That's 19 wins in a row for Point Loma, thanks in part to Luke Haupt's triple-double. He is your PacWest Player of the Week and the Sea Lions are the Team of the Week.
Hawai'i Hilo held their opponents to 66.5 points a game, and head coach Kaniela Aiona says that 6-11 middle Nadjrick Peat is the biggest reason for that. He is the Defender of the Week.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Point Loma's Luke Haupt, G/F, Soph., 6-6, 220, San Diego, Calif.
Sophomore sensation Luke Haupt wins his first Player of the Week after claiming a Defender of the Week earlier this season. The 6-foot-6 swing man had a triple-double in Point Loma's 97-80 victory over Concordia, with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. It is the first triple-double of his career. Earlier in the week, he helped the Sea Lions clinch the PacWest regular season title during a 78-64 victory over Biola. The local San Diego product (St. Augustine HS) equaled his season-high of 26 points and also had six rebounds and seven assists against the Eagles. He converted 10 of 16 shots in the game. For the pair of contests, Haupt had 42 points, 17 rebounds, 17 assists and a pair of steals.
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK
Hawai'i Hilo's Nadjrick Peat, C, Soph., 6-11, 220, Alexandria, Jamaica
Hawai'i Hilo won two more games at home, holding their opponents to 66.5 points a game in a 82-68 win over Holy Names and a 74-65 victory over Fresno Pacific.
Six-foot-11 big man Nadjrick Peat has won the PacWest Defender of the Week award before, usually for his rebounding and shot blocking numbers. This time, he gets the nod because his coach Kaniela Aiona says the Jamaican spearheads their defense.
"He is our defensive anchor," Aiona said. "He is the human eraser. For as many blocks as he gets, he changes twice as many shots. Against Fresno for example, he erased two dunks and even took a charge."
Peat, who transferred to UH Hilo from New Mexico Military Institute, leads the PacWest in blocks (2.7 per game) and lists sixth nationally. He also ranks third nationally in dunks made.
SEA LIONS CLINCH PACWEST TITLE WITH THREE WEEKS TO PLAY
The PacWest Team of the Week is the POINT LOMA SEA LIONS. Point Loma clinched the title last Wednesday with a 78-64 win over Biola behind Luke Haupt's 26 points (see above), Kaden Anderson's 19 points, ten rebounds, four assists and four blocks, and Tobin Karlberg's 15 points. In a 97-80 victory over Concordia, it was Brian Gorake's turn to fill up the score sheet with 32 points. Anderson added 18 and three more blocks and Haupt had the triple-double mentioned above. The Sea Lions also won the regular season title in 2019 and 2022.
HOSTS SLIP INTO SIXTH SPOT
Even though crosstown rival HPU upended Chaminade 100-98 on Wednesday, the Silverswords bounced back with a 64-56 win over Holy Names to take over sole possession of sixth—albeit by just a half game over Dominican. Chaminade, who will host the Pacific West Conference tournament March 2-4, has just one regular season game left, this Wednesday against Fresno Pacific. The 'Swords (8-11) split with Dominican (7-11) during the season, so the next tiebreaker (if they were to tie) would be results against other opponents, starting at the top of the standings. Dominican plays at Holy Names on Saturday and then wraps up the regular season on Feb. 25 against Academy of Art. HPU is also still mathematically alive, as is Fresno Pacific and Concordia. (See the link above for the current top five in the standings).
SEA LIONS HOLD SERVE IN REGIONAL POLL
In today's D2SIDA men's basketball west region poll, the Sea Lions remained No. 1 for the fifth week in a row and claimed all six votes again. Point Loma, now 23-3, had 60 voting points to Cal State San Bernardino's 51. Five PacWest teams overall are still in the rankings, which look like this….1) Point Loma 23-3, (2) Cal State San Bernardino 20-3, (3) St. Martin's 20-4, (4) Montana State Billings 19-6, (5) Azusa Pacific 18-6, (6) Cal State San Marcos 15-8, (7) Hawai'i Hilo 16-5, (8) Academy of Art 16-8, (T9) Seattle Pacific 14-10, (T9) Biola 14-10.
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES
HPU went 2-0 last week with wins over Chaminade (100-98) and Holy Names (92-84). Marquis Moore totaled 46 points and 15 rebounds in those wins, which included 25 points and nine rebounds in the wild win over Chaminade. Mason Landdeck went for 20 and 21 points in those games and also totaled 13 assists…Lots of crooked numbers for Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones as Hawai'i Hilo also went 2-0 (Holy Names and Fresno Pacific). The all-around stat compiler had 37 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals. Tait-Jones' teammates Kalique Mitchell had 22 points (10 of 12 shooting) and nine rebounds against the Hawks and point guard Darren Williams had 19 points, eight assists and six rebounds against the Sunbirds…Dominican's Jaayden Bush hit a three-pointer at the buzzer in overtime to lift the Penguins to a 63-62 non-conference win over UC Santa Cruz on Wednesday…Biola lost twice last week but Daniel Esparza totaled 42 points against the top two teams in the conference in Point Loma and Azusa Pacific…Chaminade had a big game from Braden Olsen (26 points, eight assists) in the loss to HPU and Isaac Amaral-Artharee had 16 against Holy Names. The 'Swords had five players in double figures in the triumph over the Hawks…Academy of Art had just one game last week, a 89-75 win over Dominican. Will Balata had 18 points and eight rebounds for the Urban Knights while PJ Volz paced the Penguins with 28 points…Azusa Pacific won part two of the Cornerstone Cup, topping rival Biola 75-64 on Saturday. Bryce Sloan had 17 for the Cougars and Ken West added 16. Hunter Ruck had a double-double for the Eagles with 11 points and 12 rebounds…Fresno Pacific took the Vulcans to overtime in Hilo before falling 74-65. Kyle Monk led the Sunbirds with 22 points and seven rebounds. Earlier in the week, Darrin Person had 16 points and nine boards as the 'Birds knocked off Concordia, 68-59.
2.5 WEEKS LEFT
In addition to the above mentioned scenarios for that coveted sixth place spot, other games this week will play big into the final placing and match-ups for the PacWest tournament. The biggest is Hawai'i Hilo at Azusa Pacific on Thursday in a battle between the third and second place teams respectively in the conference.
