• VIDEO: POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE     
• VIDEO: GAME HIGHLIGHTS
• VIDEO: HARRY  CAVELL INTERVIEW
• PHOTO GALLERY

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Gavin Long poured in a career-high 27 points Friday, sparking second-seeded Seattle Pacific's 89-81 men's basketball victory over Northwest Nazarene in the semifinal round of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament at Carver Gymnasium.
 
SPU (20-6) won its 11th consecutive game, earning a berth in Saturday's conference championship game against No. 4 seed Western Oregon. The 7:30 p.m. matchup on the Western Washington campus will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
 
The Falcons are in the title game for the fourth time in the nine-year history of the tournament, having emerged victorious in each of their previous three championship game appearances. They are the league's only three-time champion.
 
Seattle Pacific won its initial conference tourney title in 2013, beating regular-season winner Western Washington 72-70 on a last-second 3-pointer by Jobi Wall. The Falcons won the next two as well, both times against WWU.
 
SPU was a 65-62 victor in 2014 and won 81-68 in 2015.
 
Western Oregon defeated top-seeded and regular-season champ Saint Martin's 70-52 in Friday's second semifinal and will participate in the GNAC championship game for the fourth straight season. The defending champion Wolves beat SMU in 2018 and also won the 2016 crown.
 
The championship combatants split their regular-season series with the Wolves winning 73-71 on Jan. 19 in Monmouth and SPU getting a 66-57 decision in the rematch, on Feb. 14 in Seattle.
 
Saturday's winner receives the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament that begins on March 15.


 
A 29-8 spree sandwiched around halftime Friday proved decisive for the Falcons, who concluded the first period with an 8-1 run and then outscored NNU 21-7 to start the second half.
 
That surge created a 61-46 advantage that the Nighthawks were unable to overcome.
 
Long made 9 of 15 shots, including 3-for-4 accuracy on 3-pointers, and sank all six of his free throws to surpass his previous high scoring game by one point. That was a 26-point performance at Simon Fraser on Jan. 25, 2018 for the 6-foot-5 guard.
 
"Gavin just stepped up, a career high in a big game. He's done that for us all year. He's been lights out the last month or so at both ends of the floor," SPU coach Grant Leep exclaimed. "When he gets going like that, it's just hard to stop.
 
"The beautiful thing was we wanted him to shoot some threes because he can make them, he's got a good percentage. When he sees one or two of those thing go in then it opens up so much more of his game. At his size, with his ability to finish, his ability to hit free throws and then the versatility that he gives us on defense, that's the kind of guys that we love to have in our program."
 
Harry Cavell tallied 17 points for SPU, which also got 16 points and 9 rebounds from Coleman Wooten. That led a 37-31 advantage on the boards.
 
A total of 14 offensive rebounds enabled the Falcons to double their opponent's second-chance point figure, 20-10.
 
"We looked at the boxscore from Saturday, we had 24 offensive rebounds," Leep said. "The biggest thing that we did tonight is we just made more shots, which really helps. I'll sacrifice some offensive rebounds if it means we're going to make a few more buckets."
 
The No. 3 seeded Nighthawks (20-8) lost to SPU for the second time in a week as they were beaten 87-82 in Nampa, Idaho on March 2 in the final regular-season contest for both teams.
 
As was the case in that last meeting, NNU lost despite posting superior shooting accuracy at 52 percent (31 of 60) to 47 percent for the Falcons (29 of 62).
 
The conference's leading scorer and Player of the Year, Adonis Arms, paced the Nighthawks with 18 points. Obi Megwa and Jayden Bezzant each chipped in 16.


 
In the first half, the Falcons came up empty on their first five possessions, allowing NNU to open a 7-0 lead. They missed five shots and turned the ball over once before finally getting on the board with a 3-pointer by Long after nearly four minutes had expired.
 
Two more treys followed for the Falcons in their next two shots, another from Long and one by Sam Simpson, to close the deficit to 13-11 with 13 minutes showing on the clock.
 
" I was really proud of the way our group responded tonight to their really early onslaught offensively," Leep said. "When they came out and hit us hard and fast and early, our group didn't panic. They stayed composed,
 
"We've got guys that have been through those things now and that experience really showed itself tonight.
 
A 12-4 run by the Nighthawks, with baskets from five different players, forged their largest lead of the game. When Megwa nailed a shot in the lane and hit the subsequent free throw after being fouled, NNU led 30-19 with 6:34 remaining in the first half.
 
Cavell answered with a 3-pointer to ignite a nine-point SPU surge that trimmed the margin to 30-28.
 
SPU trailed for nearly the entire first half before back-to-back 3-pointers evened the score. The second trey, by Long from the right corner, made it 38-38 with 1:31 left in the period.
 
Long followed with a layup to provide the Falcons first lead, 40-38.
 
Megwa converted the second of two free throws with 45 seconds left to set the halftime score at 40-39 in the Falcons favor.
 
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Wooten and Cavell started the second half strong for SPU. Five minutes into the period, Wooten made consecutive layups to start a 10-point streak that produced the largest lead of the game, 61-46 with 11:44 left to play.
 
The Nighthawks chipped away at that margin, eventually drawing within 85-81 on consecutive treys by Megwa and Bezzant. But it was too late as just 25.7 seconds remained and SPU secured the victory with two free throws apiece from Nikhil Lizotte and Long.
 
SPU drained 13 of 14 free throws inside the final five minutes to turn back the late Nighthawks rally.
 
The current 11-game winning streak is the Falcons longest since a similar stretch in the 2014 season. The last time they strung together more wins was 2002 with a school-record 15-game winning streak.
 

 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
GNAC Tournament -- Semifinal
Friday, March 8, 2019
Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 89, Northwest Nazarene 81
 
NORTHWEST NAZARENE (20-8)
Diaz 3-5 0-0 6, Adetunji 3-4 1-2 8, Arms 5-11 7-9 18, Megwa 7-13 1-2 16, Roth 2-4 0-0 5, Bezzant 7-16 0-1 16, Nelson 2-4 1-1 5, Furgerson 1-1 0-0 3, White 0-0 2-2 2, Prvulj 1-2 0-0 2, Wicks 0-0 0-0 0, Franks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-60 12-17 81.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (20-6)
Wooten 7-14 1-3 16, Streufert 2-4 0-0 4, Cavell 4-11 7-7 17, Lizotte 0-6 4-4 4, Long 9-15 6-6 27, Khan 1-2 4-4 7, Simpson 2-4 1-2 6, Boone 2-2 0-0 4, Moffitt 2-4 0-2 4. Totals 29-62 23-28 89.
 
Northwest Nazarene............  39   42  -   81
Seattle Pacific...............  40   49  -   89
 
3-point goals--NNU 7-16 (Bezzant 2-4, Roth 1-2, Arms 1-3, Adetunji 1-1, Furgerson 1-1, Megwa 1-3, Nelson 0-1, Diaz 0-1), SPU 8-23 (Long 3-4, Cavell 2-4, Simpson 1-3, Khan 1-2, Wooten 1-4, Moffitt 0-1, Lizotte 0-5). Fouled out--NNU-Arms, SPU-None. Rebounds--NNU 31 (Adetunji 7), SPU 37 (Wooten 9). Assists--NNU 11 (Megwa 4), SPU 15 (Wooten, Khan, Lizotte, Simpson 3). Total fouls--NNU 24, SPU 16. Technical fouls--NNU-None, SPU-None. A-613.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
GNAC Tournament Championship Game
Seattle Pacific vs. Western Oregon
Saturday, March 9, 7:35 p.m. (ESPN3)
Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.