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SEATTLE – Ty Davis compiled a game-high 22 points and five assists Tuesday afternoon for Stanislaus State which built a big halftime lead before turning back a pair of Seattle Pacific rallies to claim a 75-71 non-conference men's basketball win.
 
A starting guard, Davis hit 6 of 13 shots from the field, including 2-for-3 accuracy on 3-pointers. He converted all eight of his free throws and also contributed six rebounds and three steals.
 
The difference in an otherwise even game came at the free throw line where the Warriors (3-0) shot 19-for-22 in contrast to SPU making good on just 12 of 19 attempts from the stripe.
 
"We've shown that we are a very good free throw shooting team in practice, we need that to carry over. We're a better free throw shooting team than what we showed tonight," said Grant Leep, who begins his third season as head coach of the Falcons.
 
"Offensively, we did a pretty good job of executing some things and getting to the front of the rim, but missing the layup."
 
The Falcons (0-3) remained winless on the young season, but not for lack of effort. They rallied from a 14-point second half deficit to draw within one point in the contest on Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion.
 
Scoring Leaders
 

Divante's Moffitt tallied 14 points to lead SPU, which also got 12 from Gavin Long.
 
Joining Davis in double figures for Stanislaus were Vida Faniel with12 and Xavier Francois with 11.
 
The visitors scored the game's first five points en route to an early 8-3 lead. But the Falcons battled back to within one, at 16-15, as Sharif Khan followed a Braden Olsen layup with a 3-pointer nine minutes before halftime.
 
Back-to-back baskets by Faniel and Luis Salgado started Stanislaus on its way to steadily stretch the margin. The final four points of the period pushed the Warriors advantage to a high of 12 by halftime, at 40-28.
 
Second-Half Surge
Ten seconds after intermission, Faniel hammered home a dunk to forge the game's largest differential, 42-28.
 
Seattle Pacific responded. Consecutive 3-pointers by freshman forward Shaw Anderson ignited a furious comeback.
 
"From the point that we started recruiting Shaw, we always identified him as a guy who can score in multiple ways. As he gets comfortable in our offense, we're finding ways that we can utilize his skill set," said Leep, who compared the freshman to some recent SPU standouts at forward.
 
"He plays a position that has traditionally been very productive going back to Tony Miller and Coleman Wooten. Those have been some really tough, good players that really produced at that position for us. We see that he can hopefully produce to that level as well, as he grows and matures."
 
Miller was the GNAC Freshman of the Year in 2017 and Wooten was a three-time all-conference performer who completed his career last spring ranked 16th among all-time SPU scorers with 1,213 points.
 
Completing the spree that Anderson started were seven straight points, five of them from Moffitt.

 

When Filip Fullerton capped the run by flipping in a jump hook with 12:49 showing on the clock, SPU trailed just 47-46.
 
"I like how we battled back. We showed some grit in the second half," Leep said. "We kept chipping away at that thing and stayed aggressive. That's a good credit to our group and how we're growing together."
 
The Warriors proceeded to build that lead back to 12 points, at 68-56, on a fastbreak layup by Fred Lavender with 3:16 remaining.

Rally, Rinse, Repeat
The hosts had another rally in them, outscoring Stanislaus 10-3 to draw within 71-66 on a Zack Paulsen trey.
 
After two free throws from Davis, Moffitt scored on a drive in the lane and Paulsen nailed another 3-pointer to trim the deficit to 73-71 with 8.3 seconds to play.
 
Faniel was quickly fouled after receiving the inbounds pass and sank both free throws with 7.1 on the clock to secure the win.
 
Long's eight rebounds and seven from both Shaw and Harry Cavell fueled the Falcons 36-35 edge on the boards.
 
SPU shot 42 percent for the game (25 of 59) and the Warriors countered with 45-percent accuracy (25 of 56) on the same number of makes in three fewer attempts.
 
Rough Road Ahead
Things don't get any easier for the Falcons, with a rotation that includes seven underclassmen among the 11 that have played this season. Seven of those are freshmen.
 
Youthful SPU hits the road for six straight games, facing perennial NCAA playoff contenders in each of the next four contests.
 
Coach Leep is encouraged by glimpses of greatness his team has shown. He wants those moments to become more frequent.
 
"If we can string together an entire game like we played in the second half today, we'll be fine. We've shown it in spurts. We need to do it for prolonged periods of time where the guys are working together, the ball is moving where we need it to move, we're defending, we're talking, we're blocking out and rebounding.
 
"We need all of that stuff to now come together for a 40-minute stretch rather than for 20 or 10 minutes. That's part of the maturation process for our group."
 
The Falcons men travel to Irvine, California this weekend to participate in the GNAC/PacWest Challenge. They face Azusa Pacific on Friday at 2 p.m. before clashing with tournament host Concordia-Irvine on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.
 
Stanislaus State 75, at Seattle Pacific 71
 
STANISLAUS STATE (3-0)
Salgado 3-4 0-1 7, Francois 3-7 5-5 11, Thomas 1-1 0-0 3, Davis 6-13 8-8 22, Scott 2-8 1-1 6, Faniel 4-13 3-4 12, Ballungay 2-2 0-0 4, Browne 2-2 0-0 4, Lavender 1-2 2-3 4, Zecic 1-3 0-0 2, Campbell 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-56 19-22 75.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (0-3)
Moffitt 6-13 1-4 14, Long 3-13 6-9 12, Paulsen 3-7 0-0 8, Anderson 3-6 0-0 8, El Mardi 3-7 0-0 7, Olsen 1-3 5-6 7, Khan 2-4 0-0 6, Cavell 2-2 0-0 5, Fullerton 2-3 0-0 4, Medjo 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-59 12-19 71.
 
Stanislaus State.......40   35  -   75
Seattle Pacific........28   43  -   71
 
3-point goals--SSU 6-18 (Davis 2-3, Faniel 1-6, Scott 1-4, Thomas 1-1, Salgado 1-2, Campbell 0-1, Francois 0-1), SPU 9-22 (Anderson 2-4, Paulsen 2-4, Khan 2-4, Cavell 1-1, Moffitt 1-4, El Mardi 1-2, Olsen 0-1, Long 0-2). Fouled out--SSU-Davis, SPU-None. Rebounds--SSU 35 (Salgado 8), SPU 36 (Long 8). Assists--SSU 9 (Davis 5), SPU 8 (Long 3). Total fouls--SSU 20, SPU 20. Technical fouls--SSU-None, SPU-None. A-245.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
GNAC/PacWest Challenge
Seattle Pacific vs. Azusa Pacific
Friday, Nov. 15, 2:00 p.m. PST
CU Arena / Irvine, Calif.