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SEATTLE – The fatigued Falcons weathered a frenetic stretch of eight games in four days. And eight players proved to be enough.
 
All eight Falcons that played scored at least nine points Thursday, paced by the 21 of Coleman Wooten, as Seattle Pacific finished the first-half of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball schedule with a 98-87 victory over Montana State Billings at Brougham Pavilion.
 
SPU (11-6) improved its league ledger to 6-4, and will start its second swing through the GNAC in no worse than fourth place.
 
The injury-plagued Falcons were limited to an eight-man rotation in the just completed homestand that started last Thursday and included Saturday and Tuesday contests leading into this fourth game. Every player logged at least 18 minutes Thursday with Wooten (32) and Gavin Long (31) surpassing the 30-minute mark.
 
SPU has been without leading scorer Tony Miller for the last five outings. The sophomore forward from Woodinville (Wash.) High School was averaging 18.0 points before being sidelined by injury.
 
"To finish off this tough four-game stretch like we did, that shows a lot of the character, the toughness, the competitiveness and the grit that our kids have," exclaimed second-year coach Grant Leep.
 
"We can't just kill them in practice right now just due to numbers. We talked with the group yesterday about the fact that, playing an eight-man rotation, we can't have any zeros. We can't have any guys that aren't ready to play. We had everybody ready to go tonight, and they all did their job."


 
Gabe Colosimo opened the second half with a mid-range jumper and then a 3-pointer to put SPU in front 48-43. That lead swelled to 62-53 after Harry Cavell delivered a resounding dunk over a defender with 13:31 remaining. That margin was not secure.
 
At the eight-minute mark, the Falcons committed turnovers on three straight possessions and MSUB capitalized, netting eight straight points. The first six came on free throws and then Kobe Terashima had a steal and layup with 6:10 left that gave Billings its first lead since late in the first half, 72-71.
 
Long stopped SPU's drought with two free throws, creating the second of eight consecutive lead changes.
 
Long put an end to the rotating leads with a three-point play at 3:17 that ignited the Falcons' run of 11 unanswered points. Long and Wooten each tallied five points during the stretch that produced an 88-78 advantage with 1:06 to play.
 
The final 60 seconds took much longer than a minute to complete due to seven fouls, five of them whistled on Billings. SPU sank all 10 of its free throws during the closing minute to counter the Yellowjackets' nine late points.

 

Wooten connected on half of his shots from the field, going 8-for-16.
 
"He's such a tough kid. Anything we've asked Coleman to do this year, he's done it," said Leep. "Right now he's learning two new positions that he has never played and there is an adjustment that comes with that.
 
"We were able to break down what we need from him when he plays either of those two new positions. The way that he came out and applied it and attacked and how well he rebounds was tremendous. He just did such an awesome job of figuring it out on the fly and playing at a very good level."
 
Long finished with 16 points for the Falcons, who also go 12 apiece from Colosimo and Hunter Eisenhower. Colosimo distributed five assists and his eight rebounds sparked their 39-30 domination on the boards.
 
Cavell scored 10 points for SPU while Nathan Streufert, Nikhil Lizotte and Braden Olsen each chipped in nine.
 
"Gabe's line was solid and the threes that Hunter hit were all big," Leep said. "And I thought Braden came in and did a great job of changing the tempo. He changed the pace of the game a little bit, giving us some spark and energy."
 
MSU Billings (11-9) dropped to 3-6 in GNAC games despite a 25-point performance from Zack Rollins. Daniel Shedden added 19 points, Kendall Denham 16 and Zharon Richmond 12.
 
The Falcons used 57-percent second-half shooting (16 of 28) to bring their game accuracy to 53 percent (30 of 57). Billings was limited to 42-percent shooting (28 of 67).
 
Stellar shooting from the free throw line keyed the victory. SPU entered the game hitting free throws at a 71-percent clip, but converted 85-percent of their charity shots Thursday (29 of 34). Five Falcons were perfect from the stripe: Long (9-9), Olsen (6-6), Cavell (4-4), Lizotte (2-2) and Colosimo (2-2).
 
"We get to the free throw line so much. Even tonight, we made more than they attempted," explained Leep. "That's one of the few times in the game of basketball where you can be selfish, is at the free throw line. No coach will ever get mad at you for making all of your free throws.
 
"This last week, our guys have been a little bit more determined and focused into making those."
 
The visitors led by as many as nine points during the opening period after Rollins singlehandedly fueled a 11-2 run. He hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and added another trey after two free throws by SPU's Cavell. When Rollins capped the surge with two free throws, the Yellowjackets led 24-15 with 10:41 left in the first half.
 
Seattle Pacific rallied to tie the game, 34-31, on consecutive 3-pointers by Eisenhower. But Billings again surged into the lead by scoring six straight points.
 
The Falcons closed the half with a 9-2 spree, including the final six points. A fastbreak layup by Lizotte, with 16.4 seconds showing on the clock, provided a 43-42 halftime edge.
 
A respite is finally available for SPU. After playing four games in eight days, the team has six days off from competition.
 
"We just need to be smart about how we manage our practice reps and manage the bodies that we have, making sure that everybody's legs are feeling healthy and good," Leep projected. "We need to keep going in and competing and we're going to do that. We have a tough group and they embrace challenges."
 
The SPU men hit the road for a pair of games next week. They visit Burnaby, B.C. on Thursday, Jan. 25 for a 7 p.m. clash versus Simon Fraser.
 
Next Saturday, Jan. 27, the Falcons are in Bellingham for a 3 p.m. matchup at Western Washington that will be televised live on ROOT Sports.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 98, Montana State Billings 87
 
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (11-9, 3-6 GNAC)

Richmond 3-6 6-7 12, Rollins 8-21 4-4 25, Terashima 2-6 2-2 6, Denham 5-8 4-4 16, Shedden 6-10 7-10 19, Tall 2-4 0-1 4, Green 1-4 0-0 3, Abdul 1-4 0-0 2, Jeuschede 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 28-67 23-28 87.

 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (11-6, 6-4 GNAC)

Wooten 8-16 5-9 21, Long 3-6 9-9 16, Streufert 4-4 1-2 9, Lizotte 3-7 2-2 9, Colosimo 4-7 2-2 12, Eisenhower 4-6 0-0 12, Cavell 3-8 4-4 10, Olsen 1-3 6-6 9. Totals 30-57 29-34 98.

 
Montana State Billings........   42   45  -   87
Seattle Pacific...............   43   55  -   98
 

3-point goals--MSUB 8-25 (Rollins 5-14, Denham 2-4, Green 1-3, Abdul 0-2, Jeuschede 0-1, Shedden 0-1), SPU 9-17 (Eisenhower 4-5, Colosimo 2-3, Olsen 1-2, Lizotte 1-2, Long 1-3, Wooten 0-2). Fouled out--MSUB-Richmond, Denham, Shedden, SPU-None. Rebounds--MSUB 30 (Terashima 6), SPU 39 (Colosimo, Wooten 8). Assists--MSUB 12 (Terashima 7), SPU 20 (Colosimo 5). Total fouls--MSUB 25, SPU 22. Technical fouls--MSUB-None, SPU-None. A-156.

 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Seattle Pacific at Simon Fraser
Thursday, Jan. 25, 7:00 p.m. PST
West Gym / Burnaby, B.C.