PLNU ABLE TO CLINCH PAC WEST REGULAR-SEASON TITLE

Make it 18 straight wins for the Point Loma Nazarene Sea Lions.

And add a second consecutive Pac West Conference regular-season championship to the résumé as well.

After a slow start and scrappy first-half effort by visiting Biola, the Sea Lions (22-3, 17-0) rode a huge second-half run sparked by sophomore forward Luke Haupt (St. Augustine) to a 78-64 victory at Golden Gymnasium.

Haupt, who ignited the student section by pumping his fist after making a key 3pointer in the second half, led the way with a career-highmatching 26 points, twotime Pac West player of the year Kaden Anderson added 19 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks and Tobin Karlberg chipped in with 15 points for the Sea Lions.

PLNU shot 48.3 percent for the game but 55.6 percent in the second half and played intense defense while holding Biola (14-10, 9-8) to 33.3 percent shooting in the second half.

When the teams met on Dec. 7 at Biola, the Sea Lions erased an early 11-point deficit to earn an 87-79 win.

This time, Biola jumped out to early leads of 15-4 and 22-8 largely behind Daniel Esparza scoring 14 of his team-high 22 points in the first half.

The Sea Lions opened ice cold from 3-point range, missing their first 11 attempts with many coming on clean looks, yet they climbed back into the game thanks to defensive pressure and 20 first-half points in the paint.

When Anderson finally got a 3-ball to go down at 2:50 of the first, he raised his hands as if to indicate “finally” and the score cut the deficit to 28-24.

Two possessions later, PLNU guard Karlberg sank another 3.

Biola carried a 36-33 lead into halftime, but the Sea Lions continued to crawl back and took their first lead when Haupt followed a reverse layup and defensive stop by knocking down a 3-pointer to make it 50-48 PLNU with 12:31 to play.

Those plays sparked a game-changing 21-4 Sea Lions run that also included a dunk by Brian Goracke and 3-pointers from Goracke, Haupt and Karlberg.

PLNU outscored Biola 4528 in the second half and were up by 16 when coach Matt Logie

pleased the student section by emptying his bench in the final 25 seconds.

The Sea Lions haven’t lost since Nov. 26, when they dropped a 91-89 overtime decision to Western Washington.

PLNU require a new set of nets on the east basket of Golden Gymnasium as the twine used Wednesday night was cut down by one Sea Lion after another after the game.