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BURNABY, B.C. – Gavin Long poured in 24 points Saturday, but it wasn't enough for Seattle Pacific which saw its men's basketball season and 12-year playoff streak end with a 93-82 loss at Simon Fraser in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest at West Gym.

The Falcons completed the campaign with a 12-16 record, failing to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004. They entered the season with the nation's longest active playoff streak among Division II men's basketball teams.

SPU's 8-12 conference record was not good enough to earn one of the six berths into next week's GNAC Tournament.

Long, a freshman guard from Wenatchee (Wash.) High School, converted 10 of 13 shots from the field and all four of his free throws. He came within one point of his collegiate high of 25.

Coleman Wooten (Tahoma HS) tallied 18 points for SPU, as did Tony Miller, who also grabbed 11 rebounds to complete his team-high 15th double-double.

 

A freshman from Woodinville (Wash.) High School, Miller increased his team-leading total to 514 points. He is the 20th player in Seattle Pacific history to reach the 500-point mark in a single season.

Miller compiled the second-highest scoring season ever for a Falcons freshman, trailing only the 559 points that Jackie Johnson amassed in 1989. Miller topped the team with 247 rebounds, the school's third-highest total by a freshman. Howard Heppner collected 264 caroms in 1963 and Johnson had 249 in 1989.

JJ Pankratz and Othniel Spence each scored 24 points Saturday to pace the Clan. They combined to hit 9 of 12 shots from 3-point range, including 5 of 6 from Pankratz.

Simon Fraser built on a seven-point halftime lead with an 8-2 run that produced its largest lead. Spence capped the stretch on a 3-pointer with 12:28 remaining for a 55-43 margin.

The Falcons steadily chipped away at that deficit and eventually utilized a nine-point spree to draw even, at 67-67, on two free throws by Wooten with 5:41 left to play.

After the teams traded points, Pankratz nailed a trey to put his team in the lead for good, at 72-69.

SPU never got closer than two points the rest of the way and the Clan sank 10 of 12 free throws inside the final minute to extend their lead.

Led by Spence's 24, the Simon Fraser bench outscored the Falcons reserves 40-12.

After giving up the first five points to start the game, SPU staged an 11-2 run to take an 11-7 edge. The margin was 16-12 before the Clan reeled off 14 unanswered points, surging to a 26-16 advantage with 7:42 left in the first half.

Iziah Sherman-Newsome sparked the surge with six points. The Falcons went scoreless for nearly four minutes, coming up empty on eight straight possessions with four missed shots and four turnovers.

Miller finally halted the SPU drought, draining a 3-pointer with 7:28 showing on the clock.

The Clan stretched the lead to as many as 11 points in the first half before SPU scored six straight and drew within 40-33 by halftime.

The hosts forced 11 first-half turnovers, six of them with steals, and parlayed those Falcons miscues into 14 points. SPU turned the ball over just five times after halftime.

Three seniors played their final game in an SPU uniform. Joe Rasmussen scored six points, Olivier-Paul Betu had four and Will Parker three. A 6-foot-8 center, Rasmussen (Mercer Island HS) was the only Falcon to start all 28 games.

The SPU men will return their top-two scorers next season in Miller (19.0 ppg) and Wooten (17.0 ppg). Also back is double-digit scorer Long (10.7 ppg), who ranked No. 4 on the team. All three of them are underclassmen.
 

NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017
West Gym / Burnaby, B.C.
 
at Simon Fraser 93, Seattle Pacific 82
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (12-16, 8-12 GNAC)
Wooten 7-14 4-5 18, Miller 5-13 7-9 18, Rasmussen 2-8 2-3 6, Betu 2-4 0-0 4, Long 10-13 4-4 24, Eisenhower 3-7 0-0 9, Parker 1-1 0-0 3, Streufert 0-0 0-0 0, Khan 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 30-63 17-21 82.
 
SIMON FRASER (4-24, 2-18 GNAC)
Sewani 0-1 0-0 0, Pankratz 9-11 1-2 24, Vos 1-4 0-0 2, Wright 4-13 3-6 12, Provenzano 4-11 5-7 15, Spence 6-9 8-9 24, Sherman-Newsome 5-7 4-4 14, Lewin 0-1 2-4 2. Totals 29-57 23-32 93.
 
Seattle Pacific........33   49  --  82
Simon Fraser...........40   53  --  93
 
3-point goals--SPU 5-20 (Eisenhower 3-5, Miller 1-4, Parker 1-1, Khan 0-2, Rasmussen 0-3, Wooten 0-5), SF 12-25 (Pankratz 5-6, Spence 4-6, Provenzano 2-5, Wright 1-5, Vos 0-2, Sherman-Newsome 0-1). Fouled out--SPU-Long, Khan, Rasmussen, SF-None. Rebounds--SPU 35 (Miller 11), SF 33 (Wright 9). Assists--SPU 15 (Wooten 5), SF 15 (Wright 6). Total fouls--SPU 24, SF 22. Technical fouls--SPU-None, SF-None. A-980.