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• Coach Grant  Leep feature story (Seattle Times)

SEATTLE – The youthful Falcons are growing up quickly.
 
"We wouldn't have won this game a couple week's ago," first-year head coach Grant Leep said of his Seattle Pacific men's basketball team. "We have been in a lot of close games and it's so good for us to get one of these."
 
Freshman Tony Miller scored six of his game-high 20 points during overtime Thursday, lifting SPU to a 72-69 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory over Alaska Fairbanks at Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Falcons (9-10) won their second straight game to improve to 4-6 in league play. They trailed 62-61 one minute into the extra session before reeling off five unanswered points.
 
Freshman Gavin Long (Wenatchee HS) made the second of two free throws, followed by a pair from Miller who then scored off an offensive rebound. That put-back basket provided a 66-62 lead that the Nanooks erased by the 39.9-second mark after converting six consecutive free throws to forge a 69-69 tie.
 
SPU took the lead for good on its next possession with a leaning banker by sophomore Coleman Wooten (Tahoma HS) with 14.5 seconds showing on the clock. Senior Joe Rasmussen (Mercer Island HS) stole the ball on the ensuing UAF possession and made the first of two free throws to set the final 72-69 score.
 
Fairbanks had two tries at a game-tying trey. Brandon Davis had his 3-point attempt blocked out of bounds with 2.1 seconds remaining and Lorenzo Graham's 23-foot trey try from the left side rimmed off at the buzzer.
 


Twelve of SPU's 13 points during overtime were scored by underclassmen, including nine from true freshmen. This was the first time the Falcons emerged victorious in an overtime contest, having previously lost the season's first two extended outings.
 
Miller (Woodinville HS) completed his GNAC-leading ninth double-double, adding 14 rebounds to his 20 points. Wooten contributed 15 points while Long and Rasmussen each had 10.
 
"Tony got some really big defensive rebounds late that secured stops," Leep said. "On the other end, if you make mistakes on him defensively he punishes you. He has such a unique skillset that he can hit you from the three, he can put the ball on the floor and get to the basket and he can score in the post as well.
 
Miller leads all GNAC freshmen with averages of 17.2 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. Those figures rank eighth and second overall, respectively, among conference players regardless of class.
 
"As Tony continues to grow and learn his game he's going to continue to improve," said Leep. "He's made so many big plays for us as a freshman. Now you add the improvement that he's made defensively and he's just becoming more of a complete player each and every time that we take the court."
 
Nahjee Matlock scored 15 of his 17 points after halftime to lead the Nanooks, who also got 14 from Davis and 12 from Graham. UAF (8-12) fell to 3-8 in GNAC games.
 
It was a second-half hot stretch by Matlock that brought his team back into the game after the Falcons had led for 33 minutes. Fairbanks trailed 49-40 before going on a nine-point spree. Matlock tallied all nine points during the surge, including a driving layup with 6:21 left to play that evened the score, 49-49.

 

A steal and fastbreak layup by Davis gave the Nanooks a 59-57 edge with exactly one minute left in regulation. An offensive rebound and put-back shot by Wooten with 39.1 seconds remaining forced overtime.
 
SPU shot just 39 percent for the game (24 of 61), but held the Nanooks at 42 percent (24 of 76) and just 4-for-25 accuracy on 3-pointers. That helped offset a season-high 24 turnovers by the hosts.
 
"They did a really good job of pressuring our catches in the wings and then in the high post," Leep explained of the Nanooks defense. "We made a couple of plays out of it, but more often than not it ended up being something that just took us out of what we were trying to do.
 
"I have all the respect in the world for Coach (Mick) Durham and their staff. I've know him for so long, back when I was playing in high school and they recruited me when he was at Montana State. As long as he's been at Fairbanks they always find ways to make you uncomfortable and make you do your third, fourth, fifth best thing. They take so much away with what they do scheme-wise."
 
Each team grabbed 20 offensive rebounds, but the Falcons claimed the edge on the boards by collecting 10 more caroms on the defensive to lead 51-41 overall.
 
Eight players participated for the Falcons and six of them were underclassmen, including three freshmen and three sophomores.
 
SPU scored the game's first seven points, hitting 3 of 6 shots while holding the visitors scoreless for over four minutes. The Nanooks came up empty on their first five possessions with two turnovers and five missed shots.
 
By the time LaDonavan Wilder made a layup with 15:53 showing on the clock, his team trailed 7-2.
 
The Falcons led the entire game and increased their margin to as many as 10 points, at 14-4, after Wooten nailed a 3-pointer with 12:37 left in the period.
 
Fairbanks drew within five points before SPU closed the half with a 5-1 run to claim a 31-22 advantage at intermission.
 
The hosts shot just 37 percent (10 of 27) and turned the ball over 12 times during the first half, but owned the lead on the strength of a defense that limited UAF to 21-percent accuracy (8 of 39).
 
The Falcons men stay in Seattle for a Saturday night clash with Alaska Anchorage. Tip-off is 7 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Seawolves dealt SPU its most lopsided loss of the season, an 85-49 setback on Dec. 29 in Anchorage.
 
"Ugly win tonight, but we celebrate wins. It's hard to win games, so we're really excited about the win," Leep said.
 
"At the same time I told that guys that 'if you have any difficultly getting motivated to play again on Saturday against a team that handled us pretty well up in Alaska then maybe it's not in your best interest to show up to practice Friday.' We've still got a lot of work to do. We're still improving and Saturday is another opportunity to take that next step."
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 72, Alaska Fairbanks 69 (ot)
 
ALASKA FAIRBANKS (8-12, 3-8 GNAC)
Kaba 2-9 4-6 8, Wilder 3-6 1-4 7, Pederson 2-10 2-2 7, Matlock 7-18 3-3 17, Davis 3-10 7-8 14, Graham 5-8 0-1 12, Jones 1-3 0-0 2, Molesworth 1-5 0-0 2, Clark 0-4 0-0 0, Kluting 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 24-76 17-24 69.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (9-10, 5-6 GNAC)
Miller 5-11 8-11 20, Wooten 6-18 1-4 15, Rasmussen 2-8 5-8 10, Betu 2-7 1-2 5, Long 4-8 1-2 10, Streufert 3-3 0-0 6, Khan 2-3 0-0 6, Eisenhower 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 24-61 16-27 72.
 
Alaska Fairbanks......22   37   10  --  69
Seattle Pacific.......31   28   13  --  72
 
3-point goals--UAF 4-25 (Graham 2-3, Pederson 1-7, Davis 1-3, Jones 0-1, Molesworth 0-3, Clark 0-1, Kluting 0-1, Wilder 0-1, Kaba 0-1, Matlock 0-4), SPU 8-24 (Miller 2-5, Khan 2-2, Wooten 2-5, Long 1-1, Rasmussen 1-5, Eisenhower 0-3, Betu 0-3). Fouled out--UAF-Wilder, Pederson, SPU-Long. Rebounds--UAF 41 (Pederson 8), SPU 51 (Miller 14). Assists--UAF 9 (Matlock 4), SPU 11 (Miller 3). Total fouls--SPU-None. A-327.
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Jan. 28, 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.