• FINAL STATS   |   • VIDEO: NATHAN  STREUFERT
• PHOTO GALLERY

SEATTLE – Gavin Long and Nathan Streufert each scored 17 points and missed only one shot between them Saturday, leading the Seattle Pacific men to a 97-82 victory over Central Washington in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference basketball clash at Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Falcons (3-3) stopped a three-game losing streak to notch their first GNAC victory. Their league ledger leveled at 1-1 after an 87-86 setback on Thursday against Northwest Nazarene.
 
"I liked the way our guys responded to the tough loss on Thursday," said Coach Grant Leep. "With a short time of prep, our guys applied the things that we wanted to do. I was really proud of how they carried some things over from the scouting report into the game tonight."
 
SPU grabbed control early with a 12-4 surge to start the game. That lead grew to 64-49 five minutes into the second half before the Wildcats clawed their way back.
 
Jeryn Lucas tallied 13 of his 15 points during the second half for Central, including a 3-pointer with 4:22 remaining the closed the deficit to 83-76.
 
That is as close as the Wildcats would get as SPU staged a 6-1 run to repel that rally and then netted six straight points in the final 1:34 to secure the result.
 


Long converted all seven of his attempts and Streufert shot 8-for-9 from the floor. They paced a balanced attack that saw three other Falcons register double-digit points.
 
Freshman point guard Divant'e Moffitt collected a career-high 13 points, his first double-figure performance as a collegian. The product of Spanaway Lake (Wash.) High School also contributed two assists in 21 minutes of action.
 
"He's growing so much as a point guard. Divant'e does such a good job of attacking and getting into the paint," Leep described. "At times it looks like he's playing in slow motion and he just sees things develop at a different pace than other guys. He has such a good feel for how to play and he's got a lot of potential as a good basketball player on this team."

Also pitching in 13 points was senior forward Coleman Wooten, who was scoreless on Thursday. He grabbed a game-high nine rebounds to spark SPU's 36-28 lead on the boards.
 
Nikhil Lizotte added 12 points for his fourth consecutive outing in double digits.
 
SPU's shooting was stellar at a season-best 64 percent (36 of 56) while Central shot 44 percent (30 of 68).
 
"We'll take that. We didn't shoot it great from the three, but boy when we played and executed our offense so well, we didn't need to shoot threes at times," Leep said. "There were just points where we were getting a lot of open layups and other shots. Our guys capitalized and made them.
 
"Nate goes 8-for-9, Gavin goes a perfect 7-for-7, even Divant'e getting in the paint going 5-for-7.  We had guys that shot really high percentages tonight and did a really good job."
 
Gamaun Boykin scored 14 points for CWU, which also got 13 from Malik Montoya and 11 from Jackson Price.
 
The Wildcats (4-4) dropped to 0-2 in GNAC games.
 
In the first half, the Falcons built a 12-4 lead during the opening four minutes. They hit their first four shots and had two free throws on the first five offensive possessions.

 

Five different players accounted for SPU's first 10 points, and then Harry Cavell got his second basket.
 
The lead increased to a high of 16 points, at 49-33, on a layup by Streufert with 1:22 left in the period. That capped a 16-6 SPU spree.
 
Streufert completed the first-half scoring with a layup that provided a 51-38 advantage. The 6-foot-8 senior center made all five of his shots before intermission.
 
SPU shot 67 percent (20 of 30) in the first half while limiting the visitors to 38-percent accuracy (13 of 34).
 
All nine Falcons that participated had a basket in the opening 20 minutes.
 
"They are a together team. Boy, when that ball is moving around it's really fun to watch," Leep exclaimed of his Falcons. "Our spacing was much better than it's been in the past few games and I loved the way our guys moved the ball.
 
"When we move the ball like that is when we know we are playing our style. We had a number of possessions in which all five guys on the floor touched the ball and it ended up with either a layup or an open three that we were able to knock in."
 
The SPU men take a break from competition for final exams next week before visiting Concordia-Irvine on Dec. 18 at 2 p.m. for their final non-conference contest.
 
"We do have a long break, but there were a lot of positives that we can use from this game to build on. It also gives us some things to work on," said Leep. "We had nine turnovers in the second half, which we would obviously like to cut that number down. We gave up 14 offensive rebounds, which is just too many to be where we want to be.
 
"It's easier to learn things when you lose, so we have to take some of things that we were deficient at tonight and be able to apply that and be better at it even though we came away with a win."
 
The Falcons resume GNAC play on Jan. 3 in Bellingham against 15th-ranked Western Washington. Their next Brougham Pavilion home game is Jan 10 at 7 p.m. versus Alaska Fairbanks.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 97, Central Washington 82
 
CENTRAL WASHINGTON (4-4, 0-2 GNAC)
Cola 3-7 1-3 7, Lucas 6-11 0-0 15, Boykin 4-9 4-5 14, Montoya 2-9 9-11 13, Price 4-8 0-0 11, Austin 4-9 0-0 8, Poquette 3-8 0-0 6, Nelson 2-3 0-0 4, Hudson 2-3 0-1 4, Carr 0-1 0-0 0, Pope 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-68 14-20 82.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (3-3, 1-1 GNAC)
Wooten 4-10 4-7 13, Streufert 8-9 1-1 17, Cavell 3-5 2-2 8, Lizotte 3-7 6-6 12, Long 7-7 2-4 17, Moffitt 5-7 3-4 13, Boone 3-4 2-2 8, Khan 2-4 1-2 7, Simpson 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 36-56 21-28 97.
 
Central Washington......38...44..--..82
Seattle Pacific.........51...46..--..97
 
3-point goals--CWU 8-20 (Price 3-6, Lucas 3-6, Boykin 2-4, Austin 0-3, Montoya 0-1), SPU 4-14 (Khan 2-4, Wooten 1-3, Long 1-1, Lizotte 0-4, Cavell 0-2). Fouled out--CWU-Lucas, SPU-None. Rebounds--CWU 28 (Boykin 6), SPU 36 (Wooten 9). Assists--CWU 13 (Montoya, Price 4), SPU 16 (Lizotte 5). Total fouls--CWU 22, SPU 20. Technical fouls--CWU-None, SPU-None. A-527.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Seattle Pacific at Concordia-Irvine
Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2:00 p.m. PST
CU Arena / Irvine, Calif.