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SEATTLE – A group of Falcons is called a "cast." The Seattle Pacific Falcons played together as a cast Saturday night, and they staged a soaring performance.
 
Five players tallied double-figure points for the SPU men, who shot 59 percent from the field in an impressive 93-67 Great Northwest Athletic Conference basketball victory over Montana State Billings.
 
The game started at 9 p.m. to accommodate a ROOT Sports television broadcast from Brougham Pavilion. The late tip-off didn't hinder the Falcons shooting as they connected on 38 of 64 shots, including 7-for-17 accuracy on 3-pointers.
 
Seventeen of those 38 baskets were set up by assists, led by five from Bryce Leavitt and four apiece from Mitch Penner and Gilles Dierickx.
 
"I'm proud of our guys and how unselfish they were on offense and how hard they played on the defensive end," said SPU coach Ryan Looney.



The Falcons limited Billings to 38-percent shooting (21 of 56).
 
SPU (19-7) improved to 12-6 in league play, stopping a two-game losing skid in the process. They definitely got back on track Saturday.
 
"All the way down the line, every guy gave us better effort than what we've been getting recently," Looney explained. "Here, late in the year, this is definitely a step in the right direction for us."
 
Looney seeks to return the Falcons to the efficient style they displayed earlier this season during nine- and eight-game winning streaks.
 
"We wanted to challenge ourselves to get back to the point when we were playing extremely well early in the year. We thought it had to do with our willingness to be unselfish and share the ball on offense, our ability to increase our effort defensively and then really hone in on the rebounding on both ends of the floor.
 
"And for one night our guys were able to make it happen. Our challenge now is to be able to continue it going into next week."

 

Penner scored 19 of his 23 points during the first half. He hit 10 of 16 shots en route to his 11th 20-point performance of the season.
 
Joe Rasmussen added 15 points in his first collegiate start. Will Parker tallied 12 points for SPU, which got 10 apiece from Dierickx and Brendan Carroll.
 
The Yellowjackets (10-16) dropped to 7-11 in GNAC games.
 
Preston Beverly topped Billings with 21 points, Emmanuel Johnson had 14 and Marc Matthews 10.
 
Matthews hit a 3-pointer 41 seconds into the game to provide MSUB's lone lead. The Falcons then got points on their next five possessions, capped by a driving layup by Parker, to go ahead 11-7 with 17:00 left in the first half.
 
That lead gradually increased and then SPU broke the game open by making 7 of its final 8 shots to close the half with a 15-2 run. Dierickx grabbed an offensive rebound and swished a fall-away jumper at the buzzer to create a 56-34 halftime advantage.
 
The Falcons were successful on 66 percent of their shots in the opening period (21 of 32) on the way to their top scoring half of the season.
 
Penner compiled his 19 first-half points on 8-for-10 shooting. He netted nine during a late SPU spree of 11 unanswered points.
 
The host's lead grew to as many as 36 points during the second half.
 
Looney hopes his Falcons stop flying solo and instead play as a unit like they did Saturday.
 
"We have to make a decision. Do we want to be a team that collectively gets it done and give ourselves a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament? Or, do we want to be a bunch of guys with some individual agendas that want to save the world on our own? We proved tonight what's in our team's best interest."
 
The SPU men finish their regular-season schedule with a pair of home games next week against their Northwest rivals. They clash with Western Washington on Thursday and Simon Fraser on Saturday. Both games start at 7 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion.
 
The GNAC Tournament is the following week, March 3-5 in Lacey, Wash.

NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.

at (#25) Seattle Pacific 93, Montana State Billings 67

MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (10-16, 7-11 GNAC)
Beverly 7-18 4-4 21, Johnson 5-12 3-4 14, Olufemi 1-4 3-4 5, Denham 3-7 1-1 8, Perry 2-6 2-2 7, Jeuschede 1-1 0-0 2, Alcorn 0-0 0-0 0, Tall 0-1 0-Matthews 2-7 4-4 10, 0 0. Totals 21-56 17-19 67.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (19-7, 12-6 GNAC)
Penner 10-16 2-2 23, Swanson 3-6 0-0 7, Rasmussen 6-9 2-3 15, Parker 4-7 2-2 12, Leavitt 3-3 0-0 6, Carroll 4-9 0-0 10, Dierickx 3-5 4-4 10, Simpson 2-3 0-0 4, Streufert 1-2 0-0 2, Poulsen 1-1 0-0 2, Johnson 1-2 0-0 2, Betu 0-0 0-0 0, Colosimo 0-0 0-0 0, Wooten 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 38-64 10-11 93.

Montana State Billings..................   34   33  -   67
Seattle Pacific.........................   56   37  -   93

3-point goals--MSUB 8-23 (Beverly 3-8, Matthews 2-4, Denham 1-3, Johnson 1-4, Perry 1-4), SPU 7-17 (Parker 2-2, Carroll 2-4, Penner 1-3, Swanson 1-3, Rasmussen 1-3, Johnson 0-1, Simpson 0-1). Fouled out--MSUB-None, SPU-None. Rebounds--MSUB 23 (Olufemi 7), SPU 39 (Dierickx 8). Assists--MSUB 6 (Perry 2), SPU 17 (Leavitt 5). Total fouls--MSUB 12, SPU 17. Technical fouls--MSUB-None, SPU-None. A-355.


Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Western Washington at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Feb. 25, 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.