• Final Stats

PHOENIX, Ariz. – On a day when their shooting was subpar, the Falcons compensated with an historic performance on the other end of the floor.

Andy Poling's 18 points led the offense and 22nd-ranked Seattle Pacific's defense surrendered its fewest points in 61 years on Saturday during a 63-33 men's basketball triumph over Academy of Art at the GCU Thanksgiving Classic.

The 33-point output by San Francisco's Academy of Art (0-6) was the lowest total allowed by SPU since 1951 when Saint Martin's was held to 31.

The Falcons (5-1) quickly rebounded from their first defeat of the season, a 67-58 setback Friday night against the host school at Grand Canyon Arena. That game finished less than 17 hours before Saturday afternoon's tip-off.

“For us the big thing was against Grand Canyon we didn't shoot it very well and we let that affect other parts of our performance,” SPU coach Ryan Looney described. “We weren't very tough, we didn't defend like we normally do and everybody was hanging their head a little bit because they were missing shots.”

The Falcons made only 37-percent of their attempts from the floor (20 of 54) on Saturday, including 7-of-22 from 3-point range. The defense covered for shooting shortcomings by making a season-high 11 steals. They parlayed 18 AAU miscues into a 19-0 points-on-turnovers advantage.

Poling (Portland, Ore.) led a 42-37 rebounding edge with nine boards. He was the only double-digit scorer for the Falcons, who got nine from David Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) and eight from Jeff Dorman (Vancouver, Wash./Prairie HS).

Looney hopes this game helps his players realize that other components of the game are just as valuable as shooting.

“Today, we were way better in all the toughness areas. We actually shot it worse than we did against Grand Canyon, but still got out of there with a 30-point win because of what we did in all the other areas. So it was actually a good lesson for our team.”

Poling tallied 11 of his points during the first half, helping the Falcons build a 32-15 halftime advantage. They did not turn the ball over during the opening 20 minutes while forcing 10 turnovers with six, first-half steals.

After the Urban Knights took their only lead, at 3-2, on a 3-pointer by Czar Robotham 1:43 into the game, SPU went on an 18-4 run to take control. Six different players scored during the surge, led by six from Poling.

AAU's 15 halftime points were not the least yielded this season by the Falcons, who limited Dixie State to 14 on Nov. 11. Dixie did not have a double-figure scorer in that season-opening game and neither did the Knights on Saturday.

Robotham scored eight points to lead AAU, which shot 24 percent (12 of 50), including just 3 of 23 on 3-point attempts.

In the second half, the Falcons gradually stretched the 17-point halftime lead to the final 30-point margin.

SPU is holding opponents to an average of 52.3 points per game this season. None of them has scored more than 67 points.

“It's becoming a little bit of a trend for our team,” Looney said of the stingy defense. “We've come a long way on that end, we just need to get a little bit tougher.”

Seattle Pacific returns home to start Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on Thursday against Simon Fraser and Saturday versus Western Washington. Tip-off for both games is 7 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion.

“Hopefully everything we've done up to this point has prepared us for those games because they're going to be pretty important,” Looney said.

 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
GCU Thanksgiving Classic
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Grand Canyon Arena/Phoenix, Ariz.
 
(#22) Seattle Pacific 63, Academy of Art 33
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC  (5-1)
Wall 2-9 1-2 7, Anderson 1-7 3-4 8, Poling 7-14 4-6 18, Downs 3-6 0-0 9, Dorman 2-6 3-4 5, Moll 3-6 1-3 7, Niang 1-1 2-2 4, Morse 1-1 0-0 3, Stockton 0-2 2-4 2, Hutsen 0-1 0-0 0, Todd 0-0 0-0 0, Carel 0-1 0-0 0, Washburn 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-54 16-25 63.
 
ACADEMY OF ART (0-6)
Kone-Nelson 2-5 0-0 4, Hayden 1-3 4-5 6, Shamsud-din 3-13 0-1 7, Robotham 3-10 0-0 8, Overton 2-13 2-2 6, Anderson 1-1 0-0 2, Jorritsma 0-1 0-0 0, Romain 0-0 0-0 0, Prema 0-1 0-0 0, Babbitt 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 12-50 6-8 33.
 
Seattle Pacific.......   32   31  -   63
Academy of Art........   15   18  -   33
 
3-point goals--SPU 7-22 (Downs 3-6, Wall 2-5, Morese 1-1, Dorman 1-3, Carel 0-1, Anderson 0-3, Moll 0-3), AAU 3-23 (Robotham 2-6, Shamsud-din 1-7, Prema 0-1, Babitt 0-3, Overton 0-6). Fouled out--SPU-None, AAU-None. Rebounds--SPU 42 (Poling 9), AAU 37 (Hayden 10). Assists--SPU 15 (Wall 5), AAU 7 (Robotham 2, Shamsud-din 2). Total fouls--Seattle SPU 14, AAU 19. Technical fouls--SPU-None, AAU-None. A-236.
 
 
Next game
Simon Fraser at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Dec. 1, 7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion, Seattle, Wash.