Esparza had 42 points and eight assists on the week in a split of games for Biola...Jake Kosakowski had 36 points in Hilo's two wins, hitting 6-of-8 trey attempts for 20 points against Azusa Pacific...Kaden Minter had a monster game for Concordia during the Golden Eagles 77-73 Monday win over Chaminade. Minter was 6-of-9 from behind the arch and totaled a career high 32 points...Chris Gales, Jr. had 21 ponts and five assists as Azusa Pacific wrapped the extra long week with a 71-58 win over HPU.

D2 WEST REGION POLL: Point Loma moved into the top spot in this week's unofficial west region poll. (1) Point Loma 16-4, (2) Chico State 14-2, (3) CS Dominguez Hills 13-3, (4) Saint Martin's 16-4, (5) Northwest Nazarene 13-2, (6) Central Washington 12-5, (7) CS San Bernardino 13-6, (8) Biola 12-6, (9) Vanguard 11-4, (10) Chaminade 12-6. RV--Cal Poly Pomona, Academy of Art, Hawai`i Hilo.