SAN DIEGO – Fresno Pacific battled Point Loma to the final buzzer on Monday night, falling just short on the road in PacWest play 79-74 at Golden Gymnasium. The Sunbirds had three players in double-figures, but the Sea Lions' 17 offensive rebounds proved to be the difference in the end.
 
FPU falls to 2-12 overall and 2-5 in league play with the setback, while PLNU improves to 9-6 overall and 5-3 in the PacWest.
 
"I thought we really struggled to execute at a proper level of preparation tonight," said head coach C.J. Haydock. "We just failed to complete tasks that are fundamental to how we play. Point Loma did a really good job picking us apart defensively. I liked our competitiveness down the stretch, but if we don't funnel that into better preparation we won't see any changes. I thought our ball movement offensively was really good in stretches, I thought we really shared it and shot it well as a result."
 
Suhail Mohammadi led the Sunbirds with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including four threes, while Spencer Krannitz scored 12 points after a two-game absence. Kavika Jimenez added 10 points, T.J. Viney chipped in with nine points, Mike Crawley added eight points and eight rebounds, and R.J. Horn totaled nine points, four assists and three rebounds.
 
The Sunbirds played well early, leading by as many as seven in the opening six minutes of the game. The Sea Lions answered, however, with a 13-2 run to close the half to enter the locker room ahead 42-34.
 
After going down by as many as 18 in the second half, FPU fought back in the closing minutes to make things interesting. Mohammadi drained a three with just over a minute to go to cut the lead to 73-67, and again drained a trey with just under 30 seconds left, but it was too little too late as PLNU made its free throws down the stretch to earn the win.
 
The Sunbirds were out-rebounded 45-36 in the game, 17 coming on the offensive end for PLNU, which resulted in 25 second-chance points for the Sea Lions. Both rebounding totals marked the highest allowed by FPU this season. The Sea Lions also out-scored the Sunbirds 40-26 in the paint.
 
Josh Rodriguez led PLNU with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Vince Bowmann added a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds.  
 
The Sunbirds continue PacWest play on Wednesday against #18 Hawai'i Pacific at 7:30 p.m. at the Special Events Center.