Box Score    |    Final Stats    |    VIDEO: Hunter  Eisenhower

SEATTLE – Injuries have thinned the Falcons lineup. But weighty contributions from all nine available players tipped the scales in their favor Thursday night.
 
Coleman Wooten produced his fifth double-double with a 25-point, 10-rebound performance that led Seattle Pacific to an 88-66 victory over Simon Fraser in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball opener for both teams at Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Falcons (4-3) won their league-opening game for the sixth straight season. They have now won 16 of 17 all-time meetings against the Clan (2-5).
 
"We had a rough week as far as health goes, losing a couple guys to some minor bumps and bruises in practice," first-year coach Grant Leep explained. "So it was really important for us to get off to a really good start. Behind our seniors, and Coleman, we did exactly that."


 
Wooten (Tahoma HS) entered the contest ranked No. 6 nationally in double-doubles. The 6-foot-5 sophomore forward has hit double digits in both points and rebounds in all but two games this season.
 
He made 10 of 15 shots from the field and added a game-high five assists. Wooten's 10 rebounds sparked SPU to a commanding 47-27 advantage on the boards.
 
Joe Rasmussen tallied 14 of his 15 points during the first half for the Falcons, who also got 13 apiece from Tony Miller and Hunter Eisenhower.
 
A 6-foot-5 sophomore forward, Eisenhower had attempted just one shot prior to Thursday. He nailed that 3-pointer last year and never saw more than three minutes of action in a game.
 
Eisenhower capitalized on his 15 minutes of playing time against the Clan, making 5 of 8 shots, including 3-for-6 shooting on treys.
 
"Hunter Eisenhower came off the bench and gave us a great lift. We've been trying to get him incorporated into our rotation a little bit more," said Leep. "I think he felt a little bit more comfortable tonight.
 
"We had to get him going, we just did. With only nine guys dressed tonight we needed a guy to step up and give us a little boost. With the ability that he's shown to shoot it in practice we thought this potentially could be one that he could come in and help us, and he sure did."
 
JJ Pankratz paced the visitors with 18 points while Andrew Williamson had 11 and Michael Provenzano 10.
 
Graham Miller's 3-pointer with 14:39 left in the first half brought the Clan within 19-16. But they wouldn't score again for the next seven minutes, enabling SPU to reel off 13 unanswered points.
 
Simon Fraser sandwiched 11 consecutive missed shots between a pair of turnovers. Rasmussen and Wooten accounted for all of SPU's scoring during that drought with seven and six points, respectively. Wooten's put-back layup with 8:21 on the clock doubled up the Clan's score, 32-16.
 
The scoring slump stopped at 7:34 when Williamson drained a running jumper in the lane. SPU answered with seven straight points, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from Eisenhower that increased the margin to 42-18.
 
Pankratz converted the first of two free throws with 3.3 seconds left to set the halftime score at 49-25 in favor of the Falcons.
 
SPU shot 60 percent in the opening 20 minutes (18 of 30), including 6-for-15 accuracy from 3-point range. The Clan was 2 of 12 from beyond the arc and was limited to 31-percent shooting overall (10 of 32) in the first half.
 
The hosts broke the game open early in the second half with an eight-point run that featured points from four different Falcons. That netted a 59-32 lead, a differential that stretched to 71-36 with a seven-point surge.
 
The margin grew to as many as 36 points, at 79-43 with 8:34 remaining, before the Clan drew closer with a 12-2 run of their own. They narrowed the gap even further by outscoring the Falcons 8-1 over the final 2:30.
 
For the game, SPU shot 48 percent (31 of 65) and Simon Fraser 41 percent (24 of 59).
 
Underclassmen comprised two-thirds of the lineup for the Falcons on Thursday, including red-shirt freshman Conner Van Dyken along with sophomores Wooten and Eisenhower.
 
Leep knew he would need production from his trio of true freshmen so he encouraged increased contributions from Miller, Sharif Khan and Gavin Long during practice.
 
"We challenged our freshmen this week to grow up in the sense of not playing like freshmen because we are relying on them a lot this year. They did a great job tonight.
 
"Tony Miller had the best defensive effort that he's given all year. Sharif, we challenged him to make some improvements with his ball security and he did that. Gavin, we challenged him to get to the offensive glass every time. He did that tonight, so we're really pleased with the efforts we got."
 
Miller added eight rebounds to his 13 points. Khan contributed nine points, four rebounds and two assists. Long finished with three points, seven rebounds and two assists.
 
The Falcons remain home to host undefeated and 18th-ranked Western Washington on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion. The Vikings improved to 6-0 with Thursday's 91-78 win at Saint Martin's. They are outscoring opponents by an average of 90.2 to 69.7.
 
"Western is extremely talented as they always are. They play very hard. They are good defensively and they make you take tough shots," Leep described. "We have all the respect in the world for this team coming in and we know that we'll have our hands full at home.
 
"They can just score in bunches and they can score from different spots on the floor. We need to make sure our defense is ready to play hard and that we're locked in to personnel so that we can try to take away some of the things that they like to do."
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 88, Simon Fraser 66
 
SIMON FRASER (2-5, 0-1 GNAC)
Pankratz 7-14 2-4 18, Lewin 3-7 1-1 7, Williamson 3-9 5-8 11, Sherman-Newsome 0-2 0-0 0, Provenzano 4-9 2-4 10, Spence 4-7 1-2 9, Miller 2-4 0-0 6, Safin 1-4 0-0 3, Vos 0-2 2-2 2, Sewani 0-1 0-0 0, Bakken 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-59 13-21 66.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (4-3, 1-0 GNAC)
Wooten 10-15 3-5 25, Miller 5-13 3-4 13, Rasmussen 6-12 1-2 15, Parker 3-6 0-0 7, Betu 1-5 0-0 3, Eisenhower 5-8 0-0 13, Khan 1-5 7-8 9, Long 0-0 3-4 3, Van Dyken 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-65 17-23 88.
 
Simon Fraser............25   41  -  66
Seattle Pacific.........49   39  -  88
 
3-point goals--SF 5-19 (Miller 2-4, Pankratz 2-3, Safin 1-3; Spence 0-2, Vos 0-2, Sherman-Newsome 0-1, Provenzano 0-2, Williamson 0-2), SPU 9-32 (Eisenhower 3-6, Rasmussen 2-4, Wooten 2-7, Parker 1-4, Betu 1-3, Van Dyken 0-1, Khan 0-4, Miller 0-3). Fouled out--SF-None, SPU-None. Rebounds--SF 27 (Provenzano 5), SPU 47 (Wooten 10). Assists--SF 12 (Williamson, Provenzano 3), SPU 14 (Wooten 5). Total fouls--SF 20, SPU 18. Technical fouls--SF-None, SPU-None. A-221.
 
Next Men's Basketball Game
(#18) Western Washington at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Dec. 3, 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.