February 14, 2009
NAMPA, Idaho – Reserve guard
Adam Wardell hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 56 seconds to play and sank two free throws with seven seconds left to seal Seattle Pacific's 87-82 conference men's basketball victory over Northwest Nazarene, Saturday at the Johnson Sports Center.
The Falcons improved to 15-7 overall and 8-3 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. They swept the season series, including a 63-59 home win over NNU on Jan. 21 in Seattle, to push their all-time series lead to 43-22.
The Crusaders lost for the seventh time in their last eight meetings with SPU. Their season record fell to 10-11 and 2-9 in conference games.
SPU chipped away at a 10-point halftime deficit and drew within 53-50 on a
Casey Reed (Canby, Ore.) jump shot with 15:13 left to play. The Crusaders scored the next nine points, started by four straight points from Kendall Gielow.
The stretch of nine answered points ended with a Louie Beech 3-pointer that pushed the Crusaders margin to 62-50 with 12:28 remaining. NNU's lead was 74-64 with seven minutes to play before the Falcons staged their decisive surge.
Helped by four Crusader turnovers, SPU went on a 15-4 run that was started by two Wardell free throws with 6:15 left to play. Reed registered a three-point play at 2:01, giving the Falcons their initial second-half lead at 80-78.
Coach Jeff Hironaka credited improved defensive intensity and a lineup adjustment as the reasons his Falcons were able to produce the late rally.
“Early on, they just destroyed us offensively, scoring at will on us,” he described. “We finally turned it up another notch defensively and on the offensive end we went with a smaller lineup and spread them out as best we can.
“It was nip-and-tuck once we got close, but Wardell hit a big three from the corner to give us a three point lead. From there we were able to withstand them.”
Following a jumper by Gielow that tied the score 80-80 with 1;28 left, Wardell hit the trey that gave SPU the lead for good. Wardell tallied all of his season-high 12 points in the second half. He was nearly perfect for the game.
The junior from Sedro Woolley (Wash.) High School made all four of his free throw attempts and both 3-point shots and was 3-of-4 shooting from the floor.
“He's obviously playing with a lot more confidence now and that's good to see,” Hironaka said. “One of those guards had to step up and lately it's been him. He's done a nice job these last three or four games. Wardell got a big rebound on their last miss, they fouled him and he hit both free throws.”
Wardell keyed SPU's 30-15 advantage in points from reserves. The Falcons also got 10 points from freshman
Jake Anderson (Burlington, Wash./Burlington-Edison HS).
SPU sophomore
Chris Banchero (Seattle, Wash./O'Dea HS) secured the final score on a pair of free throws with one second left on the clock. He led all scorers with 21 points and
Brandon Larrieu (Puyallup, Wash./Franklin Pierce HS) added 16 points for the Falcons.
Gielow paced NNU with 20 points. Beech made 5-of-9 shots from 3-point range en route to a 17-point performance.
The Falcons made over half of their field goals for the 17th time in 22 games, shooting 54.5 percent (30-of-55). They lead the GNAC and rank No. 3 nationally with a 52.4-percent field goal accuracy as a team.
NNU shot 46.3 percent for the game (24-of-54) and converted 24-of-26 free throws.
The back-and-forth first half featured six ties and 10 lead changes.
After a game-opening basket by NNU's Gielow, the Falcons went on a 13-2 run capped by a Larrieu 3-pointer 15:03 before halftime. Four different players scored during the surge that provided SPU a 13-4 advantage.
The Crusaders responded with a 16-6 streak to go ahead 20-19 with 10:29 left in the first half.
SPU reclaimed the lead, going ahead for the final time in the opening period at 33-31 on a jumper by Anderson with 5:49 to go. NNU closed with a 17-5 surge, ending the half with a 48-38 advantage.
The Falcons trailed by 10 at halftime despite outshooting NNU 51 percent to 45 percent. The Crusaders' margin was built on the strength of 8-of-16 shooting from 3-point range and a 16-point advantage from the free throw line.
NNU converted 20-of-22 first-half free throw attempts to just 4-of-9 for the Falcons. The final free throw margin was not as pronounced as SPU hit 19-of-22 second-half charity shots to 9-of-10 for the Crusaders.
The Falcons return home for a Thursday, Feb. 19 conference clash against Alaska Anchorage. That game tips off at 7:30 p.m. as the nightcap of a Brougham Pavilion doubleheader with the 17th-ranked SPU women, who host top-ranked Anchorage at 5:15 p.m.
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Seattle Pacific vs. Northwest Nazarene
Feb. 14, 2009, 2:30 p.m.
Johnson Sports Center/Nampa, Idaho
SEATTLE PACIFIC 87, NORTHWEST NAZARENE 82
SEATTLE PACIFIC (15-7, 8-3 GNAC)
Banchero 8-11 5-7 21; Larrieu 6-11 2-3 16; Wardell 3-4 4-4 12; Anderson 3-7 4-6 10; Reed 4-9 1-1 9; Moreira 1-2 4-7 6; Diederichs 2-3 0-0 5; Moll 2-3 0-0 5; Downs 1-4 0-0 3; Vranes 0-1 0-0 0.
Totals 30-55 20-28 87.
NORTHWEST NAZARENE (10-11, 2-9 GNAC)
Gielow 7-17 6-6 20; Beech 6-13 0-0 17; Barkdoll 2-5 9-10 13; Golden 4-6 4-4 12; Ryman 2-4 2-2 8; Shildmyer 2-4 0-0 5; Lippman 1-1 2-2 4; Mgebroff 1-2 0-0 2; Roberts 0-2 1-2 1.
Totals 25-54 24-26 82.
Seattle Pacific....... 38 49 - 87
Northwest Nazarene.... 48 34 - 82
3-point goals-Seattle Pacific 7-15 (Wardell 2-2; Larrieu 2-3; Diederichs 1-2; Downs 1-3; Moll 1-2; Anderson 0-2; Banchero 0-1), Northwest Nazarene 8-19 (Beech 5-9; Ryman 2-4; Shildmyer 1-2; Roberts 0-2; Golden 0-1; Gielow 0-1).
Fouled out--Seattle Pacific-None, Northwest Nazarene-Gielow; Barkdoll.
Rebounds-Seattle Pacific 29 (Reed 6), Northwest Nazarene 29 (Barkdoll 7).
Assists-Seattle Pacific 18 (Diederichs 5), Northwest Nazarene 15 (Roberts 9).
Total fouls-Seattle Pacific 17, Northwest Nazarene 19.
Att.-635
