The No. 23 BYU-Hawaii men’s basketball team won the PacWest Championship title, beating No. 19 California Baptist, 84-79, on Saturday, March 7, in Irvine, Calif. Along with the championship, the Seasiders clinched a birth to the NCAA Regional tournament. This is first time since 2011 the Seasiders have played in the NCAA Regional tournament. The Seasiders were led by senior point guard Robbie Mitchell, who scored 18 points along with four steals and four rebounds. Senior guard Pablo Coro scored 14 points, while Danny Berger and Scott Friel each added 11 points apiece. Despite being down by one at half, the Seasiders went on a 17-0 point run, led by nine points by Berger. With a 53-39 lead the Seasiders had to battle to maintain their lead, as Cal. Baptist tried their best to regain the lead. Clutch free throwing would prove to be the difference for the Seasiders, as they went 17 of 18 from the free throw line down the stretch to get the victory. Prior to the championship game, the Seasiders avenged two of their regular season loses against Point Loma and Dixie State. Against Dixie State, junior forward Friel had a dominating performance scoring a career-high 31 points, to lead the Seasiders to a definitive 98-75 victory. “I love the way our guys played,” said Head Coach Ken Wagner in an interview with BYUH Athletics. “I always tell Scott he’s our MVP because he’s just a tough, hard-nosed player.” Along with Friel, the Seasiders got big contributions from Ian Harward, Justin Yamzon, Cory Lange, and Jordan Stone; all who finished with double-digit scoring. In the first round of the tournament, the Seasiders faced Point Loma Nazarene University. The Seasiders went into the half up by nine 37-28, but after a big second half, including a 14-2 run, the Seasiders pushed their lead to 26 points. Taking the opportunity to rest their starters, BYUH’s bench cruised to a 74-49 win. After the tournament, Friel was named tournament MVP, while Berger and Harward were named to the all-tournament team. The Seasiders were selected to the No. 2 seed for the NCAA Regional tournament and will face Seattle Pacific on March 13 in California. The Seasiders faced Seattle Pacific in preseason and won easily 87-61.Uploaded March 12, 2015
Writer: Matthew Roberts
