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SEATTLE – On Monday, Seattle Pacific senior Mitch Penner received the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball Player of the Week award. Thursday's prolific performance puts him in position to reap repeat honors.
 
Penner poured in a career-high 37 points, on 14-for-16 shooting, to lead 19th-ranked SPU to a 76-54 triumph over Concordia of Oregon on Thursday at Brougham Pavilion.
 
"You could go back in the history books and there might not be a more efficient offensive night for an SPU player than what Mitch Penner did today," SPU coach Ryan Looney exclaimed.
 
The 6-foot-5 senior forward surpassed his previous collegiate high by six points and registered the highest scoring game by an SPU player since Chris Banchero had 41 on Dec. 18, 2010.
 


A product of Seattle's Kennedy High School, Penner produced nearly half of SPU's points and bailed the team out on a subpar shooting night. He converted all four of his 3-point attempts and each of his five free throws.
 
Penner's 88-percent accuracy rescued the team. He made 14 field goals, matching the rest of his team's total, in only 16 attempts.  The other Falcons combined to shoot 30 percent (14 for 46).
 
"We collectively struggled on offense the first half of the game," Looney described. "Our defense and our rebounding is what kept the lead for us. And then offensively, because of what Mitch was able to do tonight, that carried us in the second half of the game."
 
Second-place SPU (17-4) improved to 10-3 in league play with its eighth consecutive victory.
 
The Falcons lead was 56-48 before they tallied 17 unanswered points, nine of them from Penner. That surge resulted in a commanding 73-48 margin with 3:25 left to play.

 

Gabe Colosimo (Sandy, Utah) compiled his entire 15-point total during the second half, with all of his scoring coming from behind the 3-point arc. The Falcons freshman point guard missed his only two first-half shots, including one 3-point try.
 
He drained 5 of 7 treys after intermission.
 
"Gabe Colosimo coming in and hitting some deep perimeter shots stretched them out," said Looney.
 
Senior center Gilles Dierickx (Ghent, Belgium) contributed an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double. The first 7-footer in SPU history helped his team dominate the boards by a 51-23 margin. Penner collected eight caroms.
 
Latrell Wilson scored 13 points to pace the Cavaliers (6-14), who dropped to 4-9 in GNAC play. Drew Martin added 12 points and John Erickson 10.
 
Neither team obtained a lead larger than four points in the early going. Concordia claimed its final edge, at 14-10, on two free throws from Martin with 14:53 left in the first half.
 
SPU scored the next seven points, the last five from Penner, to go ahead for good at 17-14 with 11:26 on the clock.
 
Back-to-back jumpers by Wilson late in the period trimmed the margin to two points. But two Penner's free throws and a layup by Dierickx forged a 30-24 halfltime advantage, the Falcons largest to that juncture.
 
Penner tallied 14 of the Falcons' 30 first-half points. He shot 5 for 6 during the opening 20 minutes while the rest of the team struggled at 7 for 28.
 
Despite an upcoming top-of-the-table clash, Looney emphasized the importance of Thursday's win in the Falcons pursuit of their 12th consecutive NCAA Division II Tournament berth.
 
"We know that if want to get to where we want to get to later in the year, winning against Concordia at home is just as important as trying to beat Western Oregon on Saturday."
 
Next up for the SPU men is the game of the year in the GNAC. First-place Western Oregon, the nation's third-ranked team, invades Brougham Pavilion on Saturday for a 7 p.m. game. The matchup of ranked teams pits the defending conference regular-season champion Wolves against the 2015 GNAC Tournament titlist Falcons.
 
WOU (12-1 GNAC) brings a 10-game winning streak into Saturday's contest, two games longer than SPU's current stretch of success.
 
The Wolves were 96-90 overtime victors in the first meeting on Jan. 7 in Monmouth, Ore. That was the last loss for SPU.
 
Saturday's game will be highlighted by a matchup of two of the league's premier players. Penner fuels the Falcons while Western Oregon is led by bruising 6-foot-6 senior forward Andy Avgi, who amassed 34 points in the first encounter, hitting 15 of 22 shots from the field versus SPU.
 
"Avgi is a very, very good player, especially on the offensive end of the floor," Looney said. "He's been a tough cover not just for us, but everyone in the conference all year long so far.
 
"Our guys in that matchup, and collectively as a group, are going to have to do a much better job providing more resistance than we did the first time around."


NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.

at #19 Seattle Pacific 76, Concordia (Ore.) 54

CONCORDIA (6-14, 4-9 GNAC)
Martin 4-9 2-2 12, Phillips 1-7 0-0 2, Hawken 4-8 0-0 8, Wilson 6-16 0-0 13, Gray 2-4 0-0 5, Erickson 3-6 3-3 10, Cates 1-5 0-0 2, Nuaimi 1-4 0-0 2, McGurkin 0-0 0-0 0, Duitsman 0-2 0-0 0, Ahana 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-61 5-5 54.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (17-4, 10-3 GNAC)
Penner 14-16 5-5 37, Swanson 3-8 0-0 6, Dierickx 4-11 3-4 11, Leavitt 0-3 0-0 0, Carroll 0-7 2-2 2, Colosimo 5-9 0-0 15, Poulsen 1-1 0-0 2, Wooten 1-2 0-0 2, Streufert 0-2 1-2 1, Betu 0-2 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Parker 0-1 0-0 0, Simpson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-62 11-13 76.

Concordia.....................  24   30   -  54
Seattle Pacific...............  30   46   -  76

3-point goals--CU 5-23 (Martin 2-3, Wilson 1-6, Erickson 1-3, Gray 1-1, Phillips 0-1, Duitsman 0-2, Nuaimi 0-2, Cates 0-3, Hawken 0-2), SPU 9-22 (Colosimo 5-8, Penner 4-4, Carroll 0-5, Wooten 0-1, Betu 0-1, Parker 0-1, Leavitt 0-2). Fouled out--CU-None, SPU-None. Rebounds--CU 23 (Martin 7), SPU 51 (Dierickx 11). Assists--CU 6 (Erickson, Martin 2), SPU 15 (Carroll, Dierickx 3). Total fouls--CU 14, SPU 9. Technical fouls--CU-None, SPU-None. Att-319. 
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
#3 Western Oregon at #19 Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Feb. 6, 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.