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PORTLAND – Finding its collective stroke when it needed it most, Seattle Pacific snapped out of a mid-winter slumber by hitting a season-best 66 percent from the field in winning 91-63 at Concordia on Saturday night.
 
Mitch Penner (Kennedy HS) poured in a season-high 30 points, 18 coming in the first half, as the Falcons ended their three-game losing streak in emphatic fashion.
 
Seattle Pacific got back to 3-3 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and 10-4 overall. Concordia, the GNAC newcomer, dropped to 2-4 and 4-9 on the season.

 

Senior center Gilles Dierickx added 16 points inside while Bryce Leavitt and Coleman Wooten contributed 11 and 10, respectively. Together, the top four SPU scorers connected on 27 of 36 field goals (75.0 percent), including 6-for-8 shooting on 3-pointers.
 
If there was any notion of the hosts extending the Falcons' woes to the longest losing streak in 19 years, those thoughts perished midway through the first half. Seattle Pacific surged in front by as many as 26 points behind some blistering shooting.
 
An early 8-2 spurt, featuring back-to-back stuffs from 7-footer Dierickx and a Penner trey, made it 22-11. Leavitt squeezed in a pair of close-range baskets building the lead to 30-16 as SPU connected on 14 of its first 17 attempts from the floor.
 
When the Falcons missed, they often converted second chances.  Offensive rebounds contributed to a burst of 12 straight points. Leavitt capped the run with consecutive threes from the left side, the latter making it 40-16.
 
The Cavaliers finally gained some offensive traction late in the half behind Gutierrez before that was blunted, first by a halftime buzzer-beating trey from Sam Simpson, then three consecutive baskets underneath from Dierickx to open the second stanza. That made it 58-30 and Concordia got no closer than 20 the rest of the way.
 
Drew Martin topped the Cavs with 24 and Tyler Gutierrez had 14.
 
After yielding a season-high 96 points at Western Oregon earlier in the week, the stingy SPU defense held Concordia to 39 percent shooting in the first half and 43.3 percent (26 of 60) overall.
 
The shooting disparity was nearly overshadowed by the Falcons' 41-16 dominance on the glass. The visitors grabbed 11 offensive rebounds to the Portlanders' nine. Dierickx led a balanced effort with six boards.
 
Penner, coming off just 5 points Thursday at Western Oregon, finished 11 of 15 from the floor. Leavitt also passed out eight assists. Wooten's points came in just 12 minutes off the bench.
 
SPU plays the next three at home, beginning Thursday, Jan. 14 at 7:30 p.m., against Central Washington.


NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016
Cavalier Court / Portland, Ore.

(#24) Seattle Pacific 91, at Concordia 63

SEATTLE PACIFIC (10-4, 3-3 GNAC)
Penner 11-15 6-6 30, Swanson 2-2 0-0 6, Dierickx 7-9 2-5 16, Leavitt 5-8 0-0 11, Carroll 3-5 0-0 6, Wooten 4-4 0-0 10, Parker 0-2 4-4 4, Simpson 1-1 0-0 3, Johnson 1-1 0-0 3, Streufert 1-4 0-0 2, Betu 0-0 0-0 0, Poulsen 0-0 0-0 0, Colosimo 0-1 0-0 0, Rasmussen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 35-53 12-15 91.

CONCORDIA (4-9, 2-4 GNAC)
Martin 9-17 4-4 24, Erickson 0-1 0-0 0, Gutierrez 6-12 0-0 14, Wilson 3-8 2-5 8, Gray 0-3 0-0 0, Hawken 5-8 0-2 10, Nuaimi 2-4 1-1 5, Phillips 1-2 0-1 2, McGurkin 0-1 0-0 0, Duitsman 0-0 0-0 0, Harris 0-1 0-0 0, Ahana 0-0 0-0 0, Cates 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 26-60 7-13 63.

Seattle Pacific...............  54   37   -  91
Western Oregon................  30   33   -  63

3-point goals--SPU 9-16 (Wooten 2-2, Swanson 2-2, Penner 2-4, Johnson 1-1, Leavitt 1-1, Simpson 1-1, Colosimo 0-1, Parker 0-2, Carroll 0-2), CU 4-13 (Martin 2-4, Gutierrez 2-4, Wilson 0-2, Gray 0-1, Cates 0-1, Hawken 0-1). Fouled out--SPU-None, CU-None. Rebounds--SPU 41 (Dierickx 6), CU 16 (Martin 5). Assists--SPU 23 (Leavitt 8), CU 14 (Gray 3). Total fouls--SPU 17, CU 18. Technical fouls--SPU-None, CU-None. Att-317.


Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Central Washington at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Jan. 14, 7:30 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.