• COMPLETE RELEASE (pdf)    |    • VIDEO: SAM  BOONE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29
Seattle Pacific at Central Washington, 7:00 p.m. PST
Nicholson Pavilion / Ellensburg, Wash.
 
SATURDAY, MARCH 2
Seattle Pacific at Northwest Nazarene, 6:00 p.m. PST (7:00 pm MST)
Johnson Sports Center / Nampa, Idaho
 
• Webcast & LiveStats for both games: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/spu/
 
The men's basketball regular season concludes on the road this week for Seattle Pacific, which is battling for a bye in the first round of next week's Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament. The Falcons (17-6, 14-4 GNAC) won their last eight games and are tied with Northwest Nazarene (19-5, 14-4) for second place in the standings. They clash on Saturday, March 2 at 6 p.m. Pacific Time (7 p.m. MST) in Nampa, Idaho for first place, if NNU defeats first-place Saint Martin's on Thursday, or second place and the No. 2 seed in the league playoffs. The Nighthawks won the last three matchups versus SPU. Before that game, the Falcons travel to Ellensburg on Thursday, Feb. 28 to play Central Washington at 7 p.m.  SPU won the last four encounters with the Wildcats (11-15, 5-13).
 
Playoff Pursuit
SPU has already secured a GNAC Tournament berth. The Falcons (14-4) are tied with Northwest Nazarene for second place in the standings, one game back of Saint Martin's (15-3). NNU clashes with SMU on Thursday before hosting SPU on Saturday, so first place is up for grabs. The Falcons finish in a tie for first if they win both games this week and Saint Martin's loses once, SPU is seeking its sixth GNAC regular-season championship, but its first since 2014.
 
GNAC Tournament
For the ninth year, the GNAC is conducting a postseason tournament with the winner receiving the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division II playoffs. The top six finishers from the regular-season standings compete in the tournament with the top two receiving first-round byes. All games will be played at Carver Gymnasium in Bellingham, Wash. The quarterfinal contests are Mar. 7, the semifinals Mar. 8 and the championship game is set for Mar. 9 at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
 


Sharp Shooters
SPU ranks 26th nationally in field goal accuracy at 49.2 percent (647 of 1,314). The Falcons held all but three foes under 50-percent and won all 12 games when shooting 50 percent themselves. SPU hit an astounding 64.3-percent of its attempts (36 of 56) in the Dec. 1 home win over Central Washington and shot 61.2 percent (30 of 49) at Simon Fraser on Jan. 5. Six Falcons make as many or more shots than they miss, led by the 59.5-percent accuracy of Nathan Streufert. SPU's best 3-point shooter is Gavin Long at 43.6 percent. Nikhil Lizotte's is the top free throw shooter at 87.9 percent.
 
Notable
The current eight-game win streak is SPU's longest since 2016 ... The Falcons lead the GNAC in rebound margin, ranking 11th nationally with 7.6 more caroms per game than opponents ... SPU's record is 10-1 when scoring at least 80 points and 10-0 when holding foes under 70 points ... The Falcons are 15-1 when shooting better than foes.
 
Last Week
Nikhil Lizotte's career-high 26-point outburst that featured six 3-pointers, led SPU to a 67-63 home upset of 12th-ranked Saint Martin's (Feb. 19). That stopped a six-game losing skid versus the Saints. Against MSU Billings (Feb. 21), Gavin Long's season-best 20 points lifted the Falcons to a 76-67 win to cap an 11-1 home record.
 
Scouting Central Washington (11-15, 5-13 GNAC)
> The Wildcats are averaging 81.1 points per game, exactly the amount they allow.
 
> Gamaun Boykin (12.3 ppg) and Jeryn Lucas (11.7) lead all CWU scorers and are the only players to start every game.
 
> Brandon Rinta is in his first year as Central's head coach after spending the seven seasons at Lewis-Clark State. The 2001 CWU grad replaced Greg Sparling.
 
> CWU leads the all-time series 74-57 despite losing 15 of the last 19 meetings. SPU was victorious in the last four encounters, including a 97-82 victory on Dec. 1 in Seattle in the most recent meeting.
 
Scouting Northwest Nazarene (19-5, 14-4 GNAC)
> Located in Nampa, Idaho, NNU recently changed its nickname to Nighthawks (previously was Crusaders). Paul Rush is in his second season as head coach after serving three years as an assistant.
 
> Adonis Arms, a 6-foot-6 junior guard, leads the GNAC with 20.6 points per game. He is a transfer from Mesa CC that also produced Obi Megwa, who scores at an 18.6-point clip.
 
> The Falcons lead the series 58-26 and had won 11 consecutive encounters before losing four of the last five. The Nighthawks won both meetings last year and were 87-86 victors in this season's first matchup, on Nov. 19 in Seattle.
 
Super Students
Eight Falcons  are 2019 All-GNAC Academic selections, twice as many honorees as any other school: Sam Simpson (3.89 GPA, biochemistry), Harry Cavell (3.86, business administration), Sharif Khan (3.83, business administration), Nathan Streufert (3.80, physiology), Gavin Long (3.54, physiology), Coleman Wooten (3.50, accounting), Trey Miller (3.42, accounting), Conner Van Dyken (3.23, health & PE).
 
Balanced Attack
Four starters average double-figure points for the Falcons, who share the ball so much that only seven 20-point performances have been posted by a player this season (Nikhil Lizotte 3, Coleman Wooten 2, Divant'e Moffitt 1, Gavin Long 1). Nearly half (48.5%) of SPU's baskets (312 of 647) were set up by teammates and seven players have been credited with at least 30 assists. Six different Falcons served as the scoring leader for games this season and eight players topped the team in assists.
 
Gavin the Great
Gavin Long leads the Falcons with a 13.0-point scoring average. The 6-foot-5 junior guard has been SPU's top scorer seven times this year, including a 20-point performance versus MSUB in the last outing (Feb. 21). Long was a 2018 honorable mention All-GNAC selection. He is SPU's top returning scorer with an 11.9-point average in 2018. Long netted a career-high 26 points at Simon Fraser on Jan. 25, 2018, the top scoring game by a Falcon last season.
 
Wonderful Wooten
Senior Coleman Wooten has twice been named GNAC Player of the Week (Nov. 19 & Feb. Feb. 11). He is the ninth player in SPU history to reach both the 1,000-point and 600-rebound milestones, currently ranking No. 25 in career points (1,127) and No. 11 in boards (641). Wooten sparked SPU's current eight-game winning streak, leading the team during that stretch in points (15.1), rebounds (8.1), field goal percentage (66.7%) and 3-point percentage (64.0%). He was recognized as a second-team All-GNAC performer last year after being honorable mention in 2017. On Jan. 17, 2017 Wooten erupted for a career-high 35 points at Saint Martin's. The 6-foot-5 forward has 18 career games of 20 points or more and 22 double-digit rebounds games, including a career-high 16 boards on Nov. 18, 2016. Wooten compiled 15 career double-doubles.
 
Hot Lizotte
Senior Nikhil Lizotte leads all SPU scorers in conference games, averaging 13.1 points versus GNAC foes. He poured in a career-high 26 points on Feb. 19 to lead an upset of No. 12 Saint Martin's. Lizotte led all SPU scorers on eight occasions this season. A reserve at the time, he started the second half of the Nov. 17 game with SPU trailing 30-28 and erupted for 19 points while hitting 5-of-5 treys with four assists in 15 minutes to spark the win over Azusa Pacific. He converts free throws at an 87.9-percent clip (58 of 66) and compiled a string of 21 consecutive charity shots that ended on Jan. 17. Lizotte transferred to SPU from Humboldt State where he started all 29 games in 2016-17. The 5-foot-9 guard led the Lumberjacks in 3-pointers (75) and was second in scoring (13.8 ppg). Lizotte is a graduate of Davis High School in Yakima, Wash.
 
Carom Collector
Senior Nathan Streufert led SPU last year with 7.4 rebounds per game and averages 6.5 this season. On Feb. 1, 2018 versus Alaska Anchorage, he out-rebounded the rest of his teammates by a 17-14 margin. Streufert collected a season-high 15 caroms on Jan. 22 at Saint Martin's. His father, Earl Streufert, is the boy's basketball coach at Richland (Wash.) High School.
 
Coach Leep
Grant Leep, 38, is in his third season directing the SPU men's basketball program after seven years as an assistant on the Falcons staff. He has a 46-34 career record. Leep coached the 2018 team to a 17-12 record, including an 11-9 GNAC mark. He 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.
 
Opening Weekend Cancelled
The Falcons were scheduled to start the 2018-19 season at the Mac Martin Invitational in Chico, California on Nov. 9 and 10. The team arrived in Chico on Nov. 8, but returned home that night due to the "Camp" wildfire. The tournament was cancelled and the games will not be made up.
 
Postseason Pursuit
SPU seeks to return to the NCAA Division II Tournament after a two-year absence. 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.
 
2018 Season Review
The Falcons finished the 2017-18 season with a 17-12 record, tying for fourth in the standings at 11-9. They beat host Alaska Anchorage in the GNAC Tournament first round before a semifinal loss to Western Oregon. Coleman Wooten earned second-team All-GNAC honors and Gavin Long was honorable mention.