Box Score    |   Final Stats

SEATTLE – Simon Fraser defeated Seattle Pacific for the first time ever in men's basketball, posting an 84-83 win on Saturday at Brougham Pavilion despite the 28-point, 10-rebound performance of the Falcons Cory Hutsen.
 
SPU (16-7) has lost three consecutive games for the first time since the 2011 season and saw its Great Northwest Athletic Conference record fall to 8-5.
 
The Falcons lost a 94-84 double-overtime game on Jan. 31 at 24th-ranked Western Oregon before falling 82-72 at home on Thursday against Western Washington.
 
"At the end of the day, it's my job to motivate our guys to play," said sixth-year SPU coach Ryan Looney. "This past weekend we didn't do a very good job. We didn't play with very much passion in either game and there was not a whole lot of toughness, and toughness has been one of our trademarks."
 
The Clan (9-12) moved to 4-9 in league play after winning for the first time in 14 all-time meetings versus SPU. The one-point victory was a drastically different result than the 115-81 defeat Simon Fraser suffered on Jan. 8 in Burnaby, B.C. in this season's first meeting.
 
Sango Niang scored 19 of his team-high 27 points during the second half Saturday, including the Clan's final five points. His driving layup with 2:27 left to play put Simon Fraser up 81-78.

 

Mitch Penner hit the second of two free throws 15 seconds later to draw SPU within two, but Niang answered with a 3-pointer at 1:43 to forge an 84-79 lead.
 
The Falcons got two free throws from Matt Borton at 1:22 and a layup by Hutsen with 41.6 seconds to play to set the final score.
 
SPU regained possession with 5.9 seconds remaining after rebounding a missed shot by Niang and calling a timeout, but Riley Stockton's running jumper from the top-right corner of the lane rimmed off.
 
Faulty free throw shooting doomed the Falcons as they converted only 47.5 percent (19 of 40) of their attempts. The Clan countered with 66.7-percent accuracy on 16 of 24 shooting from the stripe.
 
"When you go 19 of 40 from the free throw line you don't deserve to win," said Looney.
 
Hutsen (Sammamish, Wash./Skyline HS) recorded his first double-double with career-high marks in both points and rebounds. The 6-foot-8 senior center hit 12 of 17 shots, but struggled from the free throw line at 4 for 15.
 
"If you look at Simon Fraser's boxscores all year long, their opponent's five man has traditionally been somebody who has stood out because of the number of possessions and how much they gamble," Looney explained. "Cory took advantage of that at times."
 
Penner (Seattle, Wash./Kennedy HS) scored 18 points for SPU, which also got 10 points and six assists from Stockton (Spokane, Wash./Ferris HS).
 
Roderick Evans-Taylor joined Niang in double figures for Simon Fraser with 17 points.
 
The Falcons shot 53 percent (31 of 58) from the field, but made only 2 of 13 treys. The Clan hit 43-percent of their shots (28 of 65) and drained 12 of 30 shots from 3-point range.
 
SPU scored the game's first 11 points, nailing its first five shots and a free throw while forcing the Clan into three misses and a pair of turnovers. All five field goals came on layups as the hosts successfully broke through the pressure defense.
 
Daniel Deflorimonte put Simon Fraser on the board with a shot in the lane 2:27 into the game. The visitors steadily erased the deficit as their defense picked up.
 
"They made some adjustments defensively and rotated differently to take away some of our cutters to the rim, but at the end of the day our foul trouble deflated how much passion we were playing with on defense," Looney said.

 

Key SPU starters Riley Stockton and Mitch Penner each drew two first-half fouls and were limited to nine and eight minutes, respectively in that period.
 
The Falcons shooting cooled considerably as they made just 3 of their next 17 shots and turned the ball over 11 times while Simon Fraser rallied to claim a 25-23 margin on a layup by Niang with 6:40 left in the first half.
 
SPU briefly reclaimed the lead on back-to-back baskets by Hutsen, but the Clan captured a 35-34 halftime edge on a layup by JJ Pankratz off an inbounds play under the basket with 3.5 seconds showing on the clock.
 
Hutsen compiled 15 first-half points, on 6-for-9 accuracy, while his teammates combined to shoot 7 of 21 during the opening 20 minutes.
 
The Falcons committed 14 turnovers and missed on all eight of their 3-point attempts before the break.
 
In the second half, SPU scored the first five points to surge ahead 39-35. Another five-point run, capped by a Hutsen layup at 14:23, produced a 52-45 advantage.
 
The Clan again rallied and tied the game on four occasions before taking the lead for good, at 79-78, on a trey by Patrick  Simon with 3:12 left to play.
 
The Falcons embark on their final road trip next week with a visit to Alaska. They play at Fairbanks on Thursday at 8 p.m. Pacific Time before a clash at Anchorage on Saturday at 3 p.m.
 
SPU closes out its regular-season schedule 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
Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.

Simon Fraser 84, at Seattle Pacific 83

SIMON FRASER (9-12, 4-9 GNAC)
Taylor-Evans  5-12 4-8 17, Simon 3-7 2-2 9, Niang 8-17 7-8 27, Cole 4-11 0-1 9, Harper 1-2 0-0 3, Westfall 2-5 0-0 6, Deflorimonte 2-5 1-1 5, Sewani 2-2 0-0 4, Pankratz 1-2 2-2 4, Sparks-Guest 0-1 0-0 0, van der Mars 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 28-65 16-24 84.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (16-7, 8-5 GNAC)
Penner 6-7 6-9 18, Hutsen 12-17 4-15 28,Stockton 4-7 2-3 10, Carroll 3-4 0-0 6, Borton 2-6 2-2 7, Swanson 2-7 2-3 6, Reid 1-5 3-8 5, Parker 1-5 0-0 3, Rasmussen 0-0 0-0 0, Leavitt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-58 19-40 83.

Simon Fraser.............   35   49  -   84
Seattle Pacific..........   34   49  -   83

3-point goals--SF 12-30 (Niang 4-9, Taylor-Evans 3-6, Westfall 2-4, Cole 1-4, Harper 1-1, Simon 1-2, Sparks-Guest 0-1, van der Mars 0-1, Pankratz 0-1, Deflorimonte 0-1), SPU 2-13 (Parker 1-4, Borton 1-2, Stockton 0-1, Swanson 0-3, Carroll 0-1, Reid 0-1, Penner 0-1). Fouled out--SF-Harper, Taylor-Evans, SPU-None. Rebounds--SF 37 (Taylor-Evans 7), SPU 46 (Hutsen 10). Assists--SF 12 (Harper 4), SPU 13 (Stockton 6). Total fouls--SF 26, SPU 21. Technical fouls--SF-None, SPU-None. Att-761.


Next Men's Basketball Game
Seattle Pacific at Alaska Fairbanks
Thursday, Feb. 12, 8:00 p.m. PST
Patty Center / Fairbanks, Ak.