Box Score    |    Final Stats   |    VIDEO: Joe  Rasmussen

SEATTLE – Coach Grant Leep talked more about the sluggish start rather than the fantastic finish after Saturday's triumph.
 
Tournament Most Valuable Player Coleman Wooten registered his second straight double-double with a 19-point, 12-rebound performance that sparked Seattle Pacific's 88-80 men's basketball win over Hawaii-Hilo in the championship game of the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic at Brougham Pavilion.

 

The sophomore forward tallied six points during the final 1:17, helping the Falcons stretch a slim 78-77 lead to the final eight-point margin. Wooten (Tahoma HS) had a career-high 26 points and 11 rebounds in Friday's 102-90 win over Humboldt State.
 
"Coleman has been a steady presence for us. He's a sophomore, but he's a third-year sophomore and that makes a difference, he's got some different experiences," said Leep, SPU's first-year head coach.
 
"He's always been able to score the ball, but over the last three years he's really worked on being able to guard better and worked on being able to rebound better. Now those things are starting to show. He's starting to be able to carry those over into game days."
 
Wooten was joined on the all-tournament team by teammate Joe Rasmussen (Mercer Island HS), who scored a team-high 21 points Saturday, including a critical basket with 2:03 remaining. The 6-foot-8 senior center grabbed a teammate's missed shot and banked it in to provide a 78-75 lead.


 
Rasmussen has hit 7 of 9 shots from 3-point range this season, including all four of his trey attempts on Friday.
 
That uncanny long-range shooting makes Rasmussen a difficult matchup according to Leep.
 
"Joe is such a tough cover because of his skill set. He's a big that can shoot, and shoot at a high level. He can also go score down low. It's been kind of fun for us to be able to slide him and move him around in different places and put him those situations where he can just show what he can do. He's taken advantage of it."
 
Freshman Tony Miller (Woodinville HS) came off the bench to contribute 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Falcons (2-0), who also got 13 points from Olivier-Paul Betu. Miller's effort fueled his team's 24-9 advantage in bench scoring.
 
Miller made 7 of his 14 shots from the field and hit two 3-point baskets. He canned four treys in Friday's win en route to a 17-point showing.
 
"There was a stretch that Tony carried us offensively. He has the ability to create his own shot, he has the ability to create shots for others, he's an incredible finisher and he can make a three," Leep described. "He does so many things for us as a true freshman that just enable us to get different looks and to do some different things offensively."
 
The all-tournament tandem of Parker Farris and Darius Johnson-Wilson led the Vulcans (1-1) with 27 and 21 points, respectively. Tyras Rattler Junior of Humboldt State was the fifth man on the All-Sodexo squad.
 
The Falcons shot 46 percent (30 of 65) and his 9 of 29 shots from 3-point range while Hilo checked in at 43 percent (29 of 67) and 8-for-26 on treys.
 
SPU started slowly with turnovers in its first two possessions followed by five missed shots, enabling the visitors to build a 9-0 lead.
 
"That Hawaii-Hilo team is very well coached and they play extremely hard. At the start of that game they played harder than our guys, which being at home is inexcusable for us," Leep exclaimed. "They executed their game plan and it took us a little bit to adjust.
 
"We did a good job offensively finding good shots and sharing the ball. But defensively we didn't have that same effort and intensity that we've had. This is a young team that's still learning who it is and growing into its identity. One of those things is going to be how hard we play on defense."
 
His Falcons finally got on the board 3:33 into the contest on an offensive rebound and put-back layup by Rasmussen.
 
That started a steady rally that culminated with a 20-19 lead with 12:16 showing on the clock following back-to-back Miller layups. That was the first of three lead changes during a first half that saw six ties.
 
The Falcons largest lead in the opening period was 38-33 with 4:20 left. But Hilo scored the next five points to level the score.

 

The game was tied 40-40 before Miller made a layup and sank two free throws on the next possession. After a Vulcans trey, Sam Simpson scored from close range for a 46-42 edge.
 
Farris converted a three-point play with 26 seconds remaining to close the SPU lead to 46-45 at halftime.
 
Another two-turnover start, this time in the second half, helped Hilo net four points to go ahead 49-46. The last lead by the visitors was 53-50 with 16:28 left to play.
 
Miller drained consecutive 3-pointer to ignite an 8-0 SPU run, but the Vulcans immediately answered with five points to even the score, 58-58.
 
The Falcons captured the lead for good with a seven-point surge started by a steal and layup from Betu, who then hit a 3-pointer. Wooten made it 65-58 with two free throws at 11:08.
 
Hilo twice closed within a single point at 76-75 with 2:17 left to play and 78-77 at 1:38. Wooten scored on a put-back layup at 1:17 and Rasmussen nailed a 3-pointer with 29.5 seconds left to extend the lead to 83-77.
 
After a 3-pointer by Hilo's Johnson-Wilson, SPU scored the last five points, four of them from Wooten, to set the final score.
 
The Falcons remain home next weekend to host the Oak Harbor Freight Lines Classic at Brougham Pavilion. They meet Minnesota State on Friday at 4:30 p.m. and Dixie State on Saturday at 3 p.m.
 
Both of those are perennial playoff contenders so the Falcons won't be able to relish this weekend's two victories for too long.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Sodexo Tip-Off Classic
Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 88, Hawaii-Hilo 80
 
HAWAII-HILO (1-1)
Johnson-Wilson 9-19 2-2 21, Farris 9-19 7-8 27, Callaghan 3-13 1-2 7, Berinobis 3-7 1-2 10, Reyes 1-2 3-4 6, Wattree 3-6 0-0 7, Silva 1-1 0-0 2, Canencia 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-67 14-18 80.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (2-0)
Wooten 5-14 8-9 19, Simpson 3-5 2-6 8, Rasmussen 8-12 2-2 21, Parker 1-7 0-0 3, Betu 5-9 1-3 13, Miller 7-14 4-5 20, Long 1-4 2-2 4, Khan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-65 19-27 88.
 
Hawaii-Hilo...............  45   35   -   80
Seattle Pacific...........  46   42   -   88
 
3-point goals--UHH 8-26 (Berinobis 3-5, Farris 2-7, Wattree 1-3, Reyes 1-2, Johnson-Wilson 1-3, Callaghan 0-6), SPU 9-29 (Rasmussen 3-5, Betu 2-4, Miller 2-6, Wooten 1-6, Parker 1-6, Simpson 0-2). Fouled out--UHH-Berinobis, Silva, SPU-Miller, Betu. Rebounds--UHH 31 (Johnson-Wilson 9), SPU 47 (Wooten 12). Assists--UHH 18 (Callaghan 6), SPU 17 (Simpson 4). Total fouls--UHH 24, SPU 22. Technical fouls--UHH-None, SPU-None. A-547.
 
SODEXO TIP-OFF CLASSIC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Coleman Wooten, Seattle Pacific (MVP)
Joe Rasmussen, Seattle Pacific
Parker Farris, Hawaii-Hilo
Darius Johnson-Wilson, Hawaii-Hilo
Tryas Rattler Jr., Humboldt State
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Oak Harbor Freight Lines Classic
Minnesota State at Seattle Pacific
Friday, Nov. 18, 4:30 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.