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NAMPA, Idaho – Defensive stops made the Seattle Pacific offense go.
 
Senior Mitch Penner posted his seventh straight 20-point performance, scoring 27 Thursday to lead 22nd-ranked Seattle Pacific to an 81-71 win over Northwest Nazarene in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball game at the Johnson Sports Center.
 
The second-place Falcons (18-5) were victorious for the ninth time in their last 10 games, moving to 11-4 in league play. They registered their 11th consecutive win over NNU.
 
SPU improved its impressive road record to 9-1 with the lone loss an overtime setback at Western Oregon, which is currently the nation's No. 1 ranked team.
 
Penner produced 18 of his points during the second half. The 6-foot-5 forward shot 10 of 18 for the game and was 2 of 4 on 3-pointers and 5 of 6 from the free throw line.
 
A graduate of Seattle's Kennedy High School, Penner averaged 25.7 points while leading all SPU scorers in each of the last seven games. He erupted for a career-high 37 points at home on Feb. 4 against Concordia (Ore.).
 
Ryan Looney says that Penner's hot stretch compares favorably with some other scoring standouts that he coached at SPU.
 
"If Mitch's streak isn't the best since I've been here, it's certainly close. Chris Banchero and David Downs were pretty special. They both had impressive scoring streaks too."

 

Bryce Leavitt contributed 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Falcons while Coleman Wooten's perfect 4-for-4 shooting led to 11 points. Three of Wooten's shots came from behind the 3-point arc.
 
"That's not a surprise," Looney said of Wooten's long-range production. "He's just done a really good job buying into his role. He took 3-pointers that were wide open and he knocked them down."
 
SPU senior Brendan Carroll compiled his entire 10-point total before halftime.
 
Looney credits his team's defense for enabling the offensive output.
 
"We did a good job as the half went on putting together stops, which allowed the offense to come easier for us."
 
The Crusaders (7-14) dropped to 3-12 in GNAC games. They were led by the 25 points of Detwon Rogers. Bouna N'Diaye scored 15 and Mike Wright 12.
 
The Falcons connected on half of their shots (31 of 62), a figure that included 53-percent accuracy on treys (10 of 19).
 
NNU was limited to 43-percent shooting (22 of 51) and made 12 of 29 treys.
 
The Crusaders claimed an early 15-8 lead less than five minutes into the contest on the strength of a nine-point run. Leeor Konenkov started the surge on a jumper and completed it with a layup. That was the sixth basket in their opening seven possessions.
 
NNU's lead was 25-20 before the Falcons netted the next 17 points to match their longest scoring run of the season. Wooten nailed his first of two 3-pointers during the spree to ignite the spurt with 6:50 left in the first half.
 
SPU got five points from Carroll and four from Joe Rasmussen during that span while holding the Crusaders scoreless for eight straight possessions.
 
By the time Carroll hit a trey from the top of the key with 2:56 showing on the clock, the visitors led 37-25.
 
"Early in the first half we were having trouble getting stops defensively. In the first four minutes of the game they scored on every possession, but one," Looney explained.
 
"Taking the ball out of the net and having to bring it down against their defense already being set up is tough. As the half went on we started to get some stops that made it a little easier to score on offense."
 
A 3-pointer by Konenkov at 1:15 halted NNU's drought that lasted nearly six minutes. SPU's Penner answered with a layup before the hosts got a 3-pointer off an inbounds play with 0.6 seconds on the clock to move within 39-31 at halftime. They inbounded to N'Diaye in the left corner and he quickly fired in a trey at the buzzer.

 

Gilles Dierickx tallied back-to-back baskets to start the second half for SPU, which utilized runs of seven and eight points to lead by as many as 22 after intermission.
 
A late 12-2 Crusaders surge, led by seven points from N'Diaye, closed the gap. But even with the final five points of the game, they could not draw within single digits.
 
The SPU men continue their three-game road trip on Saturday with a 7 p.m. clash at Central Washington.
 
"We know it's going to be tough," Looney projected. "You can throw the records out the window in that game. The Central-SPU game every year is always a big one and we're looking forward to it."
 
The Falcons visit Saint Martin's on Tuesday at 7 p.m. before completing their regular-season slate with three home games. That homestand starts with a Feb. 20 contest against Montana State Billings that will be televised live at 9 p.m. on ROOT Sports.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016
Johnson Sports Center / Nampa, Idaho
 
(#22) Seattle Pacific 81, at Northwest Nazarene 71
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (18-5, 11-4 GNAC)
Penner 10-18 5-6 27, Swanson 1-3 0-0 3, Dierickx 4-7 0-4 8, Leavitt 5-9 2-3 13, Carroll 4-11 0-0 10, Wooten 4-4 0-0 11, Colosimo 2-5 0-0 5, Rasmussen 1-5 2-2 4, Simpson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-62 9-15 81.

NORTHWEST NAZARENE (7-14, 3-12 GNAC)
Rogers 8-13 5-6 25, Konenkov 3-4 0-0 6, N'Diaye 3-7 6-6 15, Wright 3-10 4-4 12, Lepovic 1-3 0-0 3, Bailey 3-5 0-0 8, Prvulj 1-4 0-0 2, Olivier 0-1 0-0 0, Santana 0-1 0-0 0, Devastey 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 22-51 15-16 71.

Seattle Pacific...............   39   42    -   81
Northwest Nazarene............   31   40    -   71

3-point goals--SPU 10-19 (Wooten 3-3, Penner 2-4, Carroll 2-4, Swanson 1-1, Colosimo 1-2, Leavitt 1-3, Rasmussen 0-2), NNU 12-29 (Rogers 4-9, N'Diaye 3-6, Bailey 2-3, Wright 2-6, Lepovic 1-3, Olivier 0-1, Prvulj 0-1). Fouled out--SPU-None, NNU-None. Rebounds--SPU 38 (Leavitt, Dierickx, Penner 7), NNU 27 (Rogers 7). Assists--SPU 15 (Leavitt 6), NNU 10 (Wright 3). Total fouls--SPU 17, NNU 17. Technical fouls--SPU-None, NNU-Prvulj. Att-432.


Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Seattle Pacific at Central Washington
Saturday, Feb. 13, 7:00 p.m. PST
Nicholson Pavilion / Ellensburg, Wash.