• FINAL STATS

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Garrett Baggett scored seven of his game-high 23 points during the final four minutes Saturday to help Cal State San Bernardino turn back a late Seattle Pacific rally for a 79-72 win on the final day of the Thanksgiving Classic men's basketball tournament in Point Loma's Golden Gymnasium.
 
SPU (2-2) suffered its second straight setback, following Friday's 77-69 loss against 16th-ranked St. Cloud State.
 
The Falcons never led and faced double-digit deficits in each half Saturday, rallying to tie in the first and close within two in the second. They scored eight straight points midway through the second half and three times had a chance to tie or go ahead, but hit a dry spell with seven scoreless possessions.
 
San Bernardino converted 8 of 10 free throws in the final 1:14 to secure the result.
 
Baggett twice responded with a pair of free throws, with 28 and 19 seconds left to play, when points by SPU's Nikhil Lizotte closed the gap to four.

Lizotte led the Falcons with 17 points and Gavin Long added 12. Coleman Wooten, who has double-figure rebounds every game, grabbed 11 to go along with nine points.
 
Baggett made all nine of his free throws and also contributed five assists and five rebounds for the Coyotes (3-2).
 
Naradain James tallied 21 points for CSUSB, Daytone Jennings had 16 and Andres Villa 14. Jennings collected eight caroms to lead the Coyotes 41-35 edge on the boards.
 
San Bernardino shot 47 percent (28 of 60) while holding the Falcons at 40 percent (23 of 57). SPU made 10 treys in 32 attempts.
 
"This team has some very good shooters and I'm excited for the way that we shoot in practice to translate into how we shoot in a game," said third-year SPU coach Grant Leep. "Until then we just need to make sure that we're taking the right ones. There were a few instances tonight where we got a few paint touches, the ball moved and touched multiple people and we found good shots and just didn't knock them in.
 
"It's really important, especially for the quality of shooters that we have, to have a short memory when you miss one that's open and being ready to knock in the next one. There were some times tonight where we passed up some pretty good ones because we had missed the previous one before."
 
In the first half, Harry Cavell netted SPU's first seven points, capped by a tip-in that tied the score 7-7.
 
CSUSB then went on a 10-2 run that initiated a longer 17-7 spree that capitalized on the Falcons coming up empty on five straight possessions. They were whistled for traveling on three consecutive trips down the floor and missed two shots.
 
Villa capped that stretch with a hook shot and then two free throws, providing a 24-14 lead with 7:17 left in the half.
 
"In the first half they did a really good job off disrupting our rhythm on offense. So much of offense is playing in rhythm," Leep said. "We kind of backed down from it and in the second half we really challenged them to just start playing with more pace and kind of get into more flow type things. Our guys did a really good job of responding and we battled back from a couple deficits."
 
SPU scored the next eight points, five of them from Lizotte, to draw within two. Soon after, Sam Boone drained a pair of free throws with 4:05 showing on the clock to level the score, 26-26.
 
San Bernardino proceeded to construct another double-digit advantage, compiling a 15-4 run to go up 41-30.

 

Lizotte hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to bring the Falcons within 41-33 at intermission.
 
He started the second half with a trey for SPU, which later reeled off eight unanswered points to move within 48-46 on a layup by freshman Divant'e Moffitt with 12:42 remaining.
 
The Falcons defense enabled that run by not surrendering a point for nine consecutive possessions, forcing six turnovers and four misses during that span.
 
James ended his team's seven-minute drought with a put-back of his own errant shot at 8:15, igniting a run of six straight points that put the Coyotes in control for good.
 
For the second night in a row, the Falcons committed 16 turnovers. CSUSB parlayed those miscues into 25 points.
 
"Our rallying cry at halftime was to get back to being us, getting some stops, holding them to one shot and then executing on the other end," Leep explained. "With the quality of teams that we're playing in the non-conference, if we're going to give up that many possessions it becomes really hard."
 
Seattle Pacific returns home to host their Great Northwest Athletic Conference openers next week. They play the 7:30 p.m. nightcap in a pair of Brougham Pavilion doubleheaders with the SPU women.
 
The Falcons men face Northwest Nazarene on Thursday and Central Washington on Saturday.
 
"Our league is an absolute grinder," Leep said. "We open with an NNU team that beat Idaho and hasn't lost yet and a very good Central team that is playing really well. Especially in our conference, which is the best in the region, there are just no off nights. You have to be ready to play every night.
 
"Getting off to a great start in conference play, especially going into the break with some positive momentum to carry you through, is really important."
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thanksgiving Classic
Saturday, Nov. 24, 2018
Golden Gymnasium / San Diego, Calif.
 
Cal State San Bernardino 79, Seattle Pacific 72
 
CAL STATE SAN BERNARDINO (3-2)
James 9-12 2-3 21, D. Williams 2-5 0-0 4, Henderson 0-3 1-2 1, Baggett 6-16 9-9 23, Green 0-1 0-0 0, Jennings 5-15 6-10 16, Villa 6-8 2-2 14, C. Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Udo-Ema 0-0 0-0 0, Nelson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-60 20-26 79.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (2-2)
Lizotte 6-14 2-2 17, Long 4-9 3-4 12, Cavell 3-10 2-2 9, Wooten 3-6 1-2 9, Streufert 3-4 2-6 8, Simpson 2-3 0-0 6, Moffitt 1-5 3-4 5, Khan 1-5 0-1 3, Boone 0-1 3-5 3. Totals 23-57 16-26 72.
 
Cal State San Bernardino......41...38..--..79
Seattle Pacific...............33...39..--..72
 
3-point goals--CSUSB 3-11 (Baggett 2-8, James 1-1, Henderson 0-2), SPU 10-32 (Lizotte 3-8, Wooten 2-4, Simpson 2-3, Khan 1-5, Long,Gavin 1-4, Cavell 1-7, Moffitt 0-1). Fouled out--CSUSB-D. Williams, SPU-Long. Rebounds--CSUSB 41 (Jennings 8), SPU 35 (Wooten 11). Assists--CSUSB 10 (Baggett 5), SPU 12 (Khan 4). Total fouls--CSUSB 24, SPU 24. Technical fouls--CSUSB-None, SPU-None. A-185.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Nov. 29, 7:30 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.