Box Score    |   Final Stats   |   VIDEO: Post-Game Press Conference

AZUSA, Calif. –- The Falcons greatest strength abandoned them during the final second Saturday.

Trevone Williams rebounded a teammate's airball and quickly banked in a layup at the buzzer, lifting 21st-ranked California Baptist to a 78-77 West Regional semifinal men's basketball victory over Seattle Pacific in the NCAA Division II Tournament at the Felix Event Center.

The third-seeded Lancers (26-6) advance to Monday's regional championship game to meet top seed Azusa Pacific.

Their only lead during the second half came on the game-winning shot. Ryan Berg's 3-point attempt from the right baseline didn't draw iron, instead falling to Williams, who scored from the left side. He finished with seven points.

The Falcons entered the contest as the nation's top rebounding team, collecting an average of 12.8 more caroms than opponents. But the season's final rebound nestled into enemy hands, ending their season.

"We were unfortunate," said SPU coach Ryan Looney. "The guy shot an airball. We forced them to take a bad shot to win the game and there was just a hair of a second too much on the clock and we gave up an offensive rebound for the game."

CBU gained the final possession when the Falcons' Matt Borton missed a pair of free throws with 18.2 seconds remaining. He had converted 7 of 8 attempts prior to his final trip to the line.



The seventh-seeded Falcons (24-8) saw their season stopped, along with an eight-game winning streak. They fell for the first time in over a month, dating back to Feb. 7.

"I'm extremely proud of our team. We accomplished a lot this year," Looney said. "In a lot of people's minds, they thought that this was the year that we may be down a little bit."

Instead, SPU won its unprecedented third consecutive Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament championship and participated in the NCAA playoffs for the 11th consecutive season. That is the longest current streak among Division II men's basketball teams. The Falcons upset 16th-ranked BYU-Hawaii, the region's No. 2 seed, on Friday by an 81-69 score.

 

Saturday's balanced SPU attack featured 15-point performances from Borton, Mitch Penner and Riley Stockton, who also contributed eight assists. Cory Hutsen added 10 points.

Borton collected nine rebounds to lead a 31-29 edge on the boards.

Gelaun Wheelwright tallied 27 points, including 4 of 8 shooting on 3-pointers, to pace the Lancers. Chris Brown was their only other double-figure scorer, compiling his entire 17-point output in the second half.

The Falcons led by as many as 11 points late in the second half. Garrett Swanson's two free throws put them up 63-52 with 5:56 left to play.

CBU steadily chipped away at that margin, capitalizing on a stretch when Seattle Pacific missed 4 of 5 free throws.

Three times the SPU lead was cut to one point, each of them on points by Wheelwright. His final basket, a runner in the lane, made the score 77-76 with 51.4 seconds remaining. Borton's missed free throws followed on the next possession.

The Falcons converted their first 12 free throws in the game before faltering late and missing 7 of their last 10 tries during the final 3:40.

 "Our team is mature enough to handle it," Looney said in the aftermath of the heartbreaking loss. "It felt like for 36 minutes we did a fantastic job. The last four we just fouled them too much, they made all their free throws. Other end of the floor they were fouling us and we didn't make enough.

"If we block out a few more times and knock down some free throws, the outcome is totally different."

Cal Baptist shot 48 percent from the field (28 of 58) and made 15 of 16 free throws. SPU countered with 53-percent accuracy (28 of 53) and 15-for-22 shooting from the line.

Neither team led by more than six points in a first half that saw four ties and five lead changes.

Stockton nailed his second 3-pointer to start an eight-point Falcons run. Will Parker finished the surge with a three-point play with 8:51 left in the first half and his team leading 17-11.

The Lancers quickly evened the game with consecutive 3-pointers by Petrulis and Wheelwright.  Following a basket by the Falcons Penner, CBU scored five straight points to claim its largest first-half lead at 22-19 with 3:37 on the clock.

SPU closed with a 10-2 spree over the final 3:17 of the period, including four points apiece from Penner and Hutsen, to take a 29-25 halftime lead.

 

The loss ends the collegiate careers of four SPU seniors: Matt Borton, Cory Hutsen, Shawn Reid and Riley Stockton. Hutsen and Stockton are four-year lettermen and the winningest players in school history. They both participated in 100 Falcons victories, three more than any previous player, against only 26 defeats.

"Riley Stockton and Cory Hutsen won 100 games during their four-year career. I would guess that's a number that will never be surpassed," Looney said.

Hutsen leaves as the program's No. 8 all-time scorer with 1,334 career points.

Stockton played 4,054 career minutes, more than anybody in the 71-year history of SPU basketball. He ranks among the all-time leaders in numerous statistical categories, including fourth in starts (110), No. 4 in steals (155), No. 6 in rebounds (737), No. 8 in assists (444) and No. 10 in blocked shots (50).

Despite the obvious disappointment of having his collegiate career ended, Stockton had no regrets.

"We battled, that's all you can ask for at the end of the game. It obviously hurt the way we lost. I'm just proud of our effort. At least we can know when we look in the mirror tonight that we left it all on the floor."


NCAA DIVISION II MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
West Region Semifinal
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Felix Event Center / Azusa, Calif.

(#21) California Baptist 78, Seattle Pacific 77

SEATTLE PACIFIC  (24-8)
Penner 7-13 0-0 15 Hutsen 5-9 0-0 10, Leavitt 0-0 0-0 0, Stockton 6-7 1-3 15, Borton 4-8 7-10 15, Parker 2-6 1-3 6, Carroll 1-1 0-0 2, Rasmussen 0-2 0-0 0, Reid 2-4 2-2 8, Swanson 1-3 4-4 6. Totals 28-53 15-22 77.

CALIFORNIA BAPTIST (26-6)
Williams 3-6 0-0 7, Spencer 4-6 1-1 9, Wheelwright 7-14 9-9 27, Brown 7-10 3-4 17, Smith 3-7 0-0 6, Nelson 0-1 0-0 0, Giusti 1-3 0-0 2, Berg 2-8 2-2 7, Petrulis 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 28-58 15-16 78.

Seattle Pacific...............   29   48  -  77
California Baptist............   25   53  -  78

3-point goals—SPU 6-17 (Stockton 2-2, Reid 2-3, Parker 1-2, Penner 1-4, Swanson 0-2), CBU 7-19 (Wheelwright 4-8, Williams 1-2, Petrulis 1-3, Berg 1-4, Giusti 0-1, Brown 0-1). Fouled out--SPU-None, CBU--None. Rebounds—SPU 31 (Borton 9), CBU 29 (Spencer 5). Assists—SPU 18 (Stockton 8), CBU 7 (Wheelwright, Berg 2). Total fouls—SPU 18, CBU 20. Technical fouls--SPU-None, CBU-None. Att-573.