Box Score    |    Final Stats    |    VIDEO: Gilles  Dierickx

SEATTLE – The Falcons are far more formidable when their big man is motivated … a theory that was proven Saturday night.
 
Senior center Gilles Dierickx had a double-double by halftime and finished with a 20-point, 17-rebound performance for Seattle Pacific, which defeated Northwest Nazarene 69-52 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball game at Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Falcons (12-4) posted their third consecutive win, improving to 5-3 in league play. They were victorious in the last 10 meetings with the Crusaders.


 
NNU (6-8) had a two-game winning streak stopped and fell to 2-6 in GNAC games.
 
The first 7-footer in SPU history, Dierickx compiled 12 points and 12 rebounds in 16 first-half minutes to lead SPU to a 30-24 advantage. He played 12 minutes in the second half, increasing his totals to 20 points and a career-high 17 rebounds for the game.
 
"Gilles gave great effort. On a handful of nights this year, that's the guy that he's been," exclaimed SPU coach Ryan Looney. "Right now we're hoping he can turn the corner and consistently give us that every day."
 
Dierickx is the squad's second-leading scorer for the season, with 12.3 points per game, and also No. 2 in rebounds at 6.5 per contest. He reached the 20-point plateau for the third time.
 
The University of Washington transfer hit 9 of 14 shots from the field on Saturday. Dierickx (Ghent, Belgium) helped SPU control the boards by a 51-26 count. Five of his 17 caroms came off the offensive glass, giving him the same number of offensive rebounds as the entire Crusaders team.
 
"It's hard to keep a guy with that size and length, who plays with a motor, off the glass," Looney said, reiterating his desire to see those dominating efforts more often.
 
"We're just hoping that we can get him to consistently give us that every day now."
 
Senior Mitch Penner (Kennedy HS) was the only other Falcon in double figures with 10 points.
 
Detwon Rogers led NNU, compiling 11 of his 13 points during the second half.
 
SPU led for all but 1:09 of the game that was tied only once, at 5-5.
 
Dierickx converted back-to-back layups, giving the hosts the lead for good at 9-5 with 14:53 left in the opening period.
 
The Falcons gradually stretched that margin and went on a six-point run to go ahead 30-18 with 3:22 on the clock. They did not score again in the half.
 
The Crusaders closed with six straight points to draw within 30-24 at halftime, capped by a layup from Pol Olivier with four seconds left.
 
An 11-3 SPU surge early in the second half, featuring points from four different players, put the game away. When Bryce Leavitt stole the ball and went on a dribbling run before finding Brendan Carroll for an easy layup, SPU was ahead 46-33 with 15:36 remaining.
 
The Falcons lead never left double digits after that, and grew to as many as 22 points.

 

After NNU cut the deficit to 53-43, freshman point guard Gabe Colosimo (Sandy, Utah) sparked a 10-point run with back-to-back 3-point baskets that provided a 63-43 margin with 7:50 to play.
 
"One of the things that allowed them to hang around was our inability to hit a perimeter shot and we turned it over a little bit too much," Looney described. "Putting Gabe Colosimo in the game changed that. He took care of the ball and knocked down two big threes, which allowed us to extend the lead."
 
Leavitt (Kennewick HS) contributed five points, nine rebounds and six assists. For the season, the 6-foot-4 guard tops the team in both rebounds (7.1 rpg) assists (4.9 apg).
 
SPU shot 42 percent (27 of 65), including 37-percent from 3-point range (7 of 19). The visitors made 37-percent of their shots (21 of 57) and hit 6 of 21 treys.
 
The Falcons are in a hectic stretch of four games in eight days, including three home contests during a six-day span. Their three-game homestand concludes with a rare Tuesday game.
 
SPU hosts Saint Martin's at 7 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion on Jan. 19 before visiting Montana State Billings on Jan. 21.
 
"We're trying to make this part of the season fun for our team. It should be," Looney said. "They get to play a lot of games in a short amount of time.
 
"We're just going to keep preaching the same things, hanging our hat on our defense and our rebounding. On nights where we also shoot it well, we can be pretty special."
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 69, Northwest Nazarene 52

NORTHWEST NAZARENE (6-8, 2-6 GNAC)
Rogers 5-9 1-2 13, Devastey 2-6 3-3 7, N'Diaye 4-11 0-0 9, Prvulj 4-11 0-0 9, Wright 3-9 0-1 7, Olivier 2-4 0-0 5, Konenkov 1-3 0-0 2, Lepovic 0-2 0-0 0, Bailey 0-2 0-2 0. Totals 21-57 4-8 52.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (12-4, 5-3 GNAC)
Penner 2-10 6-6 10, Swanson 3-5 0-0 7, Dierickx 9-14 2-4 20, Leavitt 2-6 0-0 5, Carroll 3-5 0-0 8, Simpson 3-10 0-0 6, Colosimo 2-4 0-0 6, Rasmussen 2-6 0-0 5, Wooten 1-1 0-1 2, Betu 0-0 0-0 0, Streufert 0-0 0-0 0, Poulsen 0-1 0-0 0, Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Parker 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 27-65 8-11 69.

Northwest Nazarene............   24   28  -   52
Seattle Pacific...............   30   39  -   69

3-point goals--NNU 6-21 (Rogers 2-4, Olivier 1-2, Wright 1-5, Prvulj 1-5, N'Diaye 1-2, Lepovic 0-2, Bailey 0-1), SPU 7-19 (Carroll 2-3, Colosimo 2-3, Rasmussen 1-1, Swanson 1-1, Leavitt 1-2, Parker 0-2, Simpson 0-3, Penner 0-4). Fouled out--NNU-None, SPU-None. Rebounds--NNU 26 (Wright 6), SPU 51 (Dierickx 17). Assists--NNU 6 (Prvulj, Wright 2), SPU 14 (Leavitt 6). Total fouls--NNU 9, SPU 11. Technical fouls--NNU-None, SPU-Bench. Att-750.


Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific
Tuesday, Jan. 19, 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.