Box Score    |   Final Stats

ANCHORAGE, Ak. – They had to work overtime. But with Cory Hutsen's usual businesslike effort and solid contributions from a pair of part-timers, the Falcons got the job done.
 
Hutsen scored 23 points and Sam Simpson added a career-high 12 points off the bench Saturday, sparking the Seattle Pacific men to a 73-72 overtime win over Alaska Anchorage in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference basketball clash at the new Alaska Airlines Center.
 
The Falcons (18-7) extended their series-best winning streak to seven games against UAA, including three consecutive triumphs in Anchorage. They improved to 10-5 in league play and, paired with Thursday's 74-64 win at Fairbanks, registered a third straight sweep of the Alaska road trip.
 
"It was a hard-fought game. UAA did a nice job taking us out of a lot of our stuff offensively," said SPU coach Ryan Looney. "At the end of the day, our guys had enough toughness and resiliency to get it done on the defensive end."

 

SPU fell behind 68-65 early in overtime before scoring six straight points. Mitch Penner started the run on a three-point play with 2:50 remaining and capped it with a free throw at 1:37 that gave his team a 71-68 margin.
 
After Anchorage got two free throws by Boomer Blossom at 1:36, the Falcons answered with two of their own by Bryce Leavitt with 29.1 seconds to play.
 
Blossom set the final score on a tip-in with 11.1 seconds remaining.
 
The Seawolves forced a turnover on an inbounds play with 6.2 seconds on the clock, but couldn't net the game-winner despite two tries. Dom Hunter missed a 16-foot jumper, rebounded his own miss, and had the follow-up shot carom off the rim at the buzzer.
 
"We've been talking a lot about, regardless of what's going on, to move on to the next play," Looney said. "Our guys did a better job of that tonight and I'm proud that we got ourselves in a situation where we needed a defensive stop to win it and were able to get it done."
 
The second-place Seawolves (14-10) had their five-game winning streak snapped as they moved to 10-4 in GNAC action.
 
Hutsen (Sammamish, Wash./Skyline HS) shot 11-of-15 from the field en route to his 10th 20-point performance.

 

Simpson (Boise, Idaho) surpassed the season total of 10 points he compiled in 12 prior games. The freshman forward's previous top scoring game was five points.
 
He entered Saturday's game with 3:15 on the clock and eclipsed that career-high by halftime on four free throws and a 3-pointer. Simpson added five points in the second half.
 
"In all reality, we don't win without Sam Simpson's contributions. He was huge," Looney exclaimed.
 
"We got in extreme foul trouble in the first half. We gave Sam an opportunity and not only did he not go in and make any mistakes, but he was great defensively, he made some big shots and free throws. He earned the opportunity to play the rest of the year."
 
Junior point guard Bryce Leavitt (Kennewick, Wash./Kennewick HS) drew his first starting assignment since Dec. 12 and responded with nine points and five assists for the Falcons.
 
"Of all of our point guards in our last game at Fairbanks, Bryce did the best job of the three," explained Looney. "Bryce was great again today.
 
"Brendan Carroll was really banged up and we were going to try to not play him in today's game if we could, to give us the best chance to be healthy in the conference tournament at the end of the year."
 
Christian Leckband led four double-figure scorers with 19 points for UAA, which also got 13 apiece from Brian McGill and Travis Thompson along with 10 from Derrick Fain.
 
SPU led 43-37 early in the second half before the Seawolves went on a 15-2 spree. Back-to-back three-point plays by Leckband and McGill, sent the hosts to their largest advantage at 52-45 with 12:36 left to play.

 

The visitors trailed 60-55 before scoring nine unanswered points, capped by a put-back from Hutsen that forged a 64-60 Falcons' lead with 1:22 on the clock.
 
Thompson converted four free throws during the final 1:10 of regulation to force overtime.
 
SPU shot 53 percent (25 of 47) for the game and converted 17 of 24 free throws. The Seawolves were limited to 41-percent accuracy (22 of 54) from the field.
 
The lead changed eight times before halftime. UAA claimed its final first-half edge, at 31-30, on two free throws by Leckband with 2:35 remaining.
 
The Falcons responded by netting the final nine points of the period, seven of them from Simpson, to claim a 39-31 halftime margin.
 
The victory made the SPU men the third team to clinch a spot in the GNAC Tournament, slated for March 5-7 in Billings, Mont., joining UAA and Western Oregon. They are the two-time defending champions.
 
"Our goal is to get one of the top-two seeds so we don't have to play in the first round of that conference tournament," Looney said.
 
The Falcons are currently in third place, one-half game behind Anchorage. If the teams finish level, they own the tiebreaker by virtue of the regular-season sweep that includes a 73-51 win on Jan. 15 in Seattle.
 
SPU closes out the season with three 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
Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015
Alaska Airlines Center / Anchorage, Alaska

Seattle Pacific 73, at Alaska Anchorage 72 (ot)

SEATTLE PACIFIC (18-7, 10-5 GNAC)
Penner 2-5 4-5 8, Hutsen 11-15 1-6 23, Leavitt 3-4 2-2 9, Stockton 2-6 2-2 6, Borton 2-4 2-3 6, Simpson 2-3 6-6 12, Reid 3-6 0-0 9, Swanson 0-1 0-0 0, Rasmussen 0-0 0-0 0, Carroll 0-0 0-0 0, Parker 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 25-47 17-24 73.

ALASKA ANCHORAGE (14-10, 10-4 GNAC)
Parrish 1-3 0-1 2, Mears 0-0 0-0 0, McGill 5-8 1-1 13, Thompson 2-7 8-8 13, Fain 2-7 5-6 10, Leckband 7-14 4-5 19, Hunter 2-10 2-2 7, Blossom 2-3 2-2 6, Berg 1-2 0-0 2, Bowman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-54 22-25 72.

Seattle Pacific..........   39   25    9  -   73
Alaska Anchorage.........   31   33    8  -   72

3-point goals--SPU 6-20 (Reid 3-6, Simpson 2-3, Leavitt 1-2, Stockton 0-3, Parker 0-3, Borton 0-2, Penner 0-1), UAA 6-19 (McGill 2-2, Thompson 1-2, Fain 1-2, Leckband 1-6, Hunter 1-6, Blossom 0-1). Fouled out--SPU-Borton, UAA-Parrish. Rebounds--SPU 32 (Stockton 8), UAA 26 (Hunter, Leckband 4). Assists--SPU 19 (Leavitt 5), UAA 17 (Thompson 5). Total fouls--SPU 23, UAA 24. Technical fouls--SPU-None, UAA-None. Att.-1,060.


Next Men's Basketball Game
Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Feb. 21, 3:00 p.m. PST – ROOT SPORTS TV
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.