Box Score    |   Final Stats

BILLLINGS, Mont. – Seattle Pacific hopes the third time will be a charm.
 
Riley Stockton compiled 13 points, five assists and four rebounds Friday, fueling second-seeded Seattle Pacific's 73-54 men's basketball victory over Northwest Nazarene in the semifinal round of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament at Alterowitz Gymnasium.
 
The two-time defending champion Falcons (22-7) advance to the conference championship game for the third consecutive year. For the third straight season they will vie with the Vikings for the title.
 
Western Washington, the No. 5 seed, defeated top-seeded and regular-season champ Western Oregon 88-79 in the second semifinal.
 
While the Falcons contend for a three-peat they also hope to avoid a third loss this season to WWU.
 
The Vikings (20-10) won their last 10 games, a streak that featured an 82-72 victory at SPU on Feb. 5. They dealt the Falcons a last-second, 68-66 defeat on Jan. 10 in Bellingham.
 
"Western is playing really well right now so we know that we're going to have to be at our best to win it," SPU coach Ryan Looney said of the he GNAC championship game that is scheduled for Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
 
The winner receives the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament that begins on Mar. 13. SPU boasts the nation's longest current postseason streak, having participated in the playoffs each of the last 10 years.
 
"We're confident because we have a number of guys who have experience winning this thing," said Looney. "We want to get back to an NCAA Tournament.
 
"Coming in we don't necessarily know exactly where we stand in terms of an at-large berth, so we're just trying to win every game and give ourselves a chance to get back to the NCAAs."
 
Stockton missed just one of his five shots Friday, hitting 3 of 4 treys. He got SPU going early with two 3-pointers during the opening four minutes.
 
Shawn Reid scored 14 points to lead the Falcons, who also got 12 from Mitch Penner.

 

Erik Kinney tallied 16 points as the lone double-figure scorer for NNU, which completed the campaign with a 14-16 record. The tournament's No. 6 seed reached the semifinals by virtue of a 79-73 win over Central Washington on Thursday.
 
One consolation to the Crusaders' year ending is they won't have to face the Falcons again. They lost all three of meetings against SPU and were held to their lowest point totals of the season in those outings. The Falcons won 61-49 on Feb. 28 in Seattle and 77-51 on Dec. 4 in Nampa, Idaho.
 
The teams met for the second time in six days, dating to last Saturday's encounter in Seattle. The Falcons won that one despite their worst shooting game of the season, a 35-percent (18 of 52) effort that included 3-for-20 on 3-pointers.
 
They found the range from beyond the arc early in Friday's rematch, hitting 5 of their first 7 treys during the opening 7:28. Five of SPU's first six baskets came via the 3-pointer en route to a 17-4 lead. Stockton and Joe Rasmussen each had two treys in that span.
 
The Crusaders missed their first five shots and committed two turnovers, getting only a pair of free throws during the opening stretch. They didn't score a basket until Kinney nailed a jumper with 14:01 on the clock.
 
SPU added to a 22-11 lead by reeling off 11 unanswered points to surge ahead by 22 points with 2:57 left in the first half.
 
The Crusaders sandwiched two 3-pointers around a Stockton layup to close within 35-17 at halftime.
 
The Falcons netted the first four points of the second half and then staged a seven-point run to extend the margin to 46-20. The lead grew as large as 27 points, at 53-26, with 12:17 left to play.
 
NNU answered with a 10-point spree, the final five coming from Kinney, to draw within 54-39 with 7:23 remaining. The Crusaders would get no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
 
SPU shot 43 percent (21 of 49), including 11-for-26 accuracy on 3-pointers, while holding the Crusaders at 39 percent (19 of 49).
 
The Falcons capitalized on 19 NNU turnovers, converting them into 23 points. They also got good production from the bench with their reserves posting a 31-16 advantage over their counterparts.

 

Seattle Pacific is already the only multiple title winner in the five-year history of the GNAC Tournament with a chance to collect a third trophy.
 
The SPU men won their initial conference tourney title in 2013, beating regular-season winner Western Washington 72-70 on a last-second 3-pointer by Jobi Wall.
 
They repeated as GNAC Tournament champions in 2014 with another victory over the Vikings, this time by a 65-62 count.
 
WWU is still seeking its first tournament title despite winning a national championship in 2012, reaching the national semifinals in 2013 and taking two GNAC regular-season crowns during the previous four seasons.
 
SPU brings a six-game winning streak into the championship clash, matching its longest successful stretch of the season. But the Vikings have been streak-busters this year, halting prior SPU victory strings of both six and five games.
 
"We feel like right here late in the year that we're playing exceptionally well defensively," Looney said. "We're trying to hang our hat on that.
 
"There were moments tonight where we struggled a little bit offensively, but because of how dialed in our guys are defensively right now we feel good about where we're at."
 

NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
GNAC Tournament -- Semifinal
Friday, March 6, 2015
Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.

Seattle Pacific 73, Northwest Nazarene 54

NORTHWEST NAZARENE (14-16)
Birketoft 2-6 0-0 5, Rima 2-5 1-2 5, Kinney 6-15 3-4 16, Wright 2-7 0-0 6, Hering 2-5 0-0 6, N'Diaye 2-6 5-8 9, Olivier 1-2 0-0 3, Shedrick 1-1 0-0 2, Helgesen 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 19-49 9-14 54.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (22-7)
Penner 3-8 5-9 12, Hutsen 3-6 1-4 7, Leavitt 1-4 1-1 3, Stockton 4-5 2-2 13, Borton 2-5 2-2 7, Reid 4-8 3-5 14, Rasmussen 2-4 0-0 6, Swanson 1-3 2-2 5, Parker 0-1 4-6 4, Poulsen 1-1 0-0 2, Carroll 0-2 0-0 0, Simpson 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-49 20-31 73.

Northwest Nazarene.......   17   37  -   54
Seattle Pacific..........   35   38  -   73

3-point goals--NNU 7-16 (Hering 2-4, Wright 2-4, Kinney 1-2, Birketoft 1-4, Olivier 1-1, N'Diaye 0-1), SPU 11-26 (Stockton 3-4, Reid 3-6, Rasmussen 2-3, Penner 1-3, Borton 1-2, Swanson 1-2, Carroll 0-2, Simpson 0-1, Leavitt 0-2, Parker 0-1). Fouled out--NNU-Hering, SPU-None. Rebounds--NN 25 (Kinney,Birketoft 6), SPU 27 (Borton 6). Assists--NNU 8 (N'Diaye 3), SPU 15 (Stockton 5). Total fouls--NNU 28, SPU 14. Technical fouls--NNU-None, SPU-None. Att-326.


Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
GNAC Tournament championship
Seattle Pacific vs. Western Washington
Saturday, Mar. 7, 6:30 p.m. PST
Alterowitz Gymnasium/Billings, Mont.