Box Score    |   Final Stats

LAS VEGAS – It's rare for a coach to point out how many shots his team missed in order to praise the players.
 
That's exactly what Ryan Looney did after his Falcons defeated Rollins 74-54 on Thursday afternoon.
 
Cory Hutsen tallied 21 points and Mitch Penner grabbed 10 rebounds to lead a lopsided 41-13 advantage on the boards for the Seattle Pacific men, who were victorious in the final round of the Las Vegas Challenge.
 
The Falcons (9-3) swept both games in the two-day basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena. They defeated Dixie State 76-66 on Wednesday behind the 30-point outburst of reserve forward Shawn Reid.
 
That game ended at 9:30 p.m. and Thursday's game tipped off just 17 hours later.
 
"With short preparation for the game, not being able to watch film and only being given a 25-minute shoot-around, we didn't have a lot of time to prepare for what we were going to be able to do offensively against the zone," said Coach Looney. "So we made it more about needing to make a team pay for zoning us for 40 minutes with our offensive rebounding effort."

 

Penner (Seattle, Wash./Kennedy HS) netted 10 points to complete his second double-double. The junior forward led the Falcons' 28-rebound advantage. That was SPU's largest disparity since out-rebounding Western Oregon by 32 (47-15) on Feb. 1, 2014.
 
"I can't remember an opponent having so few rebounds in my time coaching," Looney said of the Rollins' 13 boards.
 
"We missed 27 shots in the game and offensive rebounded 19 of them. It was crazy! Overall in that area we were pretty dominant."
 
That board domination helped SPU produce 20 second-chance points while surrendering just five.
 
"At the end of the day, we had to play against a 1-3-1 zone for 40 minutes," Looney added. "By no means was it pretty on offense, but we made up for all of it with our rebounding effort."
 
Rollins (5-5), from Winter Park, Florida, drew a split in Las Vegas after beating Saint Martin's 73-67 in the first round.
 
After falling behind 36-32 on a three-point play by Jeff Merton 29 seconds into the second half, SPU reeled off nine consecutive points to go ahead for good.
 
Hutsen (Sammamish, Wash./Skyline HS) completed the spree with a layup and put-back shot to forge a 41-36 Falcons lead with 17:22 left to play.
 
A 6-foot-8 senior center, Hutsen scored 15 of his points during the second half en route to his sixth 20-point performance. His jump hook with 1:12 remaining set the final score with SPU in possession of its largest lead at 20 points.
 
The Falcons outscored their foe 42-21 in the second period.
 
Hutsen nailed 9 of 10 shots from the field and 3 of 4 free throws. He also collected six rebounds.
 
"Cory did a fantastic job in the second half," Looney said. "Our gameplan against the zone defense is different than most. We still wanted to get the ball to the post and have our leading scorer get as many touches as possible.
 
"To the credit of our perimeter players they were able to do that, especially in the second half."

 

Senior Riley Stockton (Spokane, Wash./Ferris HS) was scoreless, but matched his Falcons career-high total of nine assists.
 
Brendan Carroll contributed 12 points for SPU and Matt Borton had 11.
 
Sharif Almulla came off the bench to score 12 of his 13 points in the first half for the Tars. Jeff Dirkin also finished with 13 points and Chris Uhle had 12.
 
Alex Blessig was held nearly 13 points below the team-leading average of 13.8 points he owned entering the game. He missed six shots from the field and got his only point from the free throw line for Rollins.
 
The back-and-forth first half saw 11 ties and six lead changes while each team's largest lead was five points.
 
Rollins scored the game's first five points before SPU claimed its initial lead with a seven-point surge, capped by a Hutsen jumper at 15:11.
 
The Tars shot 50 percent (13 of 26), including 5-for-8 accuracy from 3-point range during the first half.
 
The Falcons countered with 44-percent shooting (12 of 27) and were just 4 of 12 on treys.
 
They stayed in the game on the strength of a commanding 22-7 rebound advantage during the opening 20 minutes. That led to 10 second-chance points against just two for Rollins.
 
The teams traded the final eight baskets, the last a 3-pointer by Almulla as time expired that gave Rollins a 33-32 halftime edge.
 
Looney contested whether the last shot beat the buzzer, but the officials let the basket stand.
 
"They pitched a ball out from the paint to the top of the floor and he definitely shot it after the buzzer, but they counted it. He caught it at his feet and the red light was off on the backboard well before he even got it to his waist."
 
The Falcons completed non-conference play with an 8-2 record, including a perfect 4-0 mark in neutral-site encounters.
 
SPU returns to action at home on Jan 1 against Great Northwest Athletic Conference rival Western Oregon. Tip-off is 7 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Las Vegas Challenge
Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014
Orleans Arena / Las Vegas, Nev.
 
Seattle Pacific 74, Rollins 54
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (9-3)
Penner 3-9 2-2 10, Hutsen 9-10 3-4 21, Carroll 2-5 6-6 12, Stockton 0-4 0-0 0, Borton 4-9 0-0 11, Reid 3-6 0-0 6, Swanson 1-4 2-2 4, Rasmussen 2-2 0-1 4, Parker 2-4 0-0 6. Totals 26-53 13-15 74.
 
ROLLINS (5-5)
Dirkin 6-7 0-1 13, Merton 3-6 1-1 7, Uhle 5-8 0-1 12, Blessig 0-6 1-2 1, Schuette 3-11 2-2 8, Almulla 5-6 0-0 13, Koszuta 0-1 0-0 0, Ferrell 0-0 0-0 0, Bedulskis 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-46 4-7 54.
 
Seattle Pacific........   32   42  -  74
Rollins................   33   21  -  54
 
3-point goals—SPU 9-25 (Borton 3-7, Penner 2-3, Parker 2-4, Carroll 2-4, Swanson 0-1, Reid 0-2, Stockton 0-4), RC 6-11 (Almulla 3-3, Uhle 2-3, Dirkin 1-1, Blessig 0-1, Merton 0-1, Schuette 0-2). Fouled out--SPU-None, RC-Merton. Rebounds—SPU 41 (Penner 10), RC 13 (Uhle 3). Assists—SPU 21 (Stockton 9), RC 13 (Blessig, Dirkin 3). Total fouls—SPU 14, RC 16. Technical fouls--SPU-None, RC-None. A-100.
 
 
Next Men's Basketball Game
Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Jan. 1, 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.