SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Entering the PacWest tournament as a No. 6 seed, the Cougars secured a 56-55 win over No. 3 Hawai'i Pacific on Thursday. The team now improves to a 12-16 overall record after finishing with a 10-10 Conference record.
The Cougars were finally able to crack the case after falling to the Sharks already twice this season. With the win, the Cougars now advance to the semifinal round of the PacWest tournament.
George Reidy led the way with 18 points while shooting 4-for-9 from beyond the arc He also helped in grabbing eight rebounds for the Cougars.
Joining Reidy in double-digit scoring was Bryce Sloan who had 12 points and a team-high five assists while Michael Saba added 11 points of his own. Ethan Speaker also contributed with a team-high 11 rebounds.
How it Happened: The action went back and forth through the first few minutes of the game until a triple from Nate Kleppe gave the Cougars a six-point lead with 11:53 left in the half. Down 6-12, Hawai'i Pacific went on an eight-point scoring run to take over the lead.
With 8:48 left in the half, Reidy found the basket and was able to knot the score at 14-14. Although the Sharks answered with another four points of their own to take a lead once again, Ken West knocked down three free-throws to keep the game within one point.
A few minutes later with 2:08 on the clock, West was able to tie it up again 23-23 which sparked a six-point scoring run for the Cougars. While the Sharks were looking to get the last score of the half with a layup, Saba knocked down a last-second triple from the corner to give the Cougars a 30-25 lead going into halftime.
Coming out of the locker room, the game continued in its back-and-forth action until the Sharks were able to make it a tie game once again, 36-36 with 15:37 left on the clock. Hawai'i Pacific continued its run of ten unanswered points until Saba knocked down another triple to bring te game back within one.
He then added on another two points with a layup to give the Cougars the 41-40 lead with 11:00 left to go. Although the Cougars remained in charge of the lead for most of the remainder of the half, they could never quite pull away.
With 4:43 left in the game, Sloan knocked down back-to-back free-throws to give the Cougars a 5-47 lead but the Sharks continued to string along a few points between free throws and a layup to keep the game within one headed into the final minute.
From there it was a free-throw battle between both teams as the Cougars shot 4-for-6 in the final thirty seconds. Despite the Sharks getting off a buzzer-beater three-pointer, the Cougars were able to secure the 56-55 win thanks to their shooting from the charity stripe.
By the Numbers: As the game went down to the wire, both teams had to rely heavily on their shooting from the free-throw line. The Cougars shot 13-for-18 (72%) across the game while shooting 9-for-13 in the second half alone. Meanwhile, the Sharks shot 14-for-19 (73.7%) throughout the game. The Cougars also saw success from beyond the arc with six of their nine three-pointers made in the first half alone versus the Sharks who had just five triples.
When it came to rebounding, the Cougars continued to dominate as they have in many of their games this season grabbing 42 rebounds as opposed to the Sharks who had 32 boards.
Up Next: With the win, the Cougars advance to the Semifinal game of the PacWest tournament where they will face No. 2 seed Academy of Art tomorrow with tip-off scheduled for 12:30 p.m.
