• FINAL STATS   |   • VIDEO: NIKHIL  LIZOTTE
• PHOTO GALLERY

SEATTLE – Two days ago Nikhil Lizotte sent a message with his phone to motivate teammates.
 
Tuesday night in Brougham Pavilion, the senior guard delivered a different type of message … with his shooting stroke.
 
Lizotte tallied six of his career-high 26 points during the decisive second-half surge for Seattle Pacific, which upset 12th-ranked Saint Martin's, 67-63, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball clash.
 
"Nikhil came in and set a great tone for us with his intensity and his focus and, obviously, with his shooting ability from three," SPU coach Grant Leep said. "But his leadership really goes back to early in the week.
 
"He sent out a message to our team group text that kind of got everybody fired up. He focused on what we had to do and the task in front of us."
 
His teammates responded to the text, and his inspired on-court play, by posting their seventh consecutive win. The third-place Falcons (16-6) improved their league ledger to 13-4.


 
SPU trailed by one point at halftime and 47-44 with 12:05 left in the game before reeling off 11 unanswered points. Lizotte nailed two of his six 3-pointers during the pivotal stretch that yielded a 55-47 advantage with 7:42 remaining.
 
The Falcons defense forced seven straight SMU misses and one turnover during that span.
 
A pair of free throws by Jordan Kitchen with 6:51 on the clock ended the Saints six-minute scoreless skid. They drew within three points, at 64-61, on a dunk by Kitchen with 1:13 left to play.
 
After a Falcons miss, SMU had possession and an opportunity to even the score , but the Falcons Sharif Khan stole the ball on the baseline from EJ Boyce with 24 seconds left.
 
Lizotte then converted one of two free throws with 22.1 seconds remaining, but another Kitchen dunk closed the gap to 65-63 with 7.2 seconds showing on the clock.
 
Gavin Long was fouled and converted both charity shots with six seconds left to seal the SPU victory.
 
Lizotte made 6 of 10 treys and was 8-for-9 from the free throw line. Long was the only other Falcon in double figures with 16 points.
 
SPU won despite suffering its second-lowest shooting percentage of the season at 38.8 percent (19 of 49).
 
The hosts were inhospitable on the defensive end, limiting SMU to 38.6 percent accuracy (22 of 57).
 
"I was so proud of our defense tonight and the effort our guys showed. That's really what turned it for us," said Leep, who credited his assistant coaches for their superb scouting and preparation. "Matt Borton and Kegan Bone did such a good job with this game plan and helping come up with this stuff. And our guys did an unbelievable job of applying what we wanted to do."
 
The Falcons stopped a six-game losing streak in their series with SMU, including an 80-63 setback on Jan. 22 in Lacey, Wash.
 
In that first meeting, the Saints compiled 12 treys. They made just 5 of 23 shots behind the arc on Tuesday.
 
"We knew that taking them away from the 3-point line was going to be really key to us playing well," Leep added. "To hold them to 1-of-11 in the second half and under 22 percent for the game, that was so big for us."
 
Boyce scored 23 points to pace the Saints, who also got 11 from both Chandler Redix and BJ Standley.
 
Saint Martin's (21-4) lost for just the second time in its last 13 outings, dropping its GNAC record to 14-3.
 
After SMU's Boyce opened the game with three free throws, the Falcons tallied seven straight points, four of them from Nathan Streufert.
 
Boyce kept scoring, accounting for five of seven points during a run that put the Saints up 14-12 with 12:28 left in the period. That marked the second of eight first-half lead changes in the game that also featured six ties before halftime.
 
The largest margin separating the teams before intermission was five points. Coleman Wooten made a driving layup and Lizotte followed with a 3-pointer, providing a 29-24 advantage with 4:13 showing on the clock.
 
SMU erased that deficit and netted the final five points of the period, capped by two Standley free throws with 5.9 seconds left, to forge a 34-33 margin.
 
Two players dominated the scoring column in the first half, one from each team. SPU's Lizotte amassed 17 and Boyce countered with 16.
 
"EJ Boyce really got going in the first half, but Nikhil offset that with how he played," said Leep.
 
Each team made 11 of 29 field goals, for 38-percent shooting, and made four treys before halftime. The one-point difference came at the line where the Saint converted all eight of their attempts and SPU shot 7 for 8.
   
The Falcons close out the home portion of their schedule on Thursday against Montana State Billings. Tip-off is 5:15 p.m. as the opener of a doubleheader with the women.
 
Thursday is Senior Night for the men and six SPU players will be honored prior to the early game, their last at Brougham Pavilion: Lizotte, Trey Miller, Sam Simpson, Streufert, Conner Van Dyken and Wooten.
 
It likely won't take much effort to motivate the Falcons with the Senior Night festivities as well as getting roughed up by Thursday's opponent in their previous matchup.
 
The Yellowjackets dealt SPU by far its worst defeat of the season, a 92-63 loss on Jan. 26 in Billings that capped a three-game losing streak. The Falcons won all seven games since that setback.
 
"Our group is going to be ready to go. As much as we want to enjoy this win, we're getting back to work tomorrow," Leep said.
 
"This is such a tough stretch, playing four games in eight days. But our group, as veteran as they are and with the depth that we have, they are ready for this and they can handle this. We're really looking forward to the challenge of trying to finish this thing off right."
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 67, (#12) Saint Martin's 63
 
SAINT MARTIN'S (21-4, 14-3 GNAC)
Kitchen 3-8 2-2 8, Chavez 2-8 0-0 5, Redix 5-11 1-2 11, Baerlocher 0-6 0-0 0, Boyce 6-13 7-7 23, Standley 4-6 3-3 11, Henderson 2-5 1-2 5. Totals 22-57 14-16 63.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (16-6, 13-4 GNAC)
Wooten 4-7 0-3 9, Streufert 3-5 2-4 8, Cavell 0-7 1-3 1, Lizotte 6-13 8-9 26, Long 4-5 8-10 16, Simpson 2-5 2-4 6, Khan 0-1 1-2 1, Moffitt 0-6 0-0 0. Totals 19-49 22-35 67.
 
Saint Martin's............  34   29  -   63
Seattle Pacific...........  33   34  -   67
 
3-point goals--SMU 5-23 (Boyce 4-9, Chavez 1-5, Standley 0-1, Kitchen 0-1, Baerlocher 0-4, Redix 0-3), SPU 7-19 (Lizotte 6-10, Wooten 1-2, Simpson 0-2, Cavell 0-3, Khan 0-1, Moffitt 0-1). Fouled out--SMU-Baerlocher, SPU-None.
Rebounds--SMU 32 (Henderson 8), SPU 40 (Wooten, Streufert 8). Assists--SMU 8 (Kitchen 3), SPU 9 (Cavell 3). Total fouls--SMU 24, SPU 18. Technical fouls--SMU-Kitchen, SPU-None. A-405.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Feb. 21, 5:15 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash