First-place Point Loma won two more games in lopsided fashion to improve to 15-0 in PacWest play. Academy of Art looked to keep pace with a 2-0 week, which included a big win over Hawai'i Hilo. ART U's Latrell Williams had a lot of rebounds and steals to win Defender of the Week and the Vulcans' Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones put up 37 points against Dominican, the second highest total in the league this year, to earn PacWest Player of the Week.
PACWEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones / HAWAI'I HILO / F / SO / 6-6 / 205 / WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND
Hawai'i Hilo's Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones was a little bit all over the place during three games in northern and central California last week on his way to averaging nearly 21 points a game and eight rebounds a contest.
The third-year Vulcan had a career-high 37 points against Dominican and pulled down 14 rebounds. That had to be one of the biggest bounce backs of all-time, three days after scoring a career-low three points at Fresno Pacific. In Sunday's key match-up at Academy of Art, the New Zealander had 22 points, giving him a total of 62 for the week. The First Team All-PacWest selection shot .545 from the field in the three games. The 6-foot-6 forward averages 18.3 points a game (third in the PacWest) and 9.1 rebounds (second).
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK
LATRELL WILLIAMS / ACADEMY OF ART / F /Â JR / 6-5 /Â 225 /Â GARY, INDIANA
Academy of Art got great defensive work from Latrell Williams during wins over Hawai'i Hilo and Hawai'i Pacific last week. The 6-foot-5 forward pulled down a career-high 19 rebounds against the Sharks, making it a double-double with 16 points, and he also had three steals. In the big win over the Vulcans, the Indiana native had three more steals and seven rebounds to go with 13 points. For the week, he averaged 13 rebounds a game and three steals a contest. On the season, the 2022 Second Team All-PacWest selection is averaging nine points a game and almost seven boards a contest.
UNBEATEN SEA LIONS MAKE IT 16 IN A ROW
The PacWest Team of the Week is the Point Loma Sea Lions. Point Loma's win streak is now at 16 games, improving to 20-3 overall and 15-0 in PacWest play. One more win, tonight against Holy Names for instance, would give them no worse than a share of the conference regular season banner with four games yet to play. All four of those games would be at home.After playing a pair of tight games the week before, this time Point Loma blew out their opponents in impressive fashion. They hit 18 three-pointers during a 107-61 home victory over Chaminade, with nine different players nailing shots from behind the arch. Brian Gorake was 5-for-5 from trey land and finished with 19 points. Pierce Davis came off the bench to swat seven shots away. Back on the road Saturday night in Fresno, the Sea Lions rolled to a 83-48 win over the Sunbirds, with Kaden Anderson leading the way with 26 points and seven rebounds. Anderson was an effortless 10-for-14 from the floor. Point Loma is again the No. 1 team in the west region, and No. 12 in last week's D2CIDA national poll (the next poll comes out Tuesday morning).
SEA LIONS ADD TO GAP
Point Loma moved to 15-0 in PacWest play, building a 4.5 lead over Hawai'i Hilo and they are five games ahead of Azusa Pacific. The Vulcans are 10-4 with a slight lead over the Cougars (9-4) and a full game advantage over Academy of Art (9-5), despite losing to the Urban Knights twice. Biola is a half game behind ART U (8-5) in the fifth spot, with Dominican (7-8) and Chaminade (5-9) fighting for the coveted sixth slot. The top six teams qualify for the Pacific West Conference tournament to be held March 2-4 at Chaminade University in Honolulu.
SEA LIONS UNANIMOUS PICK FOR NO. 1
In today's D2SIDA men's basketball west region poll, the Sea Lions remained No. 1 for the third week in a row, but for the first time claimed all six votes. Point Loma, now 20-3, had 60 points to Cal State San Bernardino's 50. Five PacWest teams overall are in the rankings, which look like this….1) Point Loma 20-3, (2) Cal State San Bernardino 15-3, (3) Montana State Billings 16-5, (4) St. Martin's 17-4, (5) Azusa Pacific 14-6, (6) Cal State San Marcos 12-7, (7) Academy of Art 14-7, (8) Hawai'i Hilo 14-5, (9) Seattle Pacific 13-7, (10) Biola 13-7.
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES
Dominican's Marcus McCutchen had 31 points in a non-conference win over Pacific Union, 99-79…Mason Landdeck had a big week for Hawai'i Pacific, which included 28 points, seven rebounds and four assists in a 82-72 loss to Academy of Art. He totaled 40 points in three games with 13 rebounds and 10 assists…In that Urban Knight win over the Sharks, Mike Asante had 20 points and 13 rebounds…Hilo's Carlos Ramsey, Jr. had 26 points at Fresno Pacific, including 20 in the first half. Nadjrick Peat had 12 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots…In APU's 87-69 Cornerstone Cup win over Biola, the Cougars had a balanced five players in double figures. Daniel Esparza led Biola with 24 points…The Eagles bounced back two nights later behind Alex Wright's 22 points to defeat Chaminade, 95-71. Maximo Milovich had 16 rebounds, 11 points and eight assists for a near triple-double…Melo Sanchez had 30 points for HPU in their 95-64 win over Holy Names…Justin Brown had a double-double for Dominican in their 79-70 loss to Hilo with 16 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks…Garrett Siebels had a career-best 32 points in the Penguins win over the Sharks, hitting 11-of-14 shots including 6-of-8 from three-point range…ART U's Klay Brown had a huge game in the win over the Vulcans with 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting. Will Balata had 15 points, nine rebounds and three steals for the Urban Knights.
GAME A DAY AS PACWEST HEADS INTO FINAL MONTH
There are two games tonight, including Chaminade trying to keep their playoff hopes alive at Azusa Pacific. Thursday's big match-ups include Academy of Art at Azusa Pacific and Dominican at Biola, and Saturday's slate shows ART U heading to Biola.
