The Point Loma Nazarene University Men’s Basketball Team has clinched three wins this season since the home opener last week against California State University, San Marcos (CSUSM), with 75-61.
The Sea Lions entered the season with high expectations following the team’s Sweet 16 finish last year. They entered as No. 7 in the nation. In the off-season, the team reloaded with talent and looked to perform in front of their home crowd.
One new face made a splash during the Nov. 19 game, with fourth-year transfer guard James Noble scoring a game-high 18 points, as well as second-year transfer forward Andrew Nagy with 14 points, and off the bench, third-year transfer guard Caden Harris had eight points of his own to go along with five rebounds in their home debut.
“Really, no difference than when we are at practice,” Noble said. “All credit to Coach [Justin Downer] here for getting us as a team better and developing us every day. It’s just a result of the work that we all put in.”
It wasn’t just the new faces dominating on the court; the Sea Lions had four players in double-digit scoring, including third-year forward Andrew Hommes and third-year guard Jaden Matingou, each with 11 points in an overall team win.
Early in the first half, the Sea Lions struggled to find success offensively, but were able to keep it close with their physical defense. CSUSM shot 26% from the field in the first half due to PLNU’s man-to-man defense, where the Cougars would struggle to find success in the paint. In the final minutes of the half, the Sea Lions went on an eight-to-nothing run to go into the half ahead 39-29. During that run, Matingou and Hommes had the highlight of the night with a breakaway steal leading to an off-the-backboard pass from Hommes to Matingou for the slam.
“He got the steal, and I was just trying to leak out,” Hommes said. “He passes it to me, and I just hear ‘backboard backboard’ behind me, and I had to do it … Especially with that crowd, I wanted to get them fired up.”
To begin the second half, PLNU went out firing, extending their lead to 17 in the first five minutes of the half. CSUSM didn’t go down easily, as they forced a handful of turnovers and went on a seven-to-nothing run of their own to cut the lead back down to 10. The rest of the second half was a back-and-forth affair where the Sea Lions maintained a lead for the rest of the way, resulting in a 14-point win.
The Sea Lions struggled to take care of the ball, with 22 turnovers on the night. CSUSM was able to create costly turnovers with their aggressive ball pressure, leading to some unforced errors from PLNU.
“They really pressured the ball and competed well tonight, and put us in some new situations that will allow us to grow,” Coach Downer said. “A lot of those are unforced, which is discouraging in the middle of the game, but is encouraging going forward … It’s a lot of stuff we can clean up during practice.”
Defensively, PLNU was dominant. They applied constant ball pressure, going into a zone press to slow down the Cougars and an interior defense rejecting shots repeatedly with eight team blocks. Hommes was an anchor down low, having six blocks by himself in an impressive all-around performance.
“We practice a lot of defensive principles,” Hommes said. “We preach being second off the ground … so just timing it up and getting the footstep right, but not being the first off the ground, being able to let him draw that foul.”
The next home game is on Dec. 13 at 4 p.m. against Dominican University.
Cade Michaelson