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THURSDAY, JANUARY 31
Simon Fraser at Seattle Pacific, 5:15 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2
Western Washington at Seattle Pacific, 4:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash. (HOMECOMING)
 
• Webcast for both games:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe1iS12FsEzoRas8fmcWzaA/live
• LiveStats for both games:  www.sidearmstats.com/spu/mbball
• Ticket Information:  http://siteline.vendini.com/site/spufalcons.com
 
Seeking to stop a three-game losing streak, Seattle Pacific begins the second swing through the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball schedule with two home games this week. The fourth-place Falcons (9-6, 6-4 GNAC) entertain Simon Fraser on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 5:15 p.m. in the opener of a Brougham Pavilion doubleheader with the women. The Clan (9-9, 3-7) leads the GNAC in both assists per game (17.0) and steals (8.2). On Saturday, Feb. 2 SPU conducts its annual Homecoming festivities, featuring a men's basketball game against Western Washington at 4 p.m. The Vikings (11-9, 5-5) are the league leaders with 89 blocked shots (4.5 bpg), 26 more than any other GNAC team.
 
Notable
Senior Coleman Wooten needs 24 rebounds to become the 14th Falcon to reach the 600-board milestone. He then will be the ninth Falcon in history to compile both 1,000 points and 600 rebounds.

 

1,000-Point Club
SPU senior Coleman Wooten netted his 1,000th career point on Saturday (Jan. 26) in Billings to become the 36th Falcon to reach that scoring milestone. He currently ranks 33rd among all-time SPU players with 1,006 points. The 6-foot-5 forward was named GNAC Player of the Week on Nov. 19, 2018. Wooten collected double-figure rebounds five times this season while leading the team with 7.7 boards per game. He has three double-doubles. Wooten was recognized as a second-team All-GNAC performer last year after being an honorable mention selection in 2017. On Jan. 17, 2017 Wooten erupted for a career-high 35 points at Saint Martin's. He has 16 career games of 20 points or more, 13 double-doubles and 20 double-digit rebounds games.
 
Sharp Shooters
The SPU men rank No. 26 nationally in field goal accuracy at 49.3 percent (431 of 875) as a team, reaching the 50-percent mark eight times in 15 contests. The Falcons held all but two foes under 50-percent and won all eight games when shooting 50 percent themselves. SPU hit an astounding 64.3-percent of its attempts (36 of 56) in the Dec. 1 home win over Central Washington and shot 61.2 percent (30 of 49) at Simon Fraser on Jan. 5. Five Falcons are making as many or more shots than they miss, led by the 62-percent accuracy (54 of 87) of Nathan Streufert. SPU's best 3-point shooter is Sam Simpson at 46 percent (21 of 46). Six players are converting free throws at better than an 80-percent clip, topped by the 87.0 percent accuracy of Harry Cavell (20 of 23).
 
Falcons Fast Facts
On Saturday (Dec. 26), Nikhil Lizotte became the first Falcon with a 20-point game this season, scoring 23 at Billings ... SPU leads the GNAC in rebound margin, hauling in 5.5 more boards per game than opponents ... The Falcons finished with a 3-2 record in non-league games, a schedule abbreviated by the absence of two season-opening contests in Chico, Calif. that were cancelled due to a wildfire.
 
Recent Recap
A buzzer-beating put-back by Nathan Strueufert lifted SPU to its seventh straight win: 80-78 at Concordia (Jan. 17). The Falcons lost their next three games, at Western Oregon (73-71), No. 16 Saint Martin's (80-63) and MSU Billings (92-63).
 
Scouting Simon Fraser (9-9, 3-7 GNAC)
> The Clan won two of their last three outings, tripling their GNAC win total.
 
> Julian Roche leads four SFU double-digit scorers with 14.9 points per game. Othniel Spence averages 14.3 points, Wilfried Balata 13.6 and Michael Provenzano 10.9.
 
> The Falcons own an 18-3 lead in the all-time series. They won the first 13 matchups with Simon Fraser before losing 84-83 on Feb. 7, 2015 in Seattle.
 
> The teams split two meetings last season with the Falcons winning the last encounter in Seattle, 98-93, in overtime on Dec. 30, 2017.  The Falcons forced overtime by outscoring the visitors 11-2 over the final 3:23 of regulation. Simon Fraser won the rematch, 81-80, on Jan. 25, 2018 in Burnaby. Seattle Pacific was a 94-66 victor in this season's first matchup, on Jan. 5, 2019 in Burnaby, B.C. Gavin Long paced six Falcons double-digit scorers with 17 points.
 
Scouting Western Washington (11-9, 5-5 GNAC
> The Vikings lost two of their last three games, scoring under 73 points in all of them.
 
> Trevor Jasinsky tops two WWU double-figure scorers with a 19.6-point average that is second among GNAC players. Luke Lovelady averages 10.3 points per game.
 
> The Falcons won the last two meetings, both of them in Bellingham. They were 92-88 victors on Jan. 27, 2018 and won 86-72 on Jan. 3, 2019.
 
> The Vikings were victorious in their last two visits to SPU's Brougham Pavilion.
 
> SPU owns an 85-55 series advantage despite losing three of the last five matchups.
 
Gavin the Great
Gavin Long leads the Falcons with a 13.5-point scoring average. The 6-foot-5 junior guard has been SPU's top scorer six times this year with a trio of 19-point performances. Long was a 2018 honorable mention All-GNAC selection. He is SPU's top returning scorer with an 11.9-point average. Long netted a career-high 26 points at Simon Fraser on Jan. 25, 2018, the top scoring game by a Falcon last season. Last year Long ranked second on the team in blocked shots (15) and third in both field goal accuracy (52.4%) and assists (53).
 
Super Students
Six student-athletes from this year's SPU team were 2018 All-GNAC Academic honorees, led by Sam Simpson with a 3.87 grade point in biochemistry. Nathan Streufert boasts a 3.76 GPA in physiology. The other academic all-stars are: Gabe Colosimo (3.49, psychology), Gavin Long (3.41, physiology), Conner Van Dyken (3.31, health) and Coleman Wooten (3.50, accounting).
 
Balanced Attack
Four starters average double-figure points for the Falcons, who share the ball so much that only one player has registered a 20-point performance this season (Nikhil Lizotte, 23 points on Jan. 26). Nearly 47 percent of SPU's baskets (202 of 431) were set up by teammates and six players have been credited with at least 20 assists. Five different Falcons served as the scoring leader for games this season and eight players topped the team in assists.
 
Hot Lizotte
Senior Nikhil Lizotte started the second half of the Nov. 17 game with SPU trailing 30-28. He erupted for 19 points and hit 5-of-5 treys with four assists in 15 minutes to spark the win over Azusa Pacific. Lizotte led all SPU scorers on five occasions this season. He converts free throws at an 85.4-percent clip (35 of 41) and compiled a string of 21 consecutive charity shots that ended on Jan. 17. Lizotte transferred to SPU from Humboldt State where he started all 29 games in 2016-17. The 5-foot-9 guard led the Lumberjacks in 3-pointers (75) and was second in scoring (13.8 ppg). Lizotte is a graduate of Davis High School in Yakima, Wash.

 

Carom Collector
Senior Nathan Streufert led SPU last season with 7.4 rebounds per game. On Feb. 1, 2018 versus Alaska Anchorage, he out-rebounded the rest of his teammates by a 17-14 margin. Streufert collected a season-high 15 caroms on Jan. 22 at Saint Martin's. His father, Earl Streufert, is the boy's basketball coach at Richland (Wash.) High School.
 
2019 Season Preview
All five starters return from last season's 17-12 team, including the Falcons top-five point producers. Heading the list of returnees is senior forward Coleman Wooten, a second-team All-GNAC selection in 2018 after averaging 11.0 points and 7.0 rebounds. Junior guard Gavin Long was an honorable mention all-league pick who averaged 11.9 points. That standout tandem is joined by three other returning starters; seniors Nikhil Lizotte and Nathan Streufert along with junior Gabe Colosimo. "This is the first time in my three years that we've had a really good mix of returning, experienced veterans, but then also some talented young players behind them," said third-year coach Grant Leep. Athletic sophomore Harry Cavell is back after drawing 10 starts in 2018. Two veteran returnees are back from injuries that sidelined them the majority of last year. Senior Sam Simpson is a stat sheet stuffer while sophomore Sharif Khan is a stellar sharpshooter. The lineup is bolstered by the addition of talented newcomers Sam Boone, a junior transfer from Lamar CC, and freshman Divant'e Moffitt.
 
Coach Leep
Grant Leep, 38, is in his third season directing the SPU men's basketball program after seven years as an assistant on the Falcons staff. He has a 38-34 career record. Leep coached the 2018 team to a 17-12 record, including an 11-9 GNAC mark. He has strong basketball ties throughout the Northwest as an All-America player at Mount Vernon (Wash.) High School before lettering four years at Washington. Leep still owns the Huskies 3-point accuracy records for a season (52.7% in 2002) and career (42.9%). His coaching resumé includes stops at Eastern Washington and a pair of community colleges. SPU had a 165-51 (.764) record during his time as an assistant.
 
GNAC Report
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference is deep with quality teams. No GNAC teams are undefeated, nor are any winless. SPU is in a two-way tie for fourth place with Alaska Anchorage. The league is loaded this season with seven teams boasting winning overall records, two sitting at .500 and just two teams sporting losing ledgers. SPU is in pursuit of its sixth GNAC regular-season championship, but its first since 2014.
 
Opening Weekend Cancelled
The Falcons were scheduled to start the 2018-19 season at the Mac Martin Invitational in Chico, California on Nov. 9 and 10. The team arrived in Chico on Nov. 8, but returned home that night due to the "Camp" wildfire. The tournament was cancelled and the games will not be made up.
 
2018 Season Review
The Falcons finished the 2017-18 season with a 17-12 record, tying for fourth in the standings at 11-9. They beat host Alaska Anchorage in the GNAC Tournament first round before a semifinal loss to Western Oregon. Coleman Wooten earned second-team All-GNAC honors and Gavin Long was honorable mention.
 
Postseason Pursuit
SPU seeks to return to the NCAA Division II Tournament after a two-year absence. Prior to that, the Falcons forged a run of 12 straight playoff berths, from 2005-2016, that was the longest active streak among Division II men's basketball teams. SPU advanced to the national semifinals in both 2000 and 2006, placing third both times.
 
Next Week
The SPU men embark on their annual trek north to Alaska for a pair of games. They play at Anchorage on Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. Pacific Time before visiting Fairbanks on Feb. 9 at 3 p.m. PST.