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LACEY, Wash. -- Harry Cavell and Gabe Colosimo combined for 33 points Tuesday and had six 3-pointers between them to spark Seattle Pacific's 11 consecutive victory, an 87-63 decision at Saint Martin's in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball matchup at Marcus Pavilion.
 
The Falcons (11-4) retained both their position atop the league standings and their unblemished GNAC record, improving to 7-0. They constructed their second double-digit winning streak in the last year.
 
A 13-game stretch of success was halted on March 16 in the West Regional semifinals of the 2019 NCAA Division II Tournament. That 67-63 setback was dealt by Saint Martin's, and ended SPU's season
 
Tuesday's win concluded a difficult stretch of three road games during a short, six-day span. SPU defeated Concordia-Portland 80-55 on Thursday before notching a thrilling 98-88 overtime triumph at 24th-ranked Western Oregon on Saturday.
 
"Our guys handled this last six-day stretch with a ton of maturity. We're starting to take a lot of pride in how we're playing on the road," said SPU coach Grant Leep. "We've just been finding a good rhythm on offense and our defense has been really solid and consistent.
 
"We get different people stepping up every night. The depth that this team has, everybody that we play can have an impact one way or another. We saw that tonight with guys coming off the bench and stepping up."
 
Cavell collected 17 points on 5-for-8 shooting, including 2-for-4 accuracy on 3-pointers Colosimo's 16 points came on 6-for-9 shooting and he made 4 of 6 treys.

 

They were joined by three other Falcons in double figures. Shaw Anderson tallied 11 points while Braden Olsen and Mehdi El Mardi each had 10.
 
Anderson, who won the last two GNAC Player of the Week awards, led all players with five assists. He is a freshman forward from Kelso (Wash.) High School.
 
A junior guard, Cavell also contributed a team-leading six rebounds along with three assists and two blocked shots.
 
"He's been so in control all year, on both ends of the floor having such a big impact for us," Leep described. "He's one of the best two-way players in our league and he's been shooting the ball with a lot more consistency this year.
 
"Harry just works so hard. When the guys that are your best players are also your hardest workers, good things are going to happen."
 
Demonte Malloy posted a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double for the Saints (4-11), whose GNAC record fell to 2-5. Alex Schumacher and John Moore each compiled 13 points for SMU and Marky Adams just missed a double-double with 11 rebounds and eight points.
 
It was another stellar shooting display for the Falcons, who nailed 54 percent of their attempts (32 of 59) and were 8 of 21 on treys. They held SMU to 41 percent from the floor (25 of 61) and just 5 of 19 on 3-pointers.
 
SPU started somewhat slow, but the sluggish opening didn't last long.
 
The Saints got on the board first, just 13 seconds into the game, with a free throw from Moore. Shumacher then converted a driving layup that put the hosts up 3-0.
 
A Falcons flourish followed. Filip Fullerton netted their first points on a layup 1:41 into the contest off a pass from Anderson. That ignited a run of 12 consecutive points for SPU, capped by a Braden Olsen trey with 14:55 showing on the clock.
 
SPU kept attacking, and soon strung together a 13-3 run, capped by back-to-back treys from Colosimo, to gain a 29-11 lead.
 
Cavell got the final points of the period, a 3-pointer with 31 seconds remaining, to set the halftime score at 46-24 in favor of the Falcons.
 
That margin increased to a high of 26 points, at 58-32, with 15:06 left to play after Fullerton got a free throw and reverse layup on consecutive possessions.
 
The Saints never narrowed that deficit to less than 17 points the rest of the way.
 
The SPU men return home to begin a three-game homestand on Saturday. Tip-off is 2 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion versus Montana State Billings. Six of their next eight games will be played at home.
 
With things going so well during the last two months, is Coach Leep worried about complacency setting in?
 
"We are always guarding against that, but we haven't had a chance to work on it because we have been playing every other day. I'm looking forward to taking a step back, giving them a day off Wednesday, then we've got a couple days to prepare for a very good Montana State Billings team.
 
"We'll address our focus and some of those things the way that we do in college basketball -- in practice. With as many games as we've had in this stretch we just haven't had time to address that in practice. So it will be nice to get back into that rhythm, being able to get in a couple practices before playing on Saturday."
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020
Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 87, at Saint Martin's 63
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (11-4, 7-0 GNAC)
Anderson 5-10 0-0 11, Fullerton 3-3 3-4 9, Cavell 5-8 5-6 17, Moffitt 1-8 3-4 5, Colosimo 6-9 0-0 16, Olsen 3-7 3-3 10, El Mardi 5-8 0-0 10, Medjo 4-4 1-2 9, Khan 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 32-59 15-19 87.
 
SAINT MARTIN'S (4-11, 2-5 GNAC)
Adams 4-9 0-2 8, Schumacher 6-14 0-0 13, Malloy 8-12 2-2 19, Jennings 2-8 0-0 5, Moore 4-8 4-5 13, Lenker 1-3 0-0 3, Rooney 0-6 2-4 2, Smith 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-61 8-13 63.
 
Seattle Pacific.............   46   41  -   87
Saint Martin's..............   24   39  -   63
 
3-point goals--SPU 8-21 (Colosimo 4-6, Cavell 2-4, Olsen 1-3, Anderson 1-3, Moffitt 0-3, Khan 0-2), SMU 5-19 (Schumacher 1-3, Lenker 1-3, Jennings 1-4, Moore 1-2, Malloy 1-3, Smith 0-1, Rooney 0-3). Fouled out--SPU-None, SMU-None. Rebounds--SPU 28 (Cavell 6), SMU 37 (Adams, Malloy 11). Assists--SPU 15 (Anderson 5), SMU 7 (Malloy 4). Total fouls--SPU 17, SMU 17. Technical fouls--SPU-None, SMU-None. A-370.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Jan. 18, 2:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.