• FINAL STATS

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Sean Smith tallied 17 of his 25 points in the second half Friday for 16th-ranked St. Cloud State, which scored the first 11 points after halftime en route to a 77-69 men's basketball victory over Seattle Pacific in the first round of the Thanksgiving Classic at Point Loma's Golden Gymnasium.
 
The Falcons (2-1) fell for the first time this season despite leading by as many as seven points during the first half.
 
They closed within one point on three occasions inside the final six minutes, the last time on two free throws by Gavin Long. That trimmed the deficit to 60-59 with 3:48 remaining.
 
"That was just a testament of getting back into the rhythm and the game flow. We did a good job of taking care of the ball in that stretch," SPU coach Grant Leep described.
 
"We weren't turning it over at that time so we were able to execute our offense and finding good stuff whether they were man or zone. We showed stretches of being able to do that, but we just have to be able to string that together for longer periods."
 
The Huskies (4-1) went on an eight-point spree, getting the last four points in that span from the free throw line. Their last 13 points of the game came on charity shots as they made 13 of 16 during the final 2:12 to secure the win.
 
SPU got late 3-pointers from Sharif Khan and Nikhil Lizotte, but St. Cloud responded each time with a two free throws to repel the rally.
 
Long, a junior guard, compiled 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting from the floor to lead the Falcons.

 

Coleman Wooten posted his second straight double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. The SPU senior forward was honored as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Week on Monday.
 
"He just battles and competes every night. We know that we're going to get a great effort from Coleman," exclaimed Leep. "He's so strong and physical and gets all over the glass, getting to rebounding positions.
 
"It wasn't his best shooting night tonight, but he still finds a way to hustle and scrap and play hard enough to find that double-double."
 
Two other Falcons reached double digits in points, Nathan Streufert with 12 and Lizotte with 10.
 
Smith had eight points at halftime for St. Cloud but erupted for seven in the first four minutes of the second half. For the game, he hit 9 of 15 shots, converted 7 of 7 free throws and blocked six shots.
 
Gage Davis and Trevon Marshall each contributed 13 points for the Huskies and Jace Kitchen added 12.
 
Seattle Pacific was scoreless for the opening 3:50 of the second half, missing four shots while committing four turnovers. That drought enabled the Huskies to build a 40-33 lead with 11 consecutive points.
 
"We came out after halftime and didn't execute as well as we have all year long," Leep said. "St. Cloud did a great job, they kept mixing up zone and man defenses. We have to be able to diagnose that stuff faster and get into something to attack them with a little big more urgency. We just didn't do a very good job of that tonight.
 
"The biggest thing that compounded that is that we turned the ball over too much. We just got a little bit careless with the ball, but the problem was it led directly to baskets for them. It's hard to get into a rhythm when they are taking it from you and going down directly and getting baskets and that's what happened during that stretch."
 
Eleven of SPU's 16 turnovers occurred during the second half.
 
After Streufert got the Falcons' first points after halftime, on a layup at 16:10, St. Cloud scored six straight to stretch its lead to 46-35 with 15:24 left to play.
 
SPU steadily chipped away at the deficit and utilized a seven-point surge to draw within 56-55 with 5:38 left to play. As they did the other two times the lead was cut to one, the Huskies answered with points and never relinquished the lead.
 
St. Cloud shot 47 percent from the field (27 of 57) and the Falcons checked in a 42 percent (28 of 67).
 
Free throws proved pivotal for the Huskies who did not make a trip to the line in the first half. They made 20 of 25 free throws in the second, gaining a 13-point surplus from the line over SPU which sank 7 of 8 for the game.
 
In the first half, SPU opened an early 13-8 lead with a seven-point run, capped by Lizotte's three-point play with 14:24 left in the first half.
 
The next eight points were tallied by the Huskies, who forged their largest first-half lead. When Smith scored on a contested drive to the basket he put them up 16-13 with 11:20 remaining in the period.
 
The game swung again with an eight-point run for the Falcons, beginning with a drive along the left baseline and spinning hook finish by Wooten. Divant'e Moffitt followed with a jumper in the lane and Long finished the run with four points on two free throws and a layup. That provided a 21-16 SPU advantage with 8:05 until halftime.
 
The Falcons increased the lead to a high of seven points, at 31-24, before settling for a 33-29 edge at intermission. That was the lowest first-half point total of the season for St. Cloud, which never netted less than 36 in previous games.

 

"Our guys did a great job with their attention to detail of the scouting report in the first half," Leep said. "We knew that the majority of their offensive rebounds came from one guy (Davis) and he had zero of them in the first half. The majority of their 3-point makes came from one guy (Brindley Thiesen) and he didn't have any in the first half.
 
"I thought we guarded the 3-point line a lot better than we showed last weekend. But we just have to be able to put it all together, both the execution and the defensive stuff."
 
The SPU men complete Thanksgiving Classic play on Saturday night against Cal State San Bernardino. Tip-off is 5:30 p.m.
 
The next home game for the Falcons is Nov. 29 at 7:30 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion. They start GNAC play against Northwest Nazarene.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thanksgiving Classic
Friday, Nov. 23, 2018
Golden Gymnasium / San Diego, Calif.
 
(#16) St. Cloud State 77, Seattle Pacific 69
 
ST. CLOUD STATE (4-1)
Smith 9-15 7-7 25, Marshall 5-8 3-4 13, Theisen 3-6 0-0 8, Davis 4-12 5-6 13, Onwuka 2-6 0-0 4, Kitchen 3-8 5-8 12, Schuemer 1-2 0-0 2, Heede-Andersen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-57 20-25 77.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (2-1)
Wooten 6-15 0-0 13, Streufert 6-11 0-0 12, Cavell 2-5 0-0 5, Lizotte 4-11 1-1 10, Long 7-14 4-5 19, Moffitt 2-3 0-0 5, Khan 1-4 0-0 3, Simpson 0-4 2-2 2, Boone 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-67 7-8 69.
 
St. Cloud State........29...48..--..77
Seattle Pacific........33...36..--..69
 
3-point goals--SCS 3-15 (Theisen 2-4, Kitchen 1-4, Onwuka 0-3, Schuemer 0-1, Davis 0-1, Smith 0-2), SPU 6-24 (Khan 1-3, Moffitt 1-1, Long 1-3, Cavell 1-3, Lizotte 1-6, Wooten 1-5, Simpson 0-2, Streufert 0-1). Fouled out--SCS-None, SPU-Simpson. Rebounds--SCS 32 (Smith 7), SPU 39 (Wooten 10). Assists--SCS 7 (Davis 3), SPU 11 (Long, Cavell 3). Total fouls--SCS 15, SPU 18. Technical fouls--SCS-None, SPU-None. A-157.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Thanksgiving Classic
Seattle Pacific vs. Cal State San Bernardino
Saturday, Nov. 24, 5:30 p.m. PST
Golden Gymnasium / San Diego, Calif.