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LACEY, Wash. – Trey Ingram scored 21 points, including two free throws with four seconds remaining on Tuesday that sealed a 67-63 upset by Saint Martin's over 25th-ranked Seattle Pacific in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball game at Marcus Pavilion.
 
The Falcons (18-7) lost for the third time in their last four games, falling to 11-6 in league play. They completed a stretch of three road games in six days by losing the last two. Prior to those two setbacks they had a 9-1 record away from home.

 

SPU was defeated despite having two players register double-doubles. Bryce Leavitt produced his fourth double-double, with a 17-point, 11-rebound performance, and Gilles Dierickx had his fifth, with 10 points and 11 rebounds. They led a 46-34 advantage on the boards.
 
SMU (13-12) improved its GNAC record to 7-10 with its fourth consecutive win.
 
"Not a whole lot positive, to be honest," SPU coach Ryan Looney said. "Early in the second half we didn't do a very good job guarding the 3-point line, which was a huge part of our game plan.
 
"They hit seven 3-pointers in the second half of the game and for us, on a night where we didn't shoot it very well, it's kind of tough to overcome."
 
SMU nailed five treys in the opening 7:16 of the second half after making just three during the entire first half.
 
That long-range accuracy helped the Saints snap a 38-38 tie with a 15-4 spree early in the second half to give them the lead for good. They forced four turnovers and limited SPU to 1-for-8 shooting during that stretch to compile a 53-42 advantage with 12:09 left to play.
 
The final stat sheet showed 15 Falcons turnovers.
 
"That's been a little bit of an issue for us all year long," said Looney. "Some of the nights we make up for it with our rebounding. But when we're playing from behind and turning the ball over it makes it tough to come back."
 
Nine unanswered points, five of them from Leavitt, brought the Falcons back within 53-51 with 7:53 remaining. That two-point margin was as close as they would ever get.
 
Ingram turned away a five-point Falcons rally with a 3-pointer that provided a 65-60 margin with 2:13 left to play. That proved to be the host's final basket and they missed the front end of 1-and-1 free throw situations at 0:33 and 0:13 to give SPU hope.
 
Leavitt scored on a runner in the lane and later made the first of two free throws to bring his team within 65-63 with 14 seconds showing on the clock. But, following a missed free throw by Tyler Copp, Leavitt was whistled for traveling on a spin move in the key.
 
That turned the ball back to the Saints with 5.2 seconds left and set up Ingram's clinching free throws.
 
Rhett Baerlocher tallied 16 points for SMU, which also got 12 from Copp.
 
Mitch Penner, SPU's leading scorer on the season, was held to 11 points. He entered the game scoring at an 18.0-point clip.
 
The Falcons shot just 34 percent during the second half (12 of 35) and missed all four 3-point attempts. They finished at 39 percent for the game (24 of 62) and 3 of 13 on treys.
 
Saint Martin's countered with 42-percent accuracy (26 of 62), including 10-for-30 shooting on 3-pointers.
 
After getting the game's first basket 53 seconds into the contest, the Saints went scoreless on their next five possessions. That enabled SPU to build a 6-2 lead.

 

The visitors grabbed their largest first-half lead, at 17-8, on Garrett Swanson's layup at 10:54.
 
SMU responded with a 20-8 run, ignited by eight straight points from Baerlocher. His initial six points came on the team's first two 3-pointers.
 
By the time Ingram capped the surge with back-to-back baskets, the Saints led 28-25 with 2:28 left in the half.
 
SPU sandwiched a Gabe Colosimo trey and Leavitt layup around another Ingram layup to tie the score 30-30 going into intermission.
 
Leavitt, a senior guard from Kennewick (Wash.) High School, hit 7 of 18 shots from the field. Ten of his points came after halftime.
 
"We basically had to change how we play on offense, trying to come back with not enough time left in the game," explained Looney. "A lot of his scoring came then."
 
The Falcons won this season's first meeting, beating SMU 65-46 on Jan. 19 in Seattle.
 
If these teams meet a third time this year it will happen at the same venue, as Saint Martin's hosts the six-team GNAC Tournament, March 3-5.
 
The SPU men complete their regular-season slate with three home games, beginning on Saturday against Montana State Billings. That GNAC clash will be televised live at 9 p.m. Pacific Time on ROOT Sports.
 
Looney has a prescription for what ails his Falcons and hopes they follow it for the upcoming homestand.
 
"We're going to have to play unselfishly on offense and play extremely hard on the defensive end.
 
 "We're just not doing a good enough job playing unselfishly and moving the ball fast on offense right now. Earlier in the year we were, but for whatever reason right now we're not."


NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016
Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.

at Saint Martin's 67, (#25) Seattle Pacific 63

SEATTLE PACIFIC (18-7, 11-6 GNAC)
Wooten 1-3 0-1 2, Penner 4-13 3-5 11, Dierickx 5-9 0-0 10, Leavitt 7-18 2-3 17, Carroll 2-9 0-0 4, Swanson 2-6 7-8 11, Colosimo 3-3 0-0 8, Rasmussen 0-0 0-0 0, Parker 0-1 0-2 0, Simpson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-62 12-19 63.

SAINT MARTIN'S (13-12, 7-10 GNAC)
Kitchen 1-5 1-2 3, Ieronymides 0-3 0-0 0, Preston 1-5 0-0 2, Baerlocher 6-9 0-0 16, Copp 5-12 0-1 12, Ingram 8-15 2-3 21, Kenilvort 3-7 0-0 7, Jorg 1-2 2-2 4, Painter 1-3 0-0 2, Colbert 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-62 5-8 67.

Seattle Pacific...............   30   33    -   63
Saint Martin's................   30   37    -   67

3-point goals--SPU 3-13 (Colosimo 2-2, Leavitt 1-3, Penner 0-1, Carroll 0-5, Swanson 0-2), SMU 10-30 (Baerlocher 4-7, Ingram 3-8, Copp 2-5, Kenilvort 1-3, Painter 0-2, Ieronymides 0-2, Preston 0-2, Kitchen 0-1). Fouled out--SPU-None, SMU-Ieronymides. Rebounds--SPU 46 (Leavitt, Dierickx 11), SMU 34 (Baerlocher 9). Assists--SPU 7 (Carroll, Penner, Leavitt 2), SMU 12 (Copp, Preston 3). Total fouls--SPU 14, SMU 21. Technical fouls--SPU-None, SMU-None. Att-373.


Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific (ROOT Sports TV)
Saturday, Feb. 20, 9:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.