Box Score    |   Final Stats   |   VIDEO: Cory  Hutsen

SEATTLE – Two was the notable number entering the week. The Falcons are halfway there.
 
Matt Borton scored 15 points and nearly outrebounded Central Washington by himself Thursday, helping Seattle Pacific take sole possession of second place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball standings with a 69-47 triumph at Brougham Pavilion.
 
The 6-foot-5 senior guard amassed 17 rebounds, leading his team to a 60-25 domination of the glass.
 
"I can't say enough about what our guys did on the glass," exclaimed SPU coach Ryan Looney. "We knew that was going to be a huge part of the game for us because of how much pressure they apply. We wanted to negate any potential turnover issue with our offensive rebounding effort and our guys did it tonight."
 
When Borton grabbed his final rebound with 5:37 showing on the clock, he had one more than the 16 boards gathered by the entire CWU lineup.
 
For the game, Wildcats players accounted for 22 individual rebounds and their other three were team boards.
 
"Matt's effort was fantastic," Looney said. "But part of our game plan was on every shot on defense to face up Joseph Stroud to eliminate him and our five from rebounding. Because of that, Matt a lot of times had a clear path to the ball."
 
Borton (Yakima, Wash./West Valley HS) hit 6 of 11 shots from the field, including 2-of-4 accuracy on 3-pointers, to post his second straight double-double and fifth of the season.
 
The Falcons (20-7) reached the 20-victory mark for the 23rd time in their 71-year history. They extended their school-record streak to six 20-win seasons while improving to 12-5 in league play.



Deuces are wild for SPU.
 
The goal this week was to register two wins and secure second place and the No. 2 seed for the GNAC Tournament that takes place March 5-7 in Billings, Montana. The first-round bye awarded to the top-two seeds would vault SPU into the semifinals, just two wins away from an automatic NCAA Tournament berth.
 
The Falcons clash with third-place Northwest Nazarene on Saturday at 7 p.m. and the winner of that game claims the second seed.
 
 "We talked in the locker room that tonight is only special if we can get that one done too," said Looney.
 
Senior center Cory Hutsen (Sammamish, Wash./Skyline HS) led all players with 17 points and the Falcons also got 12 from Riley Stockton and 11 from Shawn Reid.
 
Stroud was the lone double-digit scorer for the Wildcats (16-8) with 15 points. They dropped to third place with an 11-6 GNAC mark.
 
SPU raced out to a 12-2 lead, getting seven of those points from Hutsen. The visitors made just 1 of their opening 5 shots and committed four early turnovers.
 
The Wildcats didn't score their third point until 5:29 had elapsed when Julian Vaughn made the first of two free throws. That started a seven-point surge that drew them within 12-9 with 11:15 left in the first half.
 
After an exchange of three-point possessions by each team, the Falcons went on a 17-4 run over the final 10:08 of the half. They netted the last seven points of the half while forcing CWU to miss its final 11 shots en route to a 32-16 halftime advantage.
 
SPU posted 42-percent accuracy (13 of 31) from the field in the first half while limiting Central to 21-percent shooting (7 of 34), including 0-for-7 on 3-pointers.
 
Borton collected 11 rebounds during the opening 20 minutes, fueling a 34-12 Falcons margin on the boards.
 
Stroud registered a three-point play 28 seconds into the second half, but the Falcons responded with an 11-2 spree to stretch their lead to 43-21 with 15:09 left to play. Reid tallied the final four points of that run.
 
The lead grew as high as 26 points.
 
The Wildcats picked up their scoring pace with 16 points during the final 7:19, but they were still held under 50 points for the first time all season. Central was limited to 14 points fewer than its previous low of 61 in a loss at BYU-Hawaii on Nov. 21.

 

Saturday's 7 p.m. contest is SPU's final game of the regular season and will be preceded by a brief ceremony to honor the Falcons four seniors.
 
Matt Borton, Cory Hutsen, Shawn Reid and Riley Stockton will play their final game at Brougham Pavilion.
 
Hutsen and Stockton are four-year lettermen who helped SPU to a 96-25 record, three NCAA Tournament berths, two GNAC Tournament titles and a conference regular-season championship during their careers.
 
Those 96 career victories tie them for the most in school history by any Falcons players. They equaled the record established last season by David Downs who took part in 96 SPU wins from 2011-14.
 
Between the showdown for second place and the senior festivities, Looney expects a stellar effort from his squad Saturday.
 
"We'll have a ton of passion. We're going to honor four seniors and we have two guys that are trying to become the winningest players in school history. We want to get that done at home for them."

NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.

at Seattle Pacific 69, Central Washington 47

CENTRAL WASHINGTON (16-8, 11-6 GNAC)
Stroud 6-9 3-4 15, Rodgers 0-5 0-2 0, Roppo 0-4 0-0 0, Dawn 1-5 0-0 3, Williams 3-14 1-1 7, Jacobs 4-12 0-0 8, Vaughn 2-6 2-3 6, Matthews 2-5 2-2 6, Rademacher 1-2 0-0 2, Peake 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-62  8-12 47.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (20-7, 12-5 GNAC)
Hutsen 8-15 1-4 17, Borton 6-11 1-2 15, Stockton 6-11 0-0 12, Reid 4-7 2-2 11, Penner 1-8 5-8 7, Leavitt 1-5 2-2 4, Poulsen 1-1 0-0 2, Rasmussen 0-2 1-4 1, Swanson 0-0 0-0 0, Morse 0-0 0-0 0, Carroll 0-1 0-0 0, Parker 0-0 0-0 0, Simpson 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 27-63 12-22 69.

Central Washington.......   16   31  -   47
Seattle Pacific..........   32   37  -   69

3-point goals--CWU 1-13 (Dawn 1-2, Williams 0-6, Vaughn 0-1, Roppo 0-2, Rodgers 0-1, Stroud 0-1), SPU 3-10 (Borton 2-4, Reid 1-2, Penner 0-1, Leavitt 0-1, Carroll 0-1, Stockton 0-1). Fouled out--CWU-None, SPU-None. Rebounds--CWU 25 (Dawn, Vaughn, Williams 4), SPU 60 (Borton 17). Assists--CWU 7 (Williams 3), SPU 10 (Stockton 4). Total fouls--CWU 16, SPU 11. Technical fouls--CWU-None, SPU-None. Att-646.


Next Men's Basketball Game
Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Feb. 28, 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.