• FINAL STATS

HAYWARD, Calif. – Seattle Pacific's Gavin Long led all scorers with 24 points Friday, but was held scoreless during both overtimes and Sonoma State hit 10 of 11 free throws during the final minute to secure a 100-93 season-opening men's basketball non-conference victory at Pioneer Gymnasium.
 
A sophomore guard, Long made 10 of 16 shots from the field during regulation, but didn't attempt a shot after that despite playing all 10 overtime minutes.
 
"Gavin played a terrific game. He's just so efficient," exclaimed Grant Leep, beginning his second season as SPU's head coach. "Gavin doesn't force, he generally takes only very good shots and that's in large part why his percentages are so high."
 
As a freshman last season, Long posted the Falcons' top percentage in every shooting category. He made 60 percent of his shots overall and 46 percent of his 3-pointers while nailing free throws at a 77-percent clip.
 
"He attacks the ball, he's strong enough and big enough to finish when he gets in there. We have kind of a different series for a couple of our guys when we know that we have them rolling. Tonight was Gavin's night," Leep added.
 
"He played a great ballgame. In the overtimes, Sonoma did start to key on him and try to do some things to take him away."
 
The Falcons (0-1) had four double-figure scorers, including sophomore forward Tony Miller, who produced a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double. Nikhil Lizotte finished with 18 along with six assists and Coleman Wooten had 12 points.
 
Junior forward Sam Simpson, who was sidelined for all but the first five games last season due to injury, grabbed 12 rebounds to fuel the Falcon's 49-41 edge on the boards.
 
The Seawolves (1-0) are coming off an NCAA Division II Tournament qualifying season in which they led the nation in scoring defense, limiting opponents to 57.8 points per game. SPU surpassed that figure by seven points at the end of regulation and then scored 28 more points during the two, five-minute bonus sessions.
 
Lizotte hit the second of two free throws with 18 seconds remaining, giving the Falcons a 65-62 second-half lead. But Jackson Gion evened the score 65-65 a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left that forced overtime. The Falcons had the last regulation possession and ran a play for Lizotte, who missed a pull-up trey.
 
Each team scored 11 points during the first overtime. SPU staged an 8-3 run to lead 76-73 with 1:37 on the clock. The Seawolves Mason Phillips hit the second of two free throws at 1:13 and Jordan Hickman drained a pair at 0:43 to force another overtime.

 

Lizotte had the ball in his hands again, but was only able to muster a desperation 3-point try at the buzzer. He is a 5-foot-9 junior guard in his first year at SPU after transferring from Humboldt State.
 
Sonoma opened the second overtime hitting 4 of its first 5 shots, including two treys, to go ahead 89-83. SPU was unable to draw any closer than four the rest of the way due to stellar Seawolves free throw shooting. Jordan Fleck converted all six of his attempts to lead his team's 10-for-11 accuracy from the line in the final 43 seconds.
 
Fleck came off the bench to compile 21 points, leading a 40-14 scoring advantage by the Seawolves' reserves. Hickman added 20 while Armani Nicolis had 19 and Gion 12.
 
A disparity from the 3-point arc proved to be the difference. The Seawolves shot 11-for-28 on treys while limiting SPU to a 2-for-15 effort.  Both teams made 25 free throws, but it took SPU 38 attempts to just 31 for Sonoma.
 
"The issue tonight was we didn't shoot the ball well from the three and we missed some free throws. But we're seeing some very good things," Leep said. "This was a very good defensive team that we played tonight and we rebounded well. We moved the ball well and got to the free throw line a bunch. We just have to be able to finish our plays."
 
The Falcons missed all four of their treys before halftime. They got their first, by Lizotte, 43 seconds into the second half. Nathan Streufert hit their only other 3-pointer, to open the initial overtime.
 
SPU did most of its damage from close range, registering a 62-32 scoring margin inside the lane.
 
In the first half, the Falcons reeled off eight unanswered points to ignite an 11-3 run that provided a 15-8 cushion eight minutes into the contest. That was their largest lead of the game and Sonoma later responded with a 21-6 surge to go ahead 34-25.
 
SPU tallied the final six points of the half to draw within 34-31.
 
"I was very pleased with how our guys responded in the second half. We got off to a decent start and then the middle part of the first half is where we had a touch of a let up," Leep described. "We battled through that and had a great finish to the half, we made a couple of nice plays to go into the locker room down three.
 
"And then we came out in the second half and played as good of defense as we have in my time at SPU."
 
The back-and-forth second half featured 10 ties and seven lead changes.
 
The Falcons remain in the Bay Area to play tournament host Cal State East Bay on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Pioneers lost their opener 74-72 against Montana State Billings.
 
"The big thing now is to balance our preparation and our rest," said Leep. "It was going to be a quick turnaround anyway, but the added wrinkles are that tonight was a very physical game and also a game that went two overtimes. We have to be very smart about how we prepare and get the guys ready for the home team tomorrow."
 
The SPU men return to Seattle next week for their home opener as hosts of the Sodexo Classic at Brougham Pavilion. They clash with Concordia-Irvine on Nov. 17 and Hawaii-Hilo on Nov. 18. Both games tip off at 7 p.m.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Pioneer Challenge
Friday, Nov. 10, 2017
Pioneer Gymnasium / Hayward, Calif.
 
Sonoma State 100, Seattle Pacific 93
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (0-1)
Long 10-16 4-7 24, Lizotte 5-15 7-8 18, Miller 5-14 7-10 17, Wooten 5-9 2-7 12, Streufert 4-7 0-0 9, Simpson 3-5 2-2 8, Olsen 1-1 3-4 5, Eisenhower 0-0 0-0 0, Cavell 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 33-70 25-38 93.
 
SONOMA STATE (1-0)
Fleck 6-10 8-8 21, Hickman 6-14 7-10 20, Nicolis 8-17 0-0 19, Gion 4-11 0-0 12, Phillips 1-4 3-4 6, Hightower 2-5 2-2 6, Mize 1-2 3-4 5, Grant 1-3 2-2 4, Tillis 1-4 0-0 3, Davidson 1-5 0-0 2, Nielsen 1-1 0-1 2. Totals 32-76 25-31 100.
 
Seattle Pacific........31   34   11   17  -   93
Sonoma State...........34   31   11   24  -  100
 
3-point goals--SPU 2-15 (Lizotte 1-5, Streufert 1-1, Wooten 0-3, Simpson 0-1, Cavell 0-1, Miller 0-3, Long 0-1), SSU 11-28 (Gion 4-9, Nicolis 3-7, Fleck 1-1, Hickman 1-5, Tillis 1-3, Phillips 1-2, Davidson 0-1). Fouled out--SPU-Simpson, SSU-Grant. Rebounds--SPU 49 (Simpson 12), SSU 41 (Nicolis, Tillis 6). Assists--SPU 15 (Lizotte 6), SSU 21 (Phillips 5). Total fouls--SPU 24, SSU 30. Technical fouls--SPU-None, SSU-None. A-262.
 
 
Next Men's Basketball Game
Pioneer Challenge
Seattle Pacific at Cal State East Bay
Saturday, Nov. 11, 2:00 p.m. PST
Pioneer Gymnasium / Hayward, Calif.