Box Score    |   Final Stats

FAIRBANKS, Ak. – Conventional wisdom cautions that problems shouldn't be avoided. They generally don't just go away.
 
Ryan Looney is not a conventional coach and his avoidance technique paid off Thursday.
 
Cory Hutsen compiled 13 of his game-high 20 points during the second half, helping Seattle Pacific rally for a 74-64 victory over Alaska Fairbanks in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball game at the Patty Center.
 
"Just winning again gives you a ton of confidence. We'll be ready to play Saturday," said SPU coach Ryan Looney about a huge matchup at second-place Alaska Anchorage.
 
The Falcons (17-7) improved to 9-5 in league play and halted a three-game losing streak that was their longest in four years.
 
Compounding SPU's recent troubles was 58-percent free throw shooting (52 of 90) during the slide. Most glaring was a dismal 19-for-40 effort from the line in Saturday's 84-83 home loss to Simon Fraser.
 
"I promised this week that I was never going to talk about those or mention the two words ever again the rest of the season," Looney explained. "We haven't shot one in practice, we haven't talked about one, we haven't done anything. So, I'm going to stick with that plan."
 
That tactic worked Thursday for SPU, which converted 15 of 18 of those unmentionable shots and never missed the front end of a one-and-one.
 
Fairbanks (5-16) sustained its ninth straight setback and dropped to 2-11 in GNAC games.
 
The Falcons trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half and overcame a five-point halftime deficit to get their first win since Jan. 31.

 

A 6-foot-8 senior center, Hutsen (Sammamish, Wash./Skyline HS) hit 9 of 14 shots from the field to post his ninth 20-point performance of the season.
 
Junior forward Mitch Penner (Seattle, Wash./Kennedy HS) registered his fourth double-double, scoring 18 points while grabbing 10 rebounds.
 
"Mitch has consistently been scoring it for us all year so we just kind of kept going to him," said Looney.
 
Shawn Reid (Post Falls, Idaho) added 14 points for SPU.
 
Ashton Edwards and Almir Hadzisehovic each tallied 14 points to pace the Nanooks, who also had a pair of 10-point scorers in Anthony Reese and Alex Duncan.
 
The Falcons held their hosts without a field goal for 5:33 while compiling a 10-1 run to claim a 50-49 lead with 12:18 left to play. They never trailed after that.
 
Reid drained a 3-pointer, was fouled and made the subsequent free throw to tie the score at 48. Then, after UAF's Rashaad Allen made one of two free throws, Hutsen and Penner finished back-to-back layups to cap the SPU spree.
 
Fairbanks twice tied the score after that, and drew within 61-60 on a layup by Hadzisehovic with 5:59 left to play. But the Falcons reeled off the next nine points, the final four from Hutsen, to put the game away.
 
After allowing the Nanooks to shoot 52 percent (16 of 31) during the first half, SPU clamped down on defense after halftime and limited them to 29 percent (8 of 28). UAF shot 41 percent for the game (24 of 59).
 
"We really struggled defensively early in the game, but I'm proud of how our guys figured it out in the second half," said Looney. "We talked about making a few minor adjustments on that end of the floor, but at the end of the day it was basically just challenging ourselves to play harder."
 
Looney singled out junior Bryce Leavitt for his second-half contributions.
 
"We really struggled all first half defending their point guard. He was getting into the lane making a lot of plays for other people. We decided to give Bryce Leavitt a chance and he gave us a lift."

 

Leavitt (Kennewick, Wash./Kennewick HS) did not play in the first half. The 6-foot-4 reserve point guard saw 14 minutes of action after halftime and collected two points, two assists, one steal and a career-high six rebounds.
 
The Falcons were slightly better than their foes from the field, shooting 44 percent (27 of 61). They gained additional possessions with 10 offensive rebounds as part of their 41-33 advantage on the boards.
 
The Nanooks scored the game's first eight points. They nailed their first five shots, including two 3-pointers, en route to a 12-3 lead 2:24 into the contest.
 
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried," Looney described. "I just really felt like we weren't competing at all early in the game. It slowly got a little bit better as the first half went on, but I'm proud of how our guys responded after that time."
 
The visitors responded with a 15-5 run, capped with a trey by Reid that forged an 18-17 Falcons lead with 12:53 left in the first half.
 
Alaska led by one before staging an 11-2 surge to go ahead 35-25 with 5:08 remaining. SPU missed 6 of 7 shots to enable the Nanooks run.
 
A put-back layup by Penner at 1:13 and a free throw by Hutsen at 0:48 drew the Falcons within 40-35 by halftime.
 
The SPU men play their final regular-season road game on Saturday at Alaska Anchorage. Tip-off is 3 p.m. Pacific Time at the Seawolves new Alaska Airlines Center.
 
The Falcons close out the season with three consecutive home contests, beginning on Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. against Montana State Billings in a game that will be televised live on ROOT Sports.


NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015
Patty Center / Fairbanks, Alaska

Seattle Pacific 74, at Alaska Fairbanks 64

SEATTLE PACIFIC (17-7, 9-5 GNAC)
Penner 6-13 5-7 18, Hutsen 9-14 2-3 20, Stockton 1-5 2-2 4, Carroll 1-4 0-0 2, Borton 2-4 3-3 7, Reid 4-10 3-3 14, Rasmussen 2-4 0-0 5, Leavitt 1-2 0-0 2, Parker 1-4 0-0 2, Swanson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-61 15-18 74.

ALASKA FAIRBANKS (5-16, 2-11 GNAC)
Fongue 2-6 0-0 6, Hadzisehovic 6-13 2-5 14, Edwards 5-13 2-2 14, Duncan 3-9 3-4 10, Reese 4-7 2-2 10, Robinson 2-3 0-0 4, Allen 1-1 1-2 3, Griffin 1-3 0-0 3, Ladines 0-1 0-0 0, Tomlinson 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 24-59 10-15 64.

Seattle Pacific..........   35   39  -   74
Alaska Fairbanks.........   40   24  -   64

3-point goals--SPU 5-18 (Reid 3-6, Rasmussen 1-1, Penner 1-2, Carroll 0-2, Leavitt 0-1, Parker 0-1, Swanson 0-1, Stockton 0-2, Borton 0-2), UAF 6-17 (Fongue 2-4, Edwards 2-6, Duncan 1-1, Griffin 1-3, Tomlinson 0-3). Fouled out--SPU-None, UAF-None. Rebounds--SPU 41 (Penner 10), UAF 33 (Tomlinson, Hadzisehovic 5). Assists--SPU 8 (Reid, Leavitt, Stockton 2), UAF 9 (Duncan 4). Total fouls--SPU 18, UAF 17. Technical fouls--SPU-None, UAF-None. Att-245.


Next Men's Basketball Game
Seattle Pacific at Alaska Anchorage
Saturday, Feb. 14, 3:00 p.m. PST
Alaska Airlines Center / Anchorage, Ak.