• COMPLETE RELEASE (pdf)    |    • VIDEO: Coach Grant  Leep    |    • VIDEO: Gavin  Long

SODEXO CLASSIC
Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
• Webcast for all home games: https://www.youtube.com/user/SPUsports  
• LiveStats for all home games: www.sidearmstats.com/spu/mbball  
• Tickets: http://siteline.vendini.com/site/spufalcons.com

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8
Azusa Pacific vs. Cal Poly Pomona, 5:00 p.m. PST
Chico State vs. Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m. PST
 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9
Azusa Pacific vs. Chico State, 5:15 p.m. PST
Cal Poly Pomona vs. Seattle Pacific, 7:30 p.m. PST
 
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12
Stanislaus State at Seattle Pacific, 3:30 p.m. PST
 
Seattle Pacific starts the 2019-20 men's basketball season in challenging fashion, taking on two perennial powers from the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Falcons (0-0) are home for their first three games, beginning Nov. 8-9 in the Sodexo Classic on Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion. Doubleheaders take place both days with the SPU men playing the 7 p.m. nightcap against Chico State (0-0) on Friday and Cal Poly Pomona (0-0) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Azusa Pacific (0-0) plays the opener both days against those same two opponents in reverse order of the Falcons. SPU won four of its last five encounters versus Chico. Pomona and the Falcons meet on Saturday for the first time since SPU beat the Broncos 67-54 in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Division II Tournament. The Falcons were scheduled to play the Wildcats and Cal Poly last year at Chico, but the games were canceled due to the Northern California wildfire. SPU plays another CCAA opponent on Tuesday, Nov. 12 with a 3:30 p.m. afternoon clash with Stanislaus State. The Falcons own a 4-2 lead in the all-time series with the Warriors.
 
Sponsored by Sodexo
Seattle Pacific is grateful to Sodexo for sponsoring this tournament. Along with providing dining services on the SPU campus, Sodexo (www.sodexoUSA.com) is the nation's leading provider of food and facilities management. The Sodexo Foundation is an independent charitable organization that is leading the fight against hunger by supporting initiatives that focus on eliminating the root causes of hunger in the U.S.
 
2020 Season Preview
Two starters return from the Seattle Pacific team that posted a 22-7 record in 2019, won the GNAC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA West Regional semifinal. Headlining the list of returnees is leading scorer Gavin Long. The 6-foot-5 senior guard averaged 14.4 points en route to second-team All-GNAC honors. Junior guard Harry Cavell is also back after averaging 10.2 points as a starter in 2019. A quartet of returning guards bolsters that starting tandem, a group that includes Gabe Colosimo, Sharif Khan, Divant'e Moffitt and Braden Olsen. Graduation hit the frontcourt hard, but capable reinforcements are prepared to fill the void. The Falcons have two transfers eligible at the center position, Filip Fullerton from Portland State and Mehdi El Mardi from Trevecca Nazarene. A fantastic five-man freshman class is brimming with talent and only lacks experience in the college game. All five were standouts in the Washington state prep ranks. The frosh class is comprised of Shaw Anderson (Kelso HS), Jacob Parola (Gonzaga Prep HS), Zack Paulsen (Curtis HS), Chris Penner (Capital HS) and Clayton Whitman (Lynden HS).

GAVIN LONG INTERVIEW

Scouting Chico State (9-14 in 2019)
> The Wildcats played an exhibition at Arizona and led at halftime before falling 74-65. Justin Briggs paced Chico with 15 points and 12 boards.
 
> Chico returns four starters, including its top three scorers Kevin Warren (12.0 ppg.), Isaiah Brooks (11.1) and Malik Duffy (10.1).
 
> Twelfth-year Chico State coach Greg Clink has a 1-3 record versus SPU.
 
> SPU owns a 13-2 series advantage, including a 62-50 win in the last meeting on Nov. 27, 2015 at Chico.
 
Scouting Cal Poly Pomona (21-7 in 2019)
> The Broncos were tabbed second in the preseason CCAA coaches poll behind UC San Diego. Those two teams tied for the conference regular-season crown in 2019.
 
> Pomona returns four starters, headlined by two-time All-CCAA honoree William Christmas who averaged 15.4 points and 6.0 rebounds last season.
 
> Two familiar faces are on the Broncos roster as BJ Standley and Tavian Henderson transferred from Saint Martin's. Standley led the Saints with 18 points, and Henderson had eight, to knock SPU out of the 2019 NCAA playoffs with a 67-63 decision.
 
> Greg Kamansky enters his 20th season with the Broncos. He has a 2-3 coaching record against SPU, both wins coming in NCAA Tournament matchups (2005, 2009).
 
> The Falcons own a slim 4-3 edge in the all-time series versus Pomona, including a 67-54 victory on March 18, 2013 in the NCAA Tournament West Regional semifinal that was their last encounter.
 
Scouting Stanislaus State (12-14 in 2019)
> The Warriors, from Turlock, Calif., are coached for the third season by Paul Trevor.
 
> Stanislaus played an exhibition at UCLA, losing 87-57. Ty Davis and Xavier Francios each tallied 11 points in that game.
 
> SSU returns two starters led by Ty Davis who averaged 12.5 points and 5.6 assists.
 
> SPU owns a 4-2 series edge and won the last matchup 90-79 on Dec. 18, 2017 in Turlock. Current Falcons Gavin Long and Gabe Colosimo started that game while Harry Cavell and Braden Olsen were reserves. The Warriors were 80-72 overtime winners over SPU on March 14, 2014 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
Falcons Fast Fact
The Falcons fashioned a 13-game win streak from Jan. 31 to Mar. 15, 2019 that was their longest since a school-record stretch of 15 straight victories in 2002. Last year's win streak was stopped by a 67-63 loss to Saint Martin's in the NCAA West Region semifinal that ended the Falcons season.
 
On the Rebound
The Falcons led the GNAC and ranked No. 10 nationally in rebound margin in 2019, averaging 7.3 more boards in games than their foes. SPU compiled a 19-5 record when outrebounding opponents in 2019 and collected more caroms in all but six contests.
 
Notable
 

Senior Gavin Long and junior Harry Cavell were named to the 15-man Preseason All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference team and the Falcons were picked second in the coaches preseason poll ... SPU was ranked No. 23 in the final 2019 coaches poll, its first national recognition since a No. 25 ranking on Feb. 16, 2016.
 
Gavin the Great
Senior Gavin Long is a two-time All-GNAC selection, earning second-team honors last year after honorable mention acclaim in 2019. The 6-foot-5 guard led the Falcons with a 14.4-point scoring average last year. In the 2019 GNAC Tournament championship game he tallied 17 points, in the process becoming the 37th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point career milestone. With 1,046 career points, Long currently ranks No. 32 among all-time Falcons scorers. He registered a career-high 27-point effort against Northwest Nazarene in the GNAC Tournament semifinal on Mar. 8, 2019. Long's previous best was 26 points at Simon Fraser on Jan. 25, 2018.
 
20-Game Winners
The Falcons' GNAC Tournament semifinal win on March 8 clinched a 20-win season in 2019, the first under third-year coach Grant Leep. They achieved 20 wins for the 25th time in the program's 75-year history.
 
COACH GRANT LEEP INTERVIEW

Coach Leep
Grant Leep, 40, begins his fourth season directing the SPU men's basketball program after seven years as an assistant on the Falcons staff. He has a 51-35 career record. Leep coached the 2019 team to a 22-7 record that featured a late 13-game winning streak. His Falcons won the GNAC Tournament and advanced to the West Regional semifinal of the NCAA Division II Tournament. Leep 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 Tournament
SPU captured its fourth GNAC Tournament title last year, adding a 2019 trophy to the display that includes hardware from three consecutive seasons between 2013-15. The conference determines its automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division II Tournament with a post-season playoff. The top-six finishers in the regular-season standings will participate in the GNAC Tournament. All of the conference's 2020 men's and women's playoff games will be contested at SPU's Brougham Pavilion. The top-two seeds receive a first-round bye while the lower seeds meet on March 5. The semifinals are set for March 6 and the championship game is March 7.
 
2019 Season Review
The Falcons returned to the NCAA Division II Tournament after a two-year absence. They reeled off 13 consecutive victories en route to a GNAC Tournament championship and appearance in the NCAA West Regional semifinal. SPU's final record of 22-7 included a 16-4 league ledger that was good for second place in the GNAC standings. Coleman Wooten earned first-team All-GNAC honors, Gavin Long was a second-teamer and Nikhil Lizotte garnered honorable mention acclaim.
 
Postseason Pursuit
SPU seeks to return to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the second straight season after a two-year absence in 2017 and 2018. 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.