• FINAL STATS    |    • VIDEO: NIKHIL  LIZOTTE

SEATTLE – Nikhil Lizotte compiled all of his game-high 19 points during the second half Saturday and was perfect on five 3-point attempts, helping the Seattle Pacific men rally for an 83-65 victory over Azusa Pacific in the final game of the Sodexo Classic basketball tournament at Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Falcons (2-0) swept both games this weekend, including an 81-72 win over Westminster on Friday. They were the only undefeated squad in the four-team field.
 
Central Washington, an 85-80 victor against Azusa on Friday lost a 100-97 overtime decision to Westminster in Saturday's early game.
 
SPU trailed 30-28 at halftime after making just 1 of 7 shots from 3-point range. Lizotte, who missed his only first-half shot off the bench, started the second half and immediately sparked a 25-5 SPU spree.
 
The senior guard nailed a trey 18 seconds after intermission, his first of four without a miss in a seven-minute span. He drained back-to-back 3-pointers to cap the run for a 51-35 Falcons' lead with 13:12 left to play.
 
The Cougars (2-4) answered with eight straight points, the last six on treys by Ben Avera, to come back to 51-43. But SPU netted the next six points and never led by less than nine points the rest of the way.
 
For the game, Lizotte made 6 of 8 shots from the field.
 
"Nikhil, I don't know if enough can be said about the way he responded, stepping up for an injured teammate," SPU Coach Grant Leep said after Lizotte filled in for starting point guard Gabe Colosimo, who went down with an injury in the final minute of the first half and did not return.
 
"It's nice that Nikhil made the shots, of course, but he made the right basketball plays. He had five assists and set other people up and he did what we need him to do.
 
In 15 remarkable second-half minutes Lizotte tallied 19 points, four assists and two steals while nailing five 3-point shots.
 
"Do I expect him to score 19 points in 15 minutes every night? No! But boy it was sure nice tonight and it gave us a great spark," Leep exclaimed. "He's really capable of that and is a very strong playmaker."


 
SPU sophomore Harry Cavell chipped in 12 points with eight of them coming after halftime.
 
Senior forward Coleman Wooten registered an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double, one night after leading the Falcons with 12 rebounds.
 
"Coleman stepped up," said Leep. "The things that we need from him are so unique because he's such a versatile piece. We move him to the perimeter, we move him inside and it's just a matter of finding out where tonight it's going to be for him and then he goes and finds it and give us what we need.
 
"Him made some big, timely plays that we really needed tonight."
 
SPU shot 52 percent for the game (29 of 56) on the strength of 59-percent second-half accuracy (17 of 29).
 
Azusa Pacific shot 42 percent (23 of 55) from the floor.
 
Will Ferris led the Cougars with 16 points while Mandrell Worthy added 14 and Darien McClain 12.
 
In the first half, APU gained an early 5-2 lead on a jumper in the lane and a 3-pointer by Ferris.
 
The next eight points came from Falcons, the first two on a layup by Wooten and then three consecutive layups by Gavin Long that produced a 10-5 margin seven minutes into the contest.
 
The lead was 16-10 before the Cougars reeled off 15 straight points. They hit 6 of 7 shots during that stretch, including perfect accuracy on four trey attempts, with two each from Worthy and McClain.
 
SPU went scoreless for six straight possessions over a 4-minute, 30-second stretch. They missed four shots and committed two turnovers, enabling the visitors to build a 25-16 advantage.
 
Colosimo put an end to the Falcons drought with a three-point play at 4:31 after getting fouled on a driving layup. He then recorded a steal and was fouled on a fastbreak drive to the basket. Colosimo's subsequent two free throws narrowed the APU lead to 25-21.
 
The Cougars responded with their sixth 3-pointer of the half, but SPU ended the period with a 7-2 surge to close within 30-28 by halftime.
 
"We went on a mini run of our own that trimmed that lead down to two by the half," Leep said. "It was huge. That was really big for us just to have a little bit of positivity going into the locker room."

 

Long-range shooting proved pivotal in the opening 20 minutes as Azusa made 6 of 15 treys while limiting the hosts to just one 3-pointer in seven tries. The Falcons lone first-half trey came with 2:21 remaining on a shot by Sam Simpson from the far right corner off a nifty pass from Sharif Khan.
 
SPU countered its opponents outside shooting with a 20-6 lead in the points-in-the-paint category during the opening half.
 
For the game the Falcons outscored their foe 38-16 in the lane and had a 37-12 scoring surplus from their reserves.
 
The SPU men hit the road for a pair of games next week at the Thanksgiving Classic in San Diego, Calif. They meet 18th-ranked St. Cloud State on Friday and Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday. Both games start at 5:30 p.m. in the tournament hosted by Point Loma.
 
"St. Cloud is historically a very good Division II program," said Leep. "They're going to be a very tough opponent, but we'll get our guys ready to play and we'll have a good game plan going down to play two tough teams."
 
The next home game for the Falcons is Nov. 29 at 7:30 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion. They start Great Northwest Athletic Conference play against Northwest Nazarene.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Sodexo Classic
Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 83, Azusa Pacific 65
 
AZUSA PACIFIC (2-4)
Mawugbe 3-7 0-0 6, Davis 2-3 0-0 5, McClain 4-13 0-0 12, Worthy 5-12 2-3 14, Ferris 5-9 4-6 16, Avera 3-5 0-0 9, Beetstra 1-6 1-1 3, Unger 0-0 0-0 0, Kanseyo 0-0 0-0 0, Taufahema 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-55 7-10 65.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (2-0)
Wooten 8-14 1-3 18, Streufert 1-2 0-0 2, Cavell 5-10 2-2 12, Colosimo 1-4 3-3 5, Long 4-8 0-0 9, Lizotte 6-8 2-2 19, Moffitt 1-5 5-6 7, Simpson 2-2 0-0 5, Boone 1-1 2-2 4, Khan 0-2 2-2 2, Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Van Dyken 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-56 17-20 83.
 
Azusa Pacific..........30...35..-...65
Seattle Pacific........28...55..-...83
 
 
3-point goals--APU 12-28 (McClain 4-8, Avera 3-5, Ferris 2-4, Worthy 2-7, Davis 1-1, Beetstra 0-3), SPU 8-16 (Lizotte 5-5, Long 1-1, Simpson 1-1, Wooten 1-3, Khan 0-2, Colosimo 0-2, Cavell 0-2). Fouled out--APU-None, SPU-None. Rebounds--APU 28 (Mawugbe 6), SPU 35 (Wooten 11). Assists--APU 11 (Ferris 5), SPU 17 (Lizotte 5). Total fouls--APU 20, SPU 15. Technical fouls--APU-None, SPU-None. A-343.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Thanksgiving Classic
Seattle Pacific vs. (#18) St. Cloud State
Friday, Nov. 23, 5:30 p.m. PST
Golden Gymnasium / San Diego, Calif.