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VIDEO: Matt  Borton      |     VIDEO: Senior Night ceremony

SEATTLE – It wasn't beautiful basketball at Brougham Pavilion, but the end result has the Falcons sitting pretty.

Senior Matt Borton recorded his third consecutive double-double, compiling 13 points and 13 rebounds Saturday for Seattle Pacific which secured second place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with a 60-49 men's basketball victory over Northwest Nazarene at Brougham Pavilion.

The Falcons (21-7) completed the regular season with five straight wins to finish with a 13-5 league ledger. They earned the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye for the GNAC Tournament that takes place March 5-7 in Billings, Mont.

Two-time defending tournament champion SPU has a semifinal game on Friday at 4:15 p.m. Pacific Time against the winner of Thursday's quarterfinal matchup between No. 3 seed Central Washington and No. 6 Northwest Nazarene. The championship game is set for Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

Coach Ryan Looney said the first-round bye is a luxury his Falcons will use to their advantage.

"We feel fortunate to have the two seed so some of our banged-up guys can get a day off this week. Then we get to sit, rest and watch while our two potential opponents slug it out the day before we play."



NNU (13-15) dropped to 11-7 in GNAC games after posting its lowest scoring output of the season. The previous low came in this season's first meeting, won 77-51 by SPU on Dec. 4 in Nampa, Idaho.

Borton (Yakima, Wash./West Valley HS) hit 5 of 8 shots from the field en route to his sixth double-double of the season. His 13 rebounds fueled the Falcons' 47-25 domination of the boards.

Junior forward Mitch Penner (Seattle, Wash./Kennedy HS) topped the Falcons with 18 points, 10 of them from the free throw line, and senior Riley Stockton (Spokane, Wash./Ferris HS) added 14.

"Mitch was a tough cover for them, a little bit of a mismatch problem," Looney explained. "He got himself to the free throw line a bunch and fortunately he made some."

Alex Birketoft and Kevin Rima paced NNU with 14 points apiece and Erik Kinney added 12.

Birketoft drew the Crusaders within 28-24 on a layup with 17:44 left to play. They did not score another basket for over eight minutes, enabling SPU to go on a 13- 3 run.

 

An alley-oop pass from Brendan Carroll that Shawn Reid finished with a resounding dunk at 10:57 capped the surge with the Falcons ahead 41-27.

Mike Wright halted the NNU field goal drought on a jumper with 9:30 left to play. The closest the visitors could come was 49-40 when Rima's put-back layup ended a seven-point surge with 2:38 remaining.

The Falcons scored their final 11 points from the free throw line during the final 2:13, including six from Stockton and five from Penner, to preserve the win.

After a subpar first half, SPU shot 46 percent (10 of 22) after intermission to improve to 35 percent overall (18 of 52).

"We shot miserably the entire game, but I couldn't be more proud of our guys," Looney said. "We hung our hat on defense and rebounding and that got us through it.

"Our entire team collectively had a great defensive effort and, as we got in foul trouble, we got a boost from guys off the bench like Garrett Swanson who hasn't had much playing time lately."

 

Senior starting center Cory Hutsen was limited to 20 minutes due to early foul issues and his backup, Joe Rasmussen, picked up three fouls in just five minutes.

Swanson (Spokane, Wash./Mead HS) came off the bench and gathered three rebounds while playing solid defense during his 11-minute stint.

NNU was limited to 30-percent accuracy (16 of 54) from the field.

Neither team led by more than five points during a ragged first half that saw 17 turnovers, 11 of them by SPU. The score was tied five times and there were four lead changes.

The teams traded baskets during the opening eight minutes, with the Falcons gaining a handful of two-point leads. NNU was the first team to get consecutive baskets. Rima netted both of them to give the visitors their only lead, at 13-11 with 11:39 left in the first half.

The Falcons registered a 12-5 scoring advantage the rest of the period, concluded by a Stockton free throw with 1.6 seconds showing on the clock, to claim a 23-18 halftime margin.

They led despite shooting just 27 percent (8 of 30) in the opening half, including a 2-for-14 effort from 3-point range.

The Crusaders countered with 32-percent first-half shooting (8 of 25).

Saturday marked the final home playing appearance for four SPU seniors, two of which made school history. Stockton and Hutsen participated in their 97th win for the Falcons, making them the winningest Falcons ever. They surpassed 2014 graduate David Downs who took part in 96 wins during the previous four seasons.

Those two were joined by Borton and Reid in a pre-game ceremony that honored the senior quartet.

Looney lauded this year's senior class for its impact, both on and off the court.

"They set a great example for our younger players in a lot of ways. They compete every day. They're great students academically and all four have demonstrated unbelievably great character.

"I brought it up with them after the game that there are not many collections of guys where I feel comfortable having my 6-year-old daughter in the locker room and in huddles on game day."



NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.

at Seattle Pacific 60, Northwest Nazarene 49

NORTHWEST NAZARENE (13-15, 11-7 GNAC)
Birketoft 3-8 6-6 14, Rima 4-8 6-8 14, Kinney 5-14 2-2 12, Ball 1-11 0-0 3, Wright 1-6 0-0 2, Olivier 1-1 0-0 2, N'Diaye 1-5 0-0 2, Helgesen 0-0 0-0 0, Shedrick 0-0 0-0 0, Hering 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-54 14-16 49.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (21-7, 13-5 GNAC)
Penner 4-10 10-13 18, Hutsen 3-4 3-4 9, Leavitt 1-6 0-0 2, Stockton 3-10 6-8 14, Borton 5-8 2-4 13, Reid 1-5 0-0 2, Swanson 1-3 0-0 2, Rasmussen 0-1 0-0 0, Carroll 0-1 0-0 0, Parker 0-4 0-0 0, Simpson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-52 21-29 60.

Northwest Nazarene.......   18   31  -   49
Seattle Pacific..........   23   37  -   60

3-point goals--NNU 3-18 (Birketoft 2-4, Ball 1-7, Wright 0-4, N'Diaye 0-2, Hering 0-1), SPU 3-20 (Stockton 2-6, Borton 1-3, Reid 0-3, Swanson 0-1, Leavitt 0-2, Parker 0-3, Penner 0-2). Fouled out--NNU-None, SPU-None. Rebounds--NNU 25 (Birketoft 6), SPU 47 (Borton 13). Assists--NNU 4 (Kinney 2), SPU 9 (Stockton 3). Total fouls--NNU 23, SPU 20. Technical fouls--NNU-None, SPU-None. Att-517.


Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
GNAC Tournament semifinals
Seattle Pacific vs. Northwest Nazarene/Central Washington winner
Friday, Mar. 6, 4:15 p.m. PST


2015 GNAC MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.
(seeds)
 
Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 5
GAME 1: (6) Northwest Nazarene vs. (3) Central Washington, 4:15 p.m. PST
GAME 2: (5) Western Washington vs. (4) Alaska Anchorage, 6:30 p.m. PST

Semifinals
Friday, March 6
GAME 3: Winner game 1 vs. (2) Seattle Pacific, 4:15 p.m. PST
GAME 4: Winner game 2 vs. (1) Western Oregon, 6:30 p.m. PST
 
Championship
Saturday, March 7
GAME 5: Winner game 3 vs. Winner game 4, 6:30 p.m. PST