• FINAL STATS   |   • VIDEO: NATHAN STREUFERT

SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific men will have a Happy New Year after all.
 
Tony Miller scored four of his 21 points early in overtime Saturday for SPU, which staged a tremendous comeback in the final four minutes of regulation en route to a 98-93 victory over Simon Fraser in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference basketball game at Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Falcons (7-4) evened their league ledger at 2-2. Things looked grim in the last game of the 2017 calendar year before they outscored the visitors 11-2 during the final 3:23 of the second half to force the extra session.
 
Simon Fraser made 6 of 7 shots from the field to build a seemingly insurmountable 82-73 cushion. The Falcons defense stiffened, inducing three turnovers and 4 of 5 missed shots in the final seven possessions of regulation for their foes.
 
"Our execution got better. We found a group that was playing very well together on the defensive end," SPU coach Grant Leep described. "We can score on teams, but we need to be committed enough on the defensive end to get stops. We found a group that did that and bought into what we were trying to do on defense.
 
"We were able to string some stops together. The stops led to easier baskets going down the other way. I was proud of the way we stuck to it and just got it done."
 
SPU tallied the first eight points in overtime, including two free throws by Miller, which he followed with a steal and fastbreak dunk. Nate Streufert's layup off an inbounds play under the basket put his team up 92-84 with 2:12 on the clock.
 
Simon Fraser (7-5), which dropped to 1-3 in GNAC play, drew within 96-93 on a 3-pointer by Kedar Salam with 8.2 seconds remaining. Gabe Colosimo sealed the win for SPU by converting two free throws with 7.6 seconds on the clock.


 
Streufert (Richland HS) registered his first career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. He led SPU's 40-31 advantage on the boards and also contributed three assists, two blocked shots and one steal.
 
The 6-foot-8 junior center made two key plays late in the game.
 
He stole the ball from Michael Provezano with two seconds left to eliminate the Clan's opportunity to attempt a game-winning shot at the end of regulation. Two minutes into overtime, Streufert blocked a shot, grabbed the rebound and eventually scored at the other end to complete the Falcons' eight-point run.
 
"Nate just brings us so much. He did a great job rolling to the basket and finishing a lot of plays tonight," Leep said.
 
Nikhil Lizotte scored 16 points for SPU and sank two free throws with 24.1 seconds left in regulation to forge the final second-half tie. The transfer from Humboldt State, in his first year at SPU, was perfect in 10 attempts from the free throw line.
 
"He's a veteran, a junior who has been in two other years of battles at this level. With the experience that he's had, Nikhil was able to come here and be ready to go," Leep said.
 
"He made his free throws down the stretch and every last one of those was a big free throw. For Nikhil, having missed one against Sonoma State at the end of regulation, that kind of exorcised a demon for him being able to hit two clutch ones with 24 seconds left. I'm really proud of how he responded tonight."

 

Lizotte missed the first of two free throws with 18 seconds left in the second half of the Nov. 10 season opener, enabling Sonoma State to force overtime with a 3-pointer. The Falcons went on to lose that game 100-93.
 
Gavin Long added 15 points for SPU on Saturday and Coleman Wooten had 14.
 
The Clan compiled nearly half of their points from beyond the 3-point arc, hitting 15 of 27 treys. They were led by the 23 points of JJ Pankratz and Iziah Sherman-Newsome had 22. Salam, Provenzano and Othniel Spence each chipped in 14 points.
 
"I wish obviously that we would have guarded the three a little bit better, with them having made 15 of them, because that's something that we talk about and work on," said Leep. "When I look at the boxscores of games that we've lost, there's a lot of similarities to tonight's boxscore. But we were able to gut it out and get a win. The grittiness and toughness that this team showed is a trait that we have."
 
SPU rallied from an 82-73 deficit inside the final four minutes, scoring nine unanswered points to tie the score, 82-82, on two Harry Cavell free throws with 52.8 seconds remaining.
 
After Salam put Simon Fraser up 84-82 on a jumper with 38.2 seconds left in regulation, Lizotte's two free throws forced the extra session.
 
SPU made 50.8 percent of its shots from the field (32 of 63), but was bettered by the 51.4-percent effort of its opponent (36 of 70).
 
Trailing 12-9 early in the game, the Clan hit their next six shots, four of them 3-pointers, to claim a 25-14 advantage with 13:30 left in the first half. They forced four straight SPU misses and a turnover during that span.
 
The tide turned when the Falcons nailed their next four shots and created three straight misses from the visitors to ignite a 16-5 run. Wooten made a trey to even the score and Miller followed with a putback layup that provided a 32-30 SPU lead with 5:43 to play before halftime.
 
Lizotte gave SPU a spark off the bench, compiling eight points during the final 2:12, including a pair of 3-pointers, to give the hosts a 46-45 halftime edge.
 
Long-distance shooting kept the Clan in the contest as they made 9 of 12 attempts beyond the arc in the opening half. They shot 56 percent in the first period (15 of 27), but SPU countered with 58-percent accuracy (18 of 31).
 
Three minutes after halftime Simon Fraser went on an 11-1 run, getting the final five points from Pankratz. That put SFU up 58-52 with 14:17 left to play.
 
A run of eight consecutive points midway through the half brought the Falcons back into the contest and set the stage for the dramatic late-game finish.
 
The SPU men travel north to Alaska for two games next week. They visit Fairbanks on Thursday and Anchorage on Saturday. Both games start at 8 p.m. Pacific Time.
 
The Falcons drew a split last season in Alaska at the end of December. They came off the Christmas break and suffered an 85-49 setback in Anchorage on Dec. 29, 2016, their most lopsided defeat since 1998. SPU won 79-77 two days later at Fairbanks.
 
 "The toughest thing for our group is this trip coincides with the first week of school and missing classes right off the bat. But they're going to be fine," said Leep.
 
"Obviously going up to Anchorage a year ago we didn't play our best and we did some things in Fairbanks that we can get better at. This is going to be a motivated group that we have coming up as we continue to develop and get better."
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Dec. 30, 2017
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 98, Simon Fraser 93 (ot)
 
SIMON FRASER (7-5, 1-3 GNAC)
Lewin 3-4 0-1 6, Salam 6-11 1-2 14, Sherman-Newsome 8-10 1-2 22, Provenzano 5-11 1-2 14, Pankratz 9-21 2-2 23, Spence 5-9 1-1 14, Vranjes 0-0 0-0 0, Muir-Keung 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 36-70 6-10 93.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (7-4, 2-2 GNAC)
Miller 8-16 5-6 21, Streufert 7-10 4-7 18, Wooten 5-9 3-7 14, Colosimo 0-1 3-4 3, Long 7-11 1-2 15, Lizotte 2-6 10-10 16, Cavell 3-6 5-5 11, Olsen 0-1 0-0 0, Eisenhower 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 32-65 31-41 98.
 
Simon Fraser.......... 45   39    9   -   93
Seattle Pacific....... 46   38   14   -   98
 
3-point goals--SF 15-27 (Sherman-Newsome 5-6, Spence 3-5, Pankratz 3-8, Provenzano 3-4, Salam 1-3, Muir-Keung 0-1), SPU 3-15 (Lizotte 2-5, Wooten 1-2, Long 0-1, Cavell 0-1, Eisenhower 0-3, Miller 0-3). Fouled out--SF-Sherman-Newsome, SPU-None. Rebounds--SF 31 (Lewin, Pankratz, Spence 6), SPU 40 (Streufert 10). Assists--SF 22 (Provenzano 8), SPU 19 (Colosimo, Long 4). Total fouls--SF 29, SPU 12. Technical fouls--SF-None, SPU-None. A-475.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Seattle Pacific at Alaska Fairbanks
Thursday, Jan. 4, 8:00 p.m. PST
Patty Center / Fairbanks, Alaska