Paulsen brothers shine as PLNU beats Chaminade, boosts PacWest lead – elcajon newson Elcajon News only

Point Loma Nazarene effectively placed a stranglehold on the PacWest conference regular season title race with a 97-84 win over second-place Chaminade Saturday evening at Golden Gymnasium.

The Sea Lions (16-4, 9-1 PacWest) led for 34:13 minutes of game clock, led by as many as 13 points and came up with a response whenever Chaminade (12-6, 6-5 PacWest) threatened.

Guard Zack Paulsen led the way with 23 points, his younger brother Tyce — also a guard — added 20, forward Pierce Davis finished with a career-high 17 on 6-of-6 attempts and the Sea Lions held their own against a ferocious Chaminade press.

That press contributed to 14 turnovers which the visitors turned into 15 points but PLNU also finished with a 30-22 edge in fastbreak points and several of the teams 12 made 3-pointers came after busting that pressure.

Perhaps the biggest shot of the game came from Zack Paulsen, whose third made 3-ball (on three attempts) stopped a 10-0 second-half Chaminade run and gave PLNU a 77-73 lead with 7:35 to go.

The shot came off an assist from Tyce, who broke through a double-team in the backcourt before finding his big brother all alone on the wing and ready for the pass.

When the shot fell, Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird tossed his hands in the air and let out an audible groan.

“Just shoot it,” Zack Paulsen said about what he was thinking. “I mean, I was gonna shoot it no matter what.”

From that moment, the Silverswords, who were paced by Roland Banks II’s 24 points and Amound Anderson’s 23 points, never drew closer than six the rest of the way.

The Sea Lions’ lead over current second-place Biola (12-6, 6-4 PacWest) sits at three games in the loss column with 10 games to play.  PLNU has already swept Biola as well as contender Academy of Artl the Sea Lions will not face Chaminade again in the regular season. Next up: a Thursday game at Vanguard (10-4, 4-4 PacWest). S

PLNU is shooting for a fourth consecutive PacWest title.

“When we recruit, we tell guys they should expect to be in this position,” PLNU coach Justin Downer said. “The PacWest goes through the Point. That’s how we feel. We feel that we’ve earned that, especially on our home floor, you don’t want to lose opportunities like that. There’s just a tremendous amount of pride in the tradition.”