FRESNO, Calif.-Despite a hard-charging second half in which they made more threes than their hosts, the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (1-10 overall, 0-4 PacWest) fell 68-60 to the Point Loma Sea Lions (9-4 overall, 4-1 PacWest) Wednesday evening inside Golden Gymnasium.

Fresno Pacific was on its back heels to start the game as Point Loma came out red-hot from the three-point line, but the Sunbirds halftime adjustments locked up the Sea Lions for a majority of the second half and junior forward Ryan Abbott caught erase a deficit that rose to as much as 17 points.

However, PLNU found its three-point stroke late to hold off FPU and prevent a massive comeback in the Sunbirds return to conference play.

The Sunbirds had a pair of early leads behind Isaac Peralta and Harrison Pennisi, but PLNU hit a pair of threes in the first two minutes to hold an 8-4 lead and force FPU into an early timeout.

After Point Loma wiggled out to a 14-6 lead, FPU pulled within four thanks to shooting 4-5 from the field.

But from a 14-10 PLNU lead, the Sea Lions went on an 11-3 run thanks in part to five threes on ten attempts.

Point Loma maintained the double digit advantage at 29-18 with 7:36 remaining in the first half.

The Sea Lions maintained their 50% clip from beyond the arc and ended the first half with nine total threes, grabbing a 43-26 lead at the break.

Ryan Abbott's 7 points led the way for FPU with Jonah Geron and Aamos Laavainen's 5 points apiece accounting for a bulk of the scoring for the Sunbirds in the half.

The deficit hovered in the double-digit range throughout half of the 2^nd period but FPU's defense buckled down and held Point Loma scoreless for three minutes before a free-throw.

A three-pointer by Abbott pulled FPU within single-digits with 7:26 to play in the game.

Jonah Geron hit a pair of free throws to whittle it down to six before another Abbott triple made it just a three point difference and put FPU on a 10-0 run.

PLNU halted the run with a pair of free throws, but Abbott buried another three to make it a one point game with less than six minutes to play.

Point Loma would push its lead back to five with four straight free-throws within a minute.

Down 7, Ryas Vang hit a three, but Point Loma answered back with another three and added free-throws to hold off the Sunbirds comeback attempt.

The game was won at the three-point line with PLNU finishing with 12 made threes on 30 attempts while FPU was 8 of 24 from deep.

The Sunbirds held advantages on the interior with 20 of their points coming inside the paint and FPU adding eight second chance points.

Abbott finished with a team high 16 points while Kyle Monk joined him in double figures with 11 points.

Aamos Laavainen chipped in 8 points on a perfect night from the field (2-2), three-point line (2-2) and free-throw line (2-2).

The Sunbirds make their way back up through Southern California with a stop in La Mirada to play against Biola University Friday at 7:30 p.m.

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