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     • WEST REGIONAL INFORMATION    |    • NCAA BRACKET

2019 NCAA DIVISION II MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
West Regional • Golden Gymnasium • San Diego, Calif. (hosted by Point Loma)
•Webcasts & LiveStats: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/plnu/
 
Friday, March 15 (First Round)
Game 1 – (#6) Concordia-Irvine vs. (#3) Saint Martin's, 12:00 pm
Game 2 – (#7) Chaminade vs. (#2) Seattle Pacific, 2:30 pm
Game 3 – (#5) Cal Poly Pomona vs. (#4) UC San Diego, 5:00 pm
Game 4 – (#8) Western Oregon vs. (#1) Point Loma, 7:30 pm
 
Saturday, March 16 (Regional Semifinals)
Game 5 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 5:00 pm
Game 6 – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 7:30 pm
 
Monday, March 18 (Regional Championship)
Game 7 – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 7:30 pm
 
Back in the bracket! After a two-year absence, Seattle Pacific returns to the 64-team NCAA Division II Tournament field as the No. 2 seed in the West Region. The newly crowned Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament champion Falcons (21-6) bring a 12-game winning streak into the first-round clash against No. 7 seed Chaminade on Friday, March 15 at 2:30 p.m. in San Diego, Calif. The Silverswords (23-7) tied for third place in the PacWest standings and advanced to their conference tournament semifinals. The Falcons forged a run of 12 straight playoff berths, from 2005-2016, that was the nation's longest active streak at the time. This is the 28th NCAA Tournament appearance for SPU, which advanced to the national semifinals in 2000 and 2006 and placed third both times.
 
West Region Field
The SPU-Chaminade winner advances to Saturday's regional semifinals for a 5 p.m. meeting with the first-round victor between No. 3 seed Saint Martin's (24-5) and No. 6 Concordia-Irvine (23-10). The other half of the bracket has top seed Point Loma (26-4) meeting No. 8 Western Oregon (22-10) and No. 4 seed UC San Diego (25-7) playing No. 5 Cal Poly Pomona (21-6). The two survivors meet in Saturday's semifinals at 7:30 p.m. The regional championship game is slated for Monday, Mar. 18 at 7:30 p.m.
 
The Venue
All three rounds of the West Regional will be conduct at Golden Gymnasium on the campus of Point Loma Nazarene in San Diego. SPU played two neutral site games at that venue in November, but lost both of them. Point Loma is hosting by virtue of its status as the top seed in the region. The Sea Lions are led by former SPU coach Ryan Looney (2009-16). The West Regional has a Friday-Saturday-Monday format due to a number of church-affiliated institutions that have a non-Sunday playing status. The nation's seven other regions have a Saturday-Sunday-Tuesday format.

NCAA Format
The NCAA Division II Tournament features a 64-team field broken into eight regionals comprised of eight teams from that geographic area. Each of the regional champions earn a trip to the Elite Eight at The Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. The national quarterfinals are set for Mar. 27 with the semifinals on Mar. 28. The NCAA championship game will be televised live on CBS on Mar. 30 at noon Pacific Time. Ferris State captured the 2018 Division II crown with a 71-69 win over Northern State.
 
First-Round Feats
SPU has a stellar 17-10 record in NCAA opening-round playoff contests, but lost its last one, 77-66, versus Azusa Pacific on March 11, 2016 in Monmouth, Oregon. The Falcons won six of their last nine opening-round contests.
 


Scouting Chaminade (23-7, No. 7 seed)
> The Silverswords will participate in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time, their first appearance since 2014.
 
> Chaminade had won nine of 11 games before falling to Concordia-Irvine, 75-69, in the semifinals of the PacWest Conference Tournament.
 
> The 'Swords average 81.9 points per game led by the high-scoring trio of Grant Dressler (19.3 ppg), Tyler Cartaino (17.7) and Erik Schieve (16.5).
 
> SPU owns a 14-6 series lead despite losing the last meeting, 87-86), on Dec. 14, 2016 in Honolulu.
 
Scouting Concordia-Irvine (23-10, No. 6 seed)
> Located in Irvine, California, Concordia earned its first NCAA Tournament berth. The former NAIA competitor joined the NCAA and PacWest Conference in 2017.
 
> The Eagles advanced to the PacWest title game before losing to Point Loma, 67-58.
 
> Concordia's stingy defense allowed 80 points to just six opponents while surrendering an average of just 70.5 points per game.
 
> Senior Brian Chambers tops CUI in points (17.6), rebounds (4.8) and assists (5.1).
 
> A 76-59 victory on Dec. 18, 2018 in Irvine gave Seattle Pacific a 2-1 series lead.
 
Scouting Saint Martin's (24-5, No. 3 seed)
> The 18th-ranked Saints finished one game ahead of SPU in the standings to win the regular-season championship, but lost 70-53 to Western Oregon in the GNAC Tournament semifinals.
 
> Four SMU players average double-figure points: EJ Boyce (13.2 ppg), Luke Chavez (12.8), Chandler Redix (11.8) and BJ Standley (11.3).
 
> SPU owns a 98-40 series lead despite losing six straight matchups before beating then No. 12 SMU 67-63 on Feb. 19 in Seattle.
 
Notable
The Falcons current 12-game win streak is their longest since a school-record stretch of 15 straight victories in 2002 ... SPU was listed 23rd in Tuesday's coaches poll, its first national ranking since being No. 25 on Feb. 16, 2016 ... Just two current players have NCAA Tournament experience. Sam Simpson had four points in 15 minutes and Nathan Streufert was scoreless in nine minutes of SPU's 77-66 first-round loss to Azusa Pacific on March 11, 2016 in Monmouth, Oregon ...  SPU's has a 12-1 when scoring at least 80 points and is 12-0 when holding foes under 70 points.
 
20-Game Winners
The Falcons' GNAC Tournament semifinal win on March 8 clinched a 20-win season, the first under third-year coach Grant Leep. They achieved 20 wins for the 25th time in the program's 75-year history.
 
Sharp Shooters
SPU ranks 36th nationally in field goal accuracy at 48.4 percent (755 of 1,560). The Falcons held all but five 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. Five Falcons make as many or more shots than they miss, led by the 56.7-percent accuracy of Nathan Streufert. SPU's best 3-point shooter is Gavin Long at 46.0 percent. Nikhil Lizotte is the top free throw shooter at 86.9 percent.
 
On the Rebound
The Falcons lead the GNAC and rank No. 8 nationally in rebound margin, averaging 8.0 more boards in games versus their foes. SPU has an 18-4 record when outrebounding opponents and collected more caroms in all but five contests.
 
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 to such an impressive degree that nearly half (49.1%) of their baskets (371 of 755) were set up by teammates. Eight SPU 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.

 

Wonderful Wooten
Senior Coleman Wooten, a first-team All-GNAC selection, was the 2019 GNAC Tournament MVP after a 25-point, 11-rebound performance in Saturday's 78-66 championship game victory over Western Oregon. He has twice been named conference Player of the Week (Nov. 19 & Feb. 11). Wooten is the ninth player in SPU history to reach both the 1,000-point and 600-rebound milestones, currently ranking No. 18 in career points (1,191) and No. 9 in boards (676). He sparked SPU's current 12-game winning streak, leading the team during that stretch in points (15.4), rebounds (8.3), field goal percentage (62.5%) and 3-point percentage (55.0%). Wooten was recognized as a second-team All-GNAC performer last year after being honorable mention in 2017. On Jan. 17, 2017 he erupted for a career-high 35 points at Saint Martin's. The 6-foot-5 forward has 19 career games of 20 points or more and 24 double-digit rebounds games, including a career-high 16 boards on Nov. 18, 2016. Wooten compiled 17 career double-doubles.
 
Gavin the Great
Gavin Long, a second-team All-GNAC honoree, leads the Falcons with a 14.0-point scoring average. In Saturday's 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. Long joined teammate Coleman Wooten on that list. With 1,009 career points, Long ranks 34th among all-time Falcons scorers. The 6-foot-5 junior guard has been SPU's top scorer eight times this year, including season highs in consecutive outings. He tallied 21 points at Northwest Nazarene on Mar. 2, also grabbing 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. Long posted a career-high 27-point effort against NNU in Friday's GNAC Tournament semifinal. His previous best was 26 points at Simon Fraser on Jan. 25, 2018. Long was a 2018 honorable mention All-GNAC selection.
 
Hot Lizotte
Senior Nikhil Lizotte led 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 nine 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. Lizotte converts free throws at an 86.9-percent clip (73 of 84) and compiled a string of 21 consecutive charity shots that ended on Jan. 17. He 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). He is a graduate of Davis High School in Yakima, Wash.
 
Carom Collector
Senior center Nathan Streufert led SPU last year with 7.4 rebounds per game and averages 5.9 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 50-34 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.
 
Quoting Coach Grant Leep
"Obviously anytime that you're in the national tournament you've accomplished something. Now we just have to get the guys ready to go for a tough matchup coming up. When you look at our first year taking over and the adversity that we fought through and the struggle that we had in year one and going with a lot of youth. Now those guys are juniors and seniors and their veteran experience and their togetherness and their toughness has really shown through as the year has gone on. I couldn't be more happy for those guys especially."
 
On Chaminade: "They are a high scoring team and I know they have some guys that can really fill it up. We're going to dive into film this week and get ready to go and see what we can do. We played them two years ago and they beat us in a tough one at their place so it will be nice to play them again. We'll have our guys ready to do."
 
On the Golden Gym venue: "It's a beautiful place to play. We were down there for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, we haven't won yet there this season, but hopefully that's about to change. It will be nice to be down there. Obviously, the best scenario would have been to have it in Seattle, but to get the two seed and to be on the West Coast still down in San Diego will be a lot of fun."
 
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.
 
2019 Season Preview
All five starters returned from last season's 17-12 team, including the Falcons top-five point producers. Heading the list of returnees was senior forward Coleman Wooten, a second-team All-GNAC selection in 2018 after averaging 11.0 points and 7.0 rebounds. Junior guard Gavin Long was an honorable mention all-league pick who averaged 11.9 points. That standout tandem is joined by three other returning starters; seniors Nikhil Lizotte and Nathan Streufert along with junior Gabe Colosimo. "This is the first time in my three years that we've had a really good mix of returning, experienced veterans, but then also some talented young players behind them," said third-year coach Grant Leep. Athletic sophomore Harry Cavell is back after drawing 10 starts in 2018. Two veteran returnees are back from injuries that sidelined them the majority of last year. Senior Sam Simpson is a stat sheet stuffer while sophomore Sharif Khan is a stellar sharpshooter. The lineup is bolstered by the addition of talented newcomers Sam Boone, a junior transfer from Lamar CC, and freshman Divant'e Moffitt.
 
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.