Box Score    |    Final Stats

AZUSA, Calif. – Tony Miller had a marvelous first half and Coleman Wooten was wonderful in the second. That proved to be a winning formula for the Falcons.
 
Miller scored 16 of his 19 points during the first half Friday and Wooten tallied 19 of his 21 after halftime for Seattle Pacific, which rallied for a 73-68 victory over host Azusa Pacific in the Cougar Classic men's basketball tournament at the Felix Event Center.
 
"It was like two separate games almost for us," described first-year SPU coach Grant Leep. "In the first half, thank goodness Tony came ready to go. And then in the second half Coleman carried us."
 
The Falcons (3-2) snapped a two-game losing streak fueled by a 43-32 rebounding advantage. Wooten led the charge on the boards with 14 rebounds en route to his fourth double-double in five games.

 

"We stress rebounding every day in practice. We've got guys that are able and willing to go crash the glass," Leep said. "They understand the importance of rebounding and how it helps you win basketball games.
 
"Coleman is doing such a good job of it right now from his spot, rebounding on both sides of the ball."
 
Sam Simpson added 11 points for SPU, including a pair of free throws with eight seconds showing on the clock to seal the win.
 
Petar Kutlesic scored 20 points to lead the Cougars (3-5), who also got 12 from Will Ferris and 11 from Corey Langerveld.
 
Wooten (Tahoma HS) entered the game with a team-leading 20-point scoring average, but was limited to only two first-half points. He scored the first five points of the second half, on a put-back shot and three-point play, to forge a 34-34 tie for the Falcons after they trailed for the final 16 minutes of the first half.
 
The Cougars later reclaimed the lead at 38-36 at 16:54 on a layup by Kutlesic.
 
Wooten responded with a basket to ignite a seven-point run, giving SPU the lead for good at 43-38 with 15:24 left to play. Six minutes later the sophomore forward netted nine of his team's 12 points during a run that resulted in the Falcons' largest lead of the game, at 65-55, with 4:53 remaining.
 
An 8-1 surge by the hosts, capped by a Justin Byrd layup, trimmed the SPU lead to 67-64 with 1:05 left. Will Parker extended the differential to 69-64 with a layup at 0:34. Following an APU basket, Parker converted two free throws with 11 seconds left and Simpson's two charity shots followed for a 73-66 margin.
 
The Falcons won despite being outshot 48 percent (30 of 63) to 37 percent (23 of 63). They made up the difference by hitting 22 of 27 free throws while Azusa sank 4 of 6.
 
The youthful SPU lineup features five new starters and five of the nine players that saw action are underclassmen. Gutting out a win like Friday's could pay big dividends in the future, according to Leep.
 
"With the difficulty of our schedule we know that we're going to be in a ton of close games. So for us to come here tonight for a true road game, make a bunch of free throws down the stretch to help seal it, that just gives this young group confidence going forward.
 
"The one thing I know about this team, they play extremely hard and they don't ever give up. Building some of those gritty characteristics within this young group is going to be so good for us all season long."
 
The visitors parlayed a 14-5 offensive rebound advantage into a 12-3 lead in second-chance points.

 

SPU started slow with five missed shots and a turnover in its first six possessions. Joe Rasmussen finally stopped that drought, putting back a miss by teammate Olivier-Paul Betu for the first points 3-minutes, 54-seconds into the game.
 
Fortunately Azusa didn't capitalize, getting just one basket in its opening six possessions. The Cougars finally got hot, breaking the 2-2 tie with seven straight points for a 9-2 lead. Another seven-point spree produced a 20-10 advantage with 10:13 showing on the clock.
 
At that point the Falcons had five turnovers and were shooting just 3-for-15 from the field. They cut into a 25-12 deficit by closing the half with a 17-9 run to draw within 34-29 by intermission.
 
Miller (Woodinville HS) netted over half of his team's first-half points to keep SPU in the contest. The freshman forward nailed 5 of 7 shots in the opening period, including 3-of-3 accuracy from 3-point range.
 
"Just the sheer volume of his scoring, we had 29 points in the first half and Tony had 16 of them," said Leep. "For him to be able to come in and give us that boost, he helped us keep it close and kept it manageable. We went into the locker room at halftime feeling that we played one of our worst halves of the year and we were only down five."
 
The Cougars shot 50 percent in the first half (15 of 30) while holding SPU at 33 percent (11 of 33). Minus Miller's 5-for-7, the rest of the Falcons shot at a 23-percent clip, at 6 for 26.

 

The SPU men remain in Azusa, Calif. for the final day of the Cougar Classic. They play Saturday at 5:30 p.m. against a Point Loma Nazarene team directed by former Falcons coach Ryan Looney. He left in May for the San Diego, California-based school and was replaced by Leep.
 
Looney coached the Falcons from 2009-16, compiling a 165-51 record and seven NCAA berths. Leep was an SPU assistant during that entire time.

"It's always tough when you play against your friends," Leep explained. "We experienced that a little bit this year already. (Hawaii-Hilo head coach) GE Coleman and I were on the same staff at Eastern Washington and he's a friend of mine.
 
"This one's obviously going to be a little different because of the amount of time that Ryan and I spent together for seven years. We'd be lying if we said there wasn't some emotion involved because of the relationship that we formed over the years. But when it gets down to it we just have to worry about our guys, how hard we're playing and how well we're executing our game plan."
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Friday, Nov. 25, 2016
Felix Event Center / Azusa, Calif.
 
Seattle Pacific 73, at Azusa Pacific 68
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (3-2)
Wooten 8-16 5-7 21, Simpson 4-6 2-2 11, Rasmussen 2-8 1-2 6, Parker 2-8 2-2 6, Betu 0-8 5-6 5, Miller 6-11 4-5 19, Khan 0-5 0-0-0, Long 1-1 3-3 5, Eisenhower 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-63 22-27 73.
 
AZUSA PACIFIC (3-5)
Schreiber 3-10 1-1 8, Kutlesic 9-17 1-1 20, Dyer 2-5 0-0 4, Peterson 4-8 0-0 8, Langerveld 5-10 0-0 11, Taufahema 0-1 0-0 0, Byrd 2-3 1-2 5, Ferris 5-7 1-2 12, Mawugbe 0-0 0-0 0, O'Connell 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 30-63 4-6 68.
 
Seattle Pacific.........   29   44  -   73
Azusa Pacific...........   34   34  -   68
 
3-point goals-- SPU 5-21 (Miller 3-4, Simpson 1-3, Rasmussen 1-3, Khan 0-1, Parker 0-3, Betu 0-3, Wooten 0-4), APU 4-24 (Ferris 1-2, Langerveld 1-4, Kutlesic 1-5, Schrieiber 1-6, Taufahema 0-1, Byrd 0-1, O'Connell 0-2, Peterson 0-3). Fouled out--SPU-Rasmussen, APU-None. Rebounds--SPU 43 (Wooten 14), APU 32 (Kutlesic 12). Assists--SPU 9 (Wooten 4), APU 8 (Peterson 3). Total fouls—SPU 15, APU 24. Technical fouls--SPU-None, APU-None. A-614.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Cougar Classic
Seattle Pacific vs. Point Loma Nazarene
Saturday, Nov. 26, 5:30 p.m. PST
Felix Event Center / Azusa, Calif.