HAYWARD, Calif.—Point Loma used a hot start, overcame a cool second half and pulled it back together down the stretch for a 66-57 NCAA West Region Semifinal win over Saint Martin’s on Saturday night at Pioneer Gymnasium.

The Sea Lions advance to Monday night’s championship bout against the winner of tonight’s CSU East Bay vs. CSU Dominguez Hills contest.

Point Loma, the #3 seed, will head to the west region finals for the fourth time in school history. They will take a 27-5 record into that game, which potentially could be against the host and unbeaten Pioneers.

The Sea Lions came out of the gate fast tonight, building a 11-4 lead in the first three minutes. Nine of those points came via three’s from Tyce Paulsen, Caden Harris and Jaden Matingou. The Saints answered, but the Sea Lions stretched out their lead to 25-12 via a 10-0 run at 8:21, courtesy of five total three-pointers.

Andrew Hommes then took over with four straight Point Loma baskets on a variety of twisting drives to the hoop (33-19). A Andrew Nagy drive and basket made it 36-21 with two minutes before the half, their largest lead of the game.

It was 38-25 at the break, with seven different Point Loma players finding the scoring column.

But the second half was a different story. St. Martin’s started the half on a 8-1 run and the Sea Lions went stone cold. It took over seven and a half minutes for Point Loma to get their first field goal and by then SMU had cut the margin to 41-37.

Nagy then took over with three field goals to push the lead back to ten points, despite the fact that PL missed their first five trey attempts. SMU battled back though to a 50-47 deficit, partially due to the green and gold’s coolness at the free throw line as well (6-of-12).

Nagy went back to work with another inside basket and then he completed a three-point play to make it 57-47 with 3:50 left. The Sea Lions pushed the margin to 61-47 at the free throw line and would go on to win by nine points.

Nagy finished with 21 points and seven rebounds, 16 of those points coming in the second half. Hommes and Harris added ten points each. Point Loma won despite a cold second half, going 0-for-7 from three point range and shooting just 28 percent from the field after the break.

Saint Martin’s, the GNAC champ, finishes their season at 26-6.