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THURSDAY, JANUARY 2
Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific, 5:15 p.m. PST
Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 4
Alaska Fairbanks at Seattle Pacific, 4:15 p.m. PST
Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
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The calendar displays the start of a brand new decade, but the Falcons seek to deliver the same old successful results. Seattle Pacific brings a six-game winning streak into 2020 and begins the new year with a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference home men's basketball games on Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion. Five teams are tied atop the GNAC standings with 2-0 records, including the Falcons and both of this week's opponents. SPU (6-4, 2-0 GNAC) entertains Alaska Anchorage on Thursday, Jan. 2 at 5:15 p.m. to tip-off a doubleheader with the women's team. The Seawolves (9-4, 2-0) lead the GNAC with 19 assists per game, three more than any other team.  On Saturday, Jan. 4 the SPU men play the 4:15 p.m. nightcap of a doubleheader, against Alaska Fairbanks. The Nanooks (3-7, 2-0) lost their last seven matchups versus Seattle Pacific.
 
Decade of Dominance
The winningest decade in the stellar history of SPU basketball came to a close with Dec. 20 with the program's 211th victory since the year 2010. The 211-88 record produced a 70.6 winning percentage that ranks second all-time, trailing only the 71.3 percent mark (206-83) compiled by the Falcons teams from 2000-09.
 
Great End to 2019
Seattle Pacific closed out the 2019 calendar year on a hot streak with six consecutive wins immediately following a season-opening losing skid of four games. The last time an SPU team accomplished that feat was 1995 when the team responded to four consecutive losses by reeling off six victories.

VIDEO: GABE COLOSIMO INTERVIEW

Shooting Spectacle
A near record-setting display of shooting accuracy fueled the Falcons in their last game, Dec. 20 versus Puget Sound. They shot a sizzling 70 percent for the game, making 42 of 60 shots from the field. That nearly toppled the school's single-game record for field goal percentage established with a 71.2-percent performance (37 of 52) against BYU-Hawaii on Jan. 29, 2000.
 
Notable
After not having a 20-point scorer in any of the first five games, the Falcons featured 20-point producers in four of their last five outings, topped by Divant'e Moffitt's 29-point outburst at Point Loma (Nov. 30) ... A balanced attack featured seven different Falcons leading the team in scoring in at least one game this season (ties included).
 
Youth Being Served
Only six of the 14 players on the roster had ever before worn an SPU uniform and just two of them were primary starters last season (Harry Cavell, Gavin Long). The 12-player rotation utilized so far includes seven underclassmen. Five of those are freshmen, with red-shirt frosh Jacob Medjo and Filip Fullerton joined by true freshmen Shaw Anderson, Jacob Parola and Zack Paulsen. A pair of sophomores, Divant'e Moffitt and Braden Olsen, share the point-guard duties. The infusion of newcomers also features starting center Mehdi El Mardi, a junior transfer from Trevecca Nazarene, and incoming freshmen Chris Penner and Clayton Whitman.
 
Scouting Alaska Anchorage (9-4,  2-0 GNAC)
> The first-place Seawolves defeated Hawaii-Hilo, 66-64, in their last outing to halt a two-game losing streak.
 
> Niko Bevens leads four double-digit scorers with 12.9 points per outing for Anchorage, which has a 6-1 record versus West Region opponents.
 
> The Seawolves are the GNAC's most unselfish team, averaging a whopping 19 assists per game, three more than any other team and over seven more than SPU. DeAndre Osuigwe tops UAA with 60 assists (4.6 per game).
 
> The road team won seven of the last nine meetings in the UAA-SPU series that the Falcons lead 40-38 after sweeping both games last year. They won 87-74 on Jan. 12 in Seattle and 65-64 on Feb. 7 in Anchorage. The Seawolves were victorious in Seattle visits in both 2018 and 2017.
 
Scouting Alaska Fairbanks (3-7,  2-0 GNAC)
> The Nanooks have been off nearly a month since their last outing. They won their last two games, both at home, 72-66 over Western Oregon on Dec. 5 and 116-111 over Concordia-Portland on Dec. 7.
 
> Fairbanks features high-scoring junior guard Shadeed Shabazz from Seattle's Rainier Beach High School. He ranks second among GNAC scorers with 21.7 points per game and his 30 steals (1.9) are six more than any other player in the conference.
 
> Greg Sparling is in his second year as head coach at UAF after serving the previous 24 seasons at Central Washington.
 
> The Falcons lead the all-time series 64-16 and was victorious in 22 of the last 24 encounters. SPU won the last seven matchups, including a 79-62 decision on Jan. 10, 2019 in Seattle and 89-52 triumph on Feb. 9, 2019 in Fairbanks.
 
Last Game
Gavin Long compiled 20 of his 23 points during the first half, helping SPU to its sixth straight victory, 103-74, over Puget Sound on Dec. 20 in the final non-conference game. Long paced six double-digit scorers, hitting10 of 12 shots from the field for the Falcons who collectively shot 70 percent (42 of 60). Shaw Anderson contributed 16 points, on efficient 6-for-7 shooting that included 3-for-4 accuracy on 3-pointers. He hauled in eight rebounds to help the Falcons to a 34-23 margin on the boards.

 

Court Report
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
SPU senior Gavin Long averages 11.4 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, pouring in a season-high 23 points in the last outing. He 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 1,160 career points, Long currently ranks No. 21 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.
 
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).
 
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 57-39 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.
 
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.
 
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.