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LACEY, Wash. – Luke Chavez compiled 26 of his 31 points after halftime Tuesday, including eight during overtime of an 80-76 Saint Martin's win over Seattle Pacific in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball clash at Marcus Pavilion.
 
Chavez tallied eight straight SMU points in the extra session. His 3-pointer with 1:38 on the clock put the hosts ahead for good, 76-73. Chavez converted one of two free throws on each of the next three Saints possessions and EJ Boyce sealed the result on a free throw with 4.5 seconds remaining.
 
Coleman Wooten collected 22 points to pace the Falcons (14-10), who dropped to 9-8 in league play to fall out of fourth place.
 
Nathan Streufert posted his team-leading fourth double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds for SPU, which also got 15 points from Nikhil Lizotte and 11 from Harry Cavell.
 
Saint Martin's (19-6) improved to 12-5 in GNAC games to solidify its third-place position. SMU won its fifth straight over the Falcons, including an 80-73 decision on Jan. 16 in Seattle in which Chavez tallied 27 points.
 
Chavez hit 9 of 17 shots from the field Tuesday, headlined by 4-for-6 accuracy on 3-pointers, and distributed six assists. He was limited to only three shots and five points in the first half.
 
"That was probably as good of a defensive half as we've had all year," said SPU coach Grant Leep. "In the second half Chavez got one or two clean looks off of breakdowns and then after that he just got it going. He is a good player and he just made some shots.
 
"We did a really good job on most of the other guys, but Chavez just got it rolling and was able to make some shots tonight to keep them in it and then finish the game off."
 
The Saints Matt Dahlen had a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double before fouling out with 1:06 left in regulation.
 
SPU's Cavell forced the overtime by sinking the second of two free throws with 37.9 seconds left in regulation, evening the score at 69-69. The Saints had two attempts at a game-winner, but Chavez missed a mid-range jumper and a long 3-pointer.
 
The Falcons rebounded and raced to the other end, but Gabe Colosimo's trey at the second-half buzzer was wide right.
 
SMU shot 43.9 percent from the field (29 of 66) for the game, nearly matching the Falcons 44.1-percent accuracy (30 of 68). The free throw line favored the hosts, who drained 16 of 23 while SPU missed 11 of 10 free throw attempts and four of those came in the last 2:32 of regulation.
 
The four-point final margin equaled the largest lead of the game for the Saints, who trailed by as many as 12 points during the second half.
 
Six of the first seven shots fell for the Falcons coming out of halftime, enabling them to build a 45-35 lead.
 
Chavez kept the Saints close, scoring 11 straight points for his team, the last two igniting a six-point run the trimmed the deficit to 51-48.

 

SPU surged to a 62-54 lead on a three-point play by Wooten with 4:46 remaining. Chavez then scored on back-to-back layups to start a 13-3 surge that sent SMU to its first lead, 67-65, since the 9:57 mark of the first half.
 
The grinding first half featured seven lead changes, the last coming midway through the period after the Saints led 17-15 on a layup by Jared Mathews with 9:57 showing on the clock. They would go scoreless for the next 4-minutes, 27-seconds, missing three shots with two turnovers during that span until Michael Painter banked in a shot from the lane with 5:30 left in the half.
 
SPU capitalized on the strength of eight unanswered points to forge a 23-17 margin. Lizotte provided the largest first-half lead, 33-24, by banking in a 3-pointer from out top at the end of the shot clock with 50 seconds remaining. That lead was short-lived as Boyce answered with a trey of his own with 18.6 left to set the halftime score at 33-27 in favor of the Falcons.
 
Lizotte made all three of his first-half trey tries en route to an 11-point period. He saw some time at the point guard position as an injury kept the usual backup, freshman Braden Olsen, off the court for the first time all season.
 
"Being without Braden tonight we knew that we needed a good game from Nikhil. To his credit he really stepped up and he delivered that," Leep said. "He made some big shots, did a great job scoring the ball and found a rhythm for himself and keeping us into some good stuff. We were very pleased with how Nikhil played, he did a great job defensively as well."
 
Both teams shot around 40 percent in the first period, the difference coming beyond the 3-point arc. Each squad tried eight treys with SPU hitting six and the Saints just two.
 
The Falcons made only 1 of 10 treys after halftime. They utilized an eight-man rotation, forcing Wooten to accumulate 41 minutes. Streufert and Gavin Long each played 36 minutes and Cavell 35.
 
"We have to be able to move past this, learn the lessons from it of course, but move past it and be ready to go for these last three," said Leep. "The areas that we're falling short we really feel are things that we can correct and we can control."
 
The SPU men close out the road portion of their schedule on Saturday at Montana State Billings. Tip-off is at 4:15 p.m. Pacific Time (5:15 MST).
 
They conclude the regular season with two 7:30 p.m. home games next week in Brougham Pavilion, entertaining Central Washington on Feb. 22 and Northwest Nazarene on Feb. 24.
 
"We're going to be prepared, I know that. Our guys are resilient and they'll be ready to go," Leep projected. "This is a really big stretch for us with the position that we're in with the conference standings trying to secure a spot in that top six."
 
Six teams will qualify for the GNAC Tournament, slated for March 1-3 in Anchorage, Alaska. At 9-8 the Falcons are in fifth place, one-half game ahead of 8-8 teams from Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks who have each played one fewer game.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018
Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.
 
at Saint Martin's 80, Seattle Pacific 76 (ot)
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (14-10, 9-8 GNAC)
Wooten 9-12 4-10 22, Streufert 6-11 2-4 15, Cavell 4-9 2-4 11, Colosimo 2-10 0-0 5, Long 1-7 1-2 3, Lizotte 6-11 0-0 15, Miller 1-4 0-0 2, Eisenhower 1-4 0-0 3. Totals 30-68 9-20 76.
 
SAINT MARTIN'S (19-6, 12-5 GNAC)

Kitchen 3-7 0-0 6, Dahlen 6-11 0-2 12, Chavez 9-17 9-12 31, Baerlocher 0-4 2-2 2, Boyce 3-12 1-2 9, Mathews 4-5 1-1 9, Standley 0-5 2-2 2, Henderson 3-3 1-2 7, Painter 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 29-66 16-23 80.

Seattle Pacific...............   33   36    7   -   76
Saint Martin's................   27   42   11   -   80
 

3-point goals--SPU 7-18 (Lizotte 3-4, Streufert 1-1, Cavell 1-2, Eisenhower 1-4, Colosimo 1-5, Wooten 0-1, Miller 0-1), SMU 6-19 (Chavez 4-6, Boyce 2-7, Painter 0-1, Kitchen 0-1, Baerlocher 0-2, Standley 0-2). Fouled out--SPU-None, SMU-Dahlen, Baerlocher. Rebounds--SPU 38 (Streufert 10), SMU 44 (Dahlen 10). Assists--SPU 18 (Colosimo 6), SMU 12 (Chavez 6). Total fouls--SPU 18, SMU 21. Technical fouls--SPU-None, SMU-None. A-506.

 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Seattle Pacific at Montana State Billings
Saturday, Feb. 17, 4:15 p.m. PST
Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.