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SEATTLE – Seattle Pacific survived a gauntlet of games this past week and earned a much-deserved, and desperately needed, day off Saturday.
 
Seniors Mitch Penner, Brendan Carroll and Gilles Dierickx combined for 55 points Thursday, leading SPU to an 81-71 victory over Montana State Billings in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball contest in Alterowitz Gym.
 
The Falcons (14-4) extended their winning streak to five games, improving their league record to 7-3 in the process.
 
Thursday capped a strenuous stretch of schedule for SPU with its fourth game in eight days, the first three in Seattle.
 
The Falcons were 75-62 victors over Central Washington last Thursday and won 69-52 against Northwest Nazarene on Saturday. They defeated Saint Martin's 65-46 on Tuesday and utilized Wednesday as a travel day to Billings.
 
"This was a great win on the road for our team," exclaimed Coach Ryan Looney. "At the end of the day, everyone is mentally and physically exhausted after all the games we have played in the last week. To get out of there with a win was big for us."
 
Penner scored 20 for his fourth 20-point performance of the season. The product of Seattle's Kennedy High School hit 5 of 7 shots from the field and converted 10 of 11 free throws.
 
Carroll (Brisbane, Australia) notched 12 of his 18 points from beyond the 3-point line where he made 4 of 6 attempts. Dierickx (Ghent, Belgium) scored 17 points and led SPU's 34-27 margin on the boards with seven rebounds.
 
Trailing by one at intermission, the Falcons broke the game open soon after play resumed. Six unanswered points were made possible when they forced five turnovers while limiting Billings to just one basket in its first seven possessions.
 
That ignited a 17-5 surge that produced a decisive 56-45 advantage for the visitors with 9:30 left to play.
 
The Falcons final 16 points all came from the free throw line during the closing seven minutes. They converted 18 consecutive shots from the stripe before Penner's miss on the final try of the game, with 34 seconds remaining.
 
SPU made 25 of 27 free throws during the second half and finished the game at 83 percent (34 of 41).
 
"Two parts of it were remarkable," Looney said. "We did a good job getting ourselves to the free throw line, playing aggressively in the second half of the game.
 
"And then when we got to the line, we made them. For most of the year this has been a good free throw shooting team so it wasn't that big of a surprise."
 
The Falcons registered 50-percent accuracy from the field (21 of 42) while holding MSUB at 43 percent (26 of 60).
 
Emmanuel Johnson scored 15 points and Preston Beverly added 13 for Billings (6-11), which dropped to 3-6 in GNAC games with its fifth loss in a row.
 
To start the game, Johnson staked the Yellowjackets to an early 14-10 lead. He scored their first six points and accumulated 10 inside the opening five minutes.

 

SPU rallied with eight straight points to claim its first lead, at 18-14, with 12:48 left in the first half. Coleman Wooten started the surge with a 3-pointer, Gabe Colosimo converted a three-point play and Dierickx sank two free throws.
 
The lead changed hands five more times in the opening period, once when the Falcons forged another eight-point run to pull ahead 34-31.
 
Billings netted the next seven points before SPU's Carroll nailed a trey to set the final halftime score at 38-37 in favor of the Yellowjackets.
 
Both teams shot well in the first half with the visitors hitting 60-percent of their attempts (12 of 20) and MSUB 50 percent (15 of 30).
 
Looney was not happy that his team's defense allowed the Yellowjackets' 38-point production and 50-percent shooting.
 
"At halftime we really challenged their effort on that end of the floor. At the end of the day, all of our success has come this year because we've hung our hat on defense and rebounding.
 
"Our effort in those areas the first 20 minutes wasn't good enough. Our guys responded in the second half."
 
The SPU men are on the road again next week, starting their second swing through the GNAC schedule with the annual trip to Alaska. They play at Fairbanks on Thursday night, Jan. 28, before an afternoon game in Anchorage on Saturday, Jan. 30.
 
Both Alaska teams are ahead of the fourth-place Falcons in the GNAC standings and they each beat SPU at Brougham Pavilion in this season's first meetings.
 
Despite next week's formidable foes, Coach Looney is looking forward to the road trip.
 
"We're excited for it. We felt like we didn't give those two opponents our best shot earlier this year. So the opportunity for our guys to step on the floor with them again will be huge."


NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016
Alterowitz Gym / Billings, Mont.

Seattle Pacific 81, at Montana State Billings 71

SEATTLE PACIFIC (14-4, 7-3 GNAC)
Penner 5-7 10-11 20, Swanson 1-3 0-0 2, Dierickx 4-9 9-10 17, Leavitt 2-5 1-1 5, Carroll 4-8 6-8 18, Streufert 1-3 5-7 7, Wooten 2-2 0-1 5, Colosimo 1-1 1-1 3, Parker 0-0 2-2 2, Rasmussen 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 21-42 34-41 81.

MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (6-11, 3-6 GNAC)
Johnson 6-11 1-2 15, Perry 3-9 0-0 6, Olufemi 3-4 2-2 8, Denham 4-8 0-0 8, Matthews 1-9 7-8 9, Beverly 4-9 3-6 13, Tall 3-3 1-1 7, Jeuschede 1-5 0-0 3, Alcorn 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 26-60 14-19 71.

Seattle Pacific...............   37   44  -   81
Montana State Billings........   38   33  -   71

3-point goals--SPU 5-11 (Carroll 4-6, Wooten 1-1, Leavitt 0-1, Rasmussen 0-2, Swanson 0-1), MSUB 5-18 (Johnson 2-4, Beverly 2-5, Jeuschede 1-2, Perry 0-2, Denham 0-2, Matthews 0-3). Fouled out--SPU-None, MSUB-Johnson. Rebounds--SPU 34 (Leavitt, Dierickx 7), MSUB 27 (Matthews, Beverly 4). Assists--SPU 10 (Leavitt 3), MSUB 9 (Denham 5). Total fouls--SPU 18, MSUB 28. Technical fouls--SPU-Dierickx, MSUB-None. Att-425.


Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Seattle Pacific at Alaska Fairbanks
Thursday, Jan. 28, 8:00 p.m. PST
Alaska Airlines Court / Fairbanks, Ak.