• Final Statistics

NAMPA, Idaho – Andy Poling led all scorers with 23 points for Seattle Pacific, which captured the decisive lead just before halftime Saturday and cruised to a 71-66 men's basketball victory over Northwest Nazarene at the Johnson Sports Center.

The Falcons (14-3) posted their fifth straight win and improved their Great Northwest Athletic Conference record to 6-2. NNU (8-7) dropped to 2-5 in league play.

Poling made 8 of 11 shots from the field for the Falcons, who shot 54 percent (22 of 41) as a team. The 6-foot-11 post player converted 7 of 8 free throws, helping his team outscore the Crusaders 23-4 from the line.

Poling (Portland, Ore.) grabbed eight rebounds to lead SPU's 32-27 advantage on the boards.

Cory Hutsen contributed 12 points for the Falcons and Jobi Wall had 11.

Anthony Golden tallied 16 points to pace NNU, which also got 12 apiece from Jonathan Hawkins and Keith Moilanen and 11 from JB Pillard.

The Crusaders scored the game's first six points while forcing the visitors into a turnover and two missed shots on its first three possessions.

SPU tallied the next eight points, six of them from the free throw line, to go ahead 8-6 with 15:49 left in the first half. That was the first of 17 lead changes, all of them during the opening period.

The Falcons forged what proved to be the game's final lead change on a 3-pointer by Scott Morse two minutes before intermission. Hutsen (Sammamish, Wash./Skyline HS) followed with a basket at 1:04 for a 35-31 advantage.

Hawkins converted a three-point play with 40 seconds on the clock to draw NNU within 35-34 at halftime.

After taking its largest lead of the game at 65-53 on a layup by Wall with 2:03 left in the game, SPU missed four of its next six free throws, one miss each by four different players. That enabled the Crusaders to close within 67-63 when Golden converted two of three free throws with 35 seconds remaining.

The Falcons found their stroke from the line and got a pair of free throws from both Wall and Morse to stretch the lead to a secure 71-63 with 17 seconds to play.

Seattle Pacific won for the 11th time in the last 13 meetings against the Crusaders, improving its lead in the all-time series to 47-22.

The SPU men conclude their three-game road stretch on Saturday at Montana State Billings. Tip-off is 6 p.m. Pacific Time at Alterowitz Gymnasium.


NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Johnson Sports Center/Nampa, Idaho

Seattle Pacific 71, at Northwest Nazarene 66

SEATTLE PACIFIC  (14-3, 6-2 GNAC)
Anderson 0-2 7-8 7, Wall 4-7 2-2 11, Poling 8-11 7-8 23, Downs 2-8 0-1 6, Dorman 0-1 2-3 2, Hutsen 5-8 2-4 12, Morse 2-2 2-2 7, Stockton 1-2 1-4 3, Niang 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 22-41 23-33 71.

NORTHWEST NAZARENE (8-7, 2-5 GNAC)
Maxwell 3-7 0-0 9, Moilanen 5-13 0-0 12, Pillard 5-6 0-0 11, Golden 5-13 2-3 16, Hawkins 5-12 2-4 12, Kurimsky 3-5 0-1 6, Shula 0-0 0-0 0, Nicholes 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 4-8 66.

Seattle Pacific........   35   36  -  71
Northwest Nazarene.....   34   32  -  66

3-point goals--SPU 4-11 (Downs 2-4, Wall 1-3, Morse 1-1, Stockton 0-1, Dorman 0-1, Anderson 0-1), NNU 10-25 (Golden 4-7, Maxwell 3-7, Moilanen 2-9, Pillard 1-1, Nicholes 0-1). Fouled out--SPU-None, NNU-Hawkins, Pillard. Rebounds--SPU 32 (Poling 8), NNU 27 (Kurimsky 6). Assists--SPU 13 (Stockton 5), NNU 13 (Hawkins 6). Total fouls--SPU 13, NNU 23. Technical fouls--SPU-None, NNU-None. A-532.


Next game
Seattle Pacific at Montana State Billings
Saturday, Jan. 21, 6:00 p.m. PST
Alterowitz Gymnasim; Billings, Mont.