• FINAL STATS   |   • VIDEO: DIVANT'E MOFFITT
• PHOTO GALLERY

SEATTLE – Nikhil Lizotte led five double-figure scorers with 15 points Thursday for Seattle Pacific, which stretched its winning streak to five games with a 79-62 Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball victory over Alaska Fairbanks at Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Falcons (7-3) improved to 4-1 in league play, one of four teams atop the GNAC standings with one loss. They made more than half of their shots for the fifth game in a row after sub-.500 shooting efforts in the previous three contests.
 
"Our guys are starting to settle in and there is a good flow to our offense right now," third-year SPU coach Grant Leep explained. "We've had multiple possessions this year where all five guys are touching the ball. There is just something to that, when you are involved in the offense and you're getting a touch on the ball it just enables you to get easier shots."
 
SPU hit 53 percent of its shots from the field (32 of 60), a figure impeded by its 5-for-25 struggles from 3-point range. Inside the arc, the hosts boasted amazing 77-percent accuracy on 27 of 35 shooting.
 
"I loved the balance that we had again with five guys in double figures and another guy with eight points. It just shows the diversity of scoring that this team has," Leep said. "The efficiency we had inside the 3-point line was pretty remarkable tonight. Our guys did a good job finishing plays in the paint."
 
A 15-4 run midway through the first half put the Falcons in control and they extended that margin to as many as 19 points during the second half to cruise to the easy win.


 
Lizotte accounted for three of his team's five treys. The 5-foot-9 senior guard also contributed a career-high seven rebounds to lead the team and distributed a game-high four assists.
 
Gavin Long and Sam Simpson each chipped in 14 points for the Falcons, who got 11-point performances from both Divant'e Moffitt and Nathan Streufert.
 
Fairbanks (4-8) fell to 1-4 in GNAC games.
 
Tymoryae Glover amassed 15 of his team-high 17 points during the second half for UAF. Alex Baham tallied 15 points and Spencer Sweet had 10.
 
Michael Kluting, a 6-7 forward, entered the game with a team-leading 14.3-point scoring average for Fairbanks. He was limited to two points.
 
"Nate Streufert didn't dominate the stat sheet by any means, but he was extremely efficient and played one of the better games that he's played this year," Leep said. "Defensively he did a good job in his matchup against Michael Kluting, who has been having a terrific and highly efficient season, and Nate controlled him."
 
The Nanooks were held to 39 percent shooting (21 of 54) and committed 12 turnovers to just five for SPU.

 

The game's first six points were scored by the Falcons, on a tip-in by Streufert and layups by Harry Cavell and Lizotte.
 
The early deficit forced first-year Fairbanks coach Greg Sparling to call a timeout just two minutes into the contest after his team had two turnovers and two missed shots in its opening four possessions.
 
The Nanooks responded to his instruction, hitting their next four shots to surge into a 9-7 lead. Sweet keyed the run with five points.
 
The lead soon swung back for good to SPU, which went on a 15-4 spree that was sparked by a defense that forced seven straight errant shots. By the time Simpson made a layup with 7:14 left in the first half, the Falcons led 21-13.
 
A pair of free throws from Sweet drew UAF within 28-23 before heroics by Moffitt stretched the margin. The Falcons' 6-foot-2 freshman point guard threw down a dunk in traffic after driving down the lane.
 
On SPU's next possession, Moffitt slipped a nifty back-door pass to Simpson for an easy layup the provided a 32-23 advantage.
 
"Divant'e did a nice job of changing the pace of the game a little bit when he came in," Leep described. "We defended, so that it just afforded us some transition opportunities to get out and run. Divant'e really excels in transition and his presence allows us to put Nikhil off the ball some."
 
Following two Fairbanks free throws, Streufert made a layup with 2.1 seconds showing on the clock to provide a 35-24 halftime lead for SPU.
 
Despite making only 1 of 10 attempts from 3-point range the Falcons shot 52 percent in the opening period. They hit 14 of 19 shots inside the arc.
 
"We had some really good looks that didn't go, but we have some good shooters on this team," Leep said of his team's long distance shooting.
 
The coach knows a thing or two about shot making. He played at Washington from 1999 through 2002 and is still the Huskies' school record holder for career (42.9%) and single-season (52.7% in 2002) 3-point accuracy.
 
"Maybe it's just my old mentality from my playing days when I was a shooter myself. But man, if your feet are set, it's within the flow of the offense and you are open, let it go. As long it's the right shots from the right people, we'll keep taking them because I have trust in our shooters that they're going to knock them in. We'll shoot better than this going forward."
 
Fairbanks went on a 6-3 run after intermission to trim the deficit to 37-31, but that is as close as the visitors would come. The Falcons steadily built on the lead, led by Lizotte's 13 second-half points.
 
The SPU men finish out their brief, two-game homestand on Saturday afternoon against Alaska Anchorage. Tip-off is 4 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Seawolves were victorious in each of their last two visits to Seattle, including a 67-62 win last season. UAA (7-6, 2-3 GNAC) lost 70-68 at Saint Martin's on Thursday.
 
"Coach (Rusty) Osborne does such a great job getting his kids to play hard," Leep said. "That's one of the most difficult things to do in this game is making sure your guys play hard all the time. They always do that.
 
"Anchorage always defends and they do a very good job on offense. They are very hard to prepare for and, on short rest especially, we've got to have a very good day of prep tomorrow so that we can be read to go on Saturday."
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 79, Alaska Fairbanks 62
 
ALASKA FAIRBANKS (4-8, 1-4 GNAC)
Baham 4-10 5-8 15, Daugharty 0-2 0-0 0, Kluting 1-5 0-0 2, McCullough 1-3 1-2 3, Sweet 3-8 2-3 10, Glover 7-10 3-7 17, Martin 2-5 5-5 9, Easaw 1-4 0-0 2, Lootens 1-4 0-0 2, Morrow 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 21-54 16-25 62.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (7-3, 4-1 GNAC)
Cavell 2-8 0-0 4, Streufert 5-6 1-7 11, Long 5-6 3-4 14, Wooten 4-9 0-1 8, Lizotte 6-12 0-0 15, Simpson 5-7 3-4 14, Moffitt 5-7 1-1 11, Khan 0-3 2-2 2, Van Dyken 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 32-60 10-19 79.
 
Alaska Fairbanks......25...37..--..62
Seattle Pacific.......34...45..--..79
 
3-point goals--UAF 4-17 (Baham 2-6, Sweet 2-4, McCullough 0-1, Easaw 0-1, Lootens 0-2, Morrow 0-2, Martin 0-1), SPU 5-25 (Lizotte 3-8, Long 1-2, Simpson 1-3, Wooten 0-3, Cavell 0-4, Khan 0-3, Van Dyken 0-2). Fouled out--UAF-Martin, SPU-None. Rebounds--UAF 37 (Glover 8), SPU 30 (Lizotte 7). Assists--UAF 5 (Baham 3), SPU 16 (Lizotte 4). Total fouls--UAF 18, SPU 20. Technical fouls--UAF-None, SPU-None. A-543.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Jan. 12, 4:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.