SAN DIEGO--Point Loma used shut down defense and timely three-point shooting to advance past Seattle Pacific for a 68-54 NCAA West Region quarterfinal victory on Friday night at Golden Gymnasium. 

The Sea Lions, now 28-5, move into Saturday night's semifinal game against the winner of Biola and CS San Bernardino. Start time will be 7:30 pm.

Point Loma was led by Zack Paulsen's 20 points, but you could also point to the defense of Luke Haupt and timely shooting from Jaden Matingou as a key to victory.

Haupt had 13 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. But it was his defense against SPU's Jaxon Nap that helped swing the momentum to the Sea Lions in the second half. Nap kept trying to take the ball inside a number of times against Haupt, but was denied each time and more than once the process resulted in a turnover. 

"Luke is simply one of the best perimeter defenders in the whole region," said his coach Justin Downer after the game. "He doesn't get rattled and did a great job against a very physical player."  Nap finished with a 10 point, 10 rebound double-double, but was also forced into nine turnovers.

Meanwhile Matingou made the most of his 22 minutes off the bench, hitting all three of his trey attempts in the second half for 10 points. "The bigger the game, the more excited that I am to play in it," said the sophomore from San Diego. Both Haupt and Matingou prepped at St. Augustine High School.

With the game tied at 25-25 in the first half, the Sea Lions went on a 10-3 run to close the half and wouldn't come close to trailing after that. Point Loma shot only 40 percent from the field in the game, but they converted 15-of-18 free throw attempts and had just eight turnovers, including only two in the first half. 

Coby Barnes joined Paulsen, Haupt and Matingou in double figures with 11 points. 

Seattle Pacific, the GNAC tournament winner, finishes 2024-25 at 18-15. They were led by Mason Laddeck's 15 points.