Box Score • Final Stats
CHICO, Calif. – The Falcons may not see another zone defense the rest of the season after Friday's fantastic shooting display.
Patrick Simon compiled 30 of his career-high 33 points on a school-record 10 three-pointers to help ninth-ranked Seattle Pacific win a men's basketball shootout, 101-96 over San Francisco State on the first day of the Mac Martin Invitational.
Simon's 10 treys eclipsed the SPU single-game record of nine held by three former Falcons; Drake Hudgins (2000), Dustin Bremerman (2006) and Marques Echols (2008).
Led by Simon's 10-for-12 performance behind the arc, the Falcons combined to make a remarkable 19 of 24 three-pointers as a team.
"We had a good plan," said Coach
Ryan Looney. "Collectively our team did a good job of sharing the ball and found people in open spots. As a group we did a good job knocking them in."
Any future opponents that view Friday's game footage will likely be persuaded to play man-to-man defense.
"I would not be shocked to never see it again," SPU coach
Ryan Looney said of the zone defense implemented the entire game by the Gators.
A 6-foot-8 senior forward, Simon tied the Great Northwest Athletic Conference record of 10 treys co-owned by Humboldt State's Issac Gildea (2002), Western Washington's Derrick Webb (2010) and Alaska Anchorage's Brandon Walker (2011).
David Downs made 4 of 6 treys to finish with 21 points SPU (7-1), which plays again Saturday at Acker Gym with a 7:30 p.m. contest against tournament host Chico State. The Wildcats were convincing 86-56 winners over Dominican (Calif.) in Friday's late game.
Falcons sophomore
Mitch Penner tallied 15 of his career-best 22 points after halftime. He made his only trey and it was a big one, turning back a late rally that saw the Gators (1-1) draw within two points. Penner's three-pointer with 3:34 left to play provided a 90-85 lead and SFSU never got closer than three the rest of the way.
"They made some adjustments in the second half to shade somebody toward Pat in the zone and it left the high post area open," Looney described. "Mitch was the benefactor of that. He had a great game, especially in the second half."
Nefi Perdomo scored 28 points to lead the Gators, who also got 17 from Bennie Rhodes and 14 from Udun Osakue. Calvin Otiono and Williams Overton each finished with 11 points and Max Fodor added 10.
"That was a very, very good offensive team that we played," said Looney. "I wouldn't be all that surprised if we saw them again later in the season. To me they look like an NCAA Tournament team."
San Francisco State shot 57 percent (38 of 67) from the floor, but was just 7 of 18 on treys.
The Falcons countered with a 65-percent effort from the field (34 of 52), but were much more accurate outside the arc (19 of 24) than inside (15 of 28).
A second-year transfer from Washington State, Simon (Ephrata HS) compiled 27 points by halftime. He converted his first seven three-point attempts. After missing one, he drained his next two long-range shots to finish the half at 9-for-10 on treys.
The Gators got the game's first basket before SPU netted the next 11 points and eventually led by as many as 13 points. SFSU rallied to tie the game 44-44 on a jumper by Overton with 1:20 left in the first half.
Simon answered with his ninth three-pointer of the half as the Falcons reclaimed the upper-hand for good. They were ahead 47-46 at halftime and despite leading the entire time were never able to get more than eight points of separation during the second period.
The win avenged the Falcons lone non-conference loss from last season, a much lower-scoring affair. San Francisco State was a 60-55 victor in the same Chico tournament on Nov. 23, 2012.
"Just like a year ago they zoned us for 40 minutes," Looney said. "Definitely we took advantage of the zone and had a better plan against it than we did a year ago.
"Our plan was to do some different things to get Patrick the ball and he delivered. I haven't seen anything like that, especially in that short amount of time. He basically did all of it in the first half."
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Mac Martin Invitational
Friday, Nov. 29, 2013
Acker Gym / Chico, Calif.
(#9) Seattle Pacific 101, San Francisco State 96
SEATTLE PACIFIC (7-1)
Borton 2-5 1-2 7, Simon 11-14 1-2 33, Hutsen 3-5 1-8 7, Downs 8-11 1-2 21, Stockton 1-4 3-4 6, Carroll 2-3 0-0 5, Todd 0-0 0-0 0, Rusmussen 0-0 0-0 0, Penner 7-8 7-8 22, Ehlers 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 34-52 14-26 101.
SAN FRANCISCO STATE (1-1)
Tatum 2-5 1-1 5, Overton 4-12 3-4 11, Fodor 5-8 0-0 10, Otiono 5-9 1-1 11, Perdomo 11-14 1-1 28, Rhodes 6-9 4-5 17, Osakue 5-8 3-3 14, Brown 0-0 0-0 0 Haley 0-0 0-0 0, Fearn 0-2 -0- 0. Totals 38-67 13-15 96.
Seattle Pacific............... 47 54 - 101
San Francisco State........... 46 50 - 96
3-point goals--SPU 19-24 (Simon 10-12, Downs 4-6, Borton 2-3, Stockton 1-1, Penner 1-1, Carroll 1-1), SFSU 7-18 (Perdomo 5-8, Osakue 1-1, Rhodes 1-3, Tatum 0-1, Otiono 0-2, Overton 0-3).
Fouled out--SPU-None, SFSU-None.
Rebounds--SPU 25 (Stockton 6), SFSU 27 (Tatum 9).
Assists--SPU 23 (Stockton 9), SFSU 15 (Tatum 4).
Total fouls--SPU 13, SFSU 18.
Technical fouls--SPU-None, SFSU-None.
Att.-403.
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Mac Martin Invitational
Seattle Pacific at Chico State
Saturday, Nov. 30, 7:30 p.m.
Acker Gym/Chico, Calif.
