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• VIDEO: Divant'e  Moffitt drive & finish

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Divant'e Moffitt compiled a career-high 29 points and eight assists Saturday afternoon and scored Seattle Pacific's final eight points in a 96-89 non-conference men's basketball victory over Point Loma at Golden Gymnasium.
 
The sophomore point guard from Spanaway Lake (Wash.) High School hit 8 of 14 shots from the field, including 2-for-4 accuracy on 3-pointers. He converted 11 of 12 free throws and also contributed seven rebounds and two steals.
 
"That's the most complete games that we've had in his career. Divant'e did such a great job of picking the times to push in transition and then understanding when we needed to execute something in the halfcourt," said SPU coach Grant Leep.
 
"That's been something that he's grown with so much over the course of the last year, his understanding of the situation and when to execute versus when to go use his creativity. He's a terrific finisher and when he gets into the paint, good things happen for us."
 
Moffitt's previous high point total as a Falcon was a 21-point performance versus Simon Fraser on Jan. 31, 2019.
 
VIDEO: DIVANT'E  MOFFITT HIGHLIGHT

Falcons Learning to Fly
After starting the season with four losses, the youthful Falcons (3-4) registered their third consecutive road win. Seven of the 12 players to participate in a game this season for SPU are underclassmen, including three freshmen, two red-shirt freshmen and two sophomores.
 
Saturday's game was tied at intermission, 46-46, before Gavin Long put SPU ahead for good with a top-of-the-key trey to start the second half. That lead grew to as many as nine points, at 86-77, after Shaw Anderson made a layup with 3:55 left to play.
 
The Sea Lions responded with a six-point run. They drew within 88-85 on a layup with Brock Mackenzie with 1:17 remaining.
 
That's when Moffitt took over.
 
Divant'e Dominates Down the Stretch
He nailed a 3-pointer with 54.2 seconds showing on the clock and then rebounded a missed PLNU trey attempt, got fouled and sank the second of two free throws at 45.1 to extend the SPU lead to 92-85.
 
Moffitt answered two Sea Lion free throws with a pair of his own, at 21.6, and followed a PLNU layup with two more charity shots with 10.9 left.
 
The game's final shot, a 3-point try by Mackenzie, was rebounded by Moffitt who proceeded to dribble out the final seconds.

 

Harry Cavell tallied 14 of his 16 points during the second half for SPU before fouling out with two minutes remaining. His back-to-back scores were crucial after Point Loma drew within 76-75 on a layup by Darnell Robateau with 6:16 on the clock.
 
Cavell hit a 3-pointer and, after a Sea Lions turnover, drove the right baseline for a reverse layup at 5:08 that put SPU up 81-75.
 
Long pitched in 12 points for the Falcons and Jacob Medjo had a career-high 10.
 
Winning the Board Battle
Moffitt and Cavell each grabbed seven rebounds to fuel the Falcons 38-24 advantage on the boards.
 
"For them to get those rebounds, that means our other guys are doing a really good job of blocking out. So, a really good team effort on the glass tonight," Leep said.
 
Point Loma (4-2) lost for just the second time this season, and the first time in four home contests.
 
Kaden Anderson, a sophomore product of Enumclaw (Wash.) High School, scored 27 points to pace the Sea Lions, who also got 23 from Ben Okhotin, 17 form Sterling Somers and 10 from Mackenzie. Somers, a senior, is a graduate of Lynden (Wash.) High School.
 
PLNU shot well at 50 percent (29 of 58), but the Falcons were better at 57 percent (35 of 62). SPU shot 8-for-19 from 3-point range and 18-of-23 from the free throw line.
 
Surviving Slow Start
 

The Falcons survived a sluggish start, committing four turnovers in the opening 10 possessions. They made just two of their first 10 shots while Point Loma nailed 6 of 9 shots en route to an early 13-5 lead.
 
"We just got sloppy with the ball. For our guys to persevere through that was really big," explained Leep.
 
"There was a strange feeling in that game. We kind of knew that it was going to click, we were just waiting for that instead of making it happen. We finally saw a couple balls go in, then our confidence rose and we played really well after that."
 
Keeping contact proved pivotal for SPU, which netted the next five points to draw within 13-10 with 12:50 left in the first half.
 
The Sea Lions kept the lead for five more minutes, and had a 28-22 cushion before SPU reeled off 10 unanswered points. Moffitt sparked the surge with four points and an assist for a Medjo 3-pointer that capped the run with the Falcons leading 32-28 with 6:44 showing on the clock.
 
The teams traded baskets for the next five minutes until PLNU put together four consecutive points to level the score, 43-42. SPU's Sharif Khan broke that tie with a trey from the left corner with 22.2 seconds remaining, but Okhotin forged a 46-46 halftime draw with three free throws at the 2.6-second mark.
 
Both teams shot well in the first half, Point Loma at 54 percent (15 of 28) and SPU at 53 percent (18 of 34).
 
GNAC Starts Next Week
The SPU men start Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on the road next week. They visit Central Washington on Thursday and Northwest Nazarene on Saturday.
 
Leep believes his team is ready to dive into the league slate.
 
"We're in a really good spot. Our group has been tested against some of the top programs in the West Region. We're going to be ready for conference play. Every time our group has taken the floor, we've gotten better."
 
The Falcons host one final home game in the 2019 calendar year, concluding their non-conference schedule against Puget Sound on Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. on Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion.
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019
Golden Gym / San Diego, Calif.
 
Seattle Pacific 96, at Point Loma 89
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (3-4)
Anderson 4-8 1-1 9, Fullerton 3-6 1-1 8, Cavell 6-12 3-4 16, Moffitt 8-14 11-12 29, Long 5-8 1-2 12, Medjo 4-6 0-0 10, Khan 2-3 0-1 5, El Mardi 2-3 1-2 5, Olsen 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 35-62 18-23 96.
 
POINT LOMA (4-2)
Anderson 7-9 13-18 27, Somers 6-8 5-6 17, Okhotin 7-14 4-4 23, Robateau 2-6 2-2 6, Mackenzie 5-11 0-0 10, Stapes 2-3 0-0 6, Hewitt 0-0 0-0 0, May 0-4 0-0 0, Caston 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 29-58 24-30 89.
 
Seattle Pacific.............   46   50  -   96
Point Loma..................   46   43  -   89
 
3-point goals--SPU 8-19 (Moffitt 2-4, Medjo 2-3, Cavell 1-4, Long 1-2, Fullerton 1-3, Khan 1-1, Olsen 0-1, Anderson 0-1), PLNU 7-20 (Okhotin 5-9, Stapes 2-2, Mackenzie 0-6, Robateau 0-1, Caston 0-1, Anderson 0-1). Fouled out--SPU-Cavell, PLNU-None. Rebounds--SPU 38 (Cavell, Moffitt 7), PLNU 24 (Anderson 10). Assists--SPU 18 (Moffitt 8), PLNU 15 (Robateau, Somers, Anderson, Mackenzie 3). Total fouls--SPU 24, PLNU 20. Technical fouls--SPU-None, PLNU-None. A-229.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Seattle Pacific at Central Washington
Thursday, Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m. PST
Nicholson Pavilion / Ellensburg, Wash.