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FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- Shadeed Shabazz poured in 38 points Thursday for Alaska Fairbanks, which stopped Seattle Pacific's 14-game men's basketball winning streak with an 83-77 upset at the Alaska Airlines Center.
 
The setback spoiled an opportunity to tie the school-record winning streak of 15 games that was established in 2002. After losing their first four games this season, the Falcons had gone undefeated since picking up the first win on Nov. 16.
 
"We just have to learn from this one. You win some, you learn some," SPU coach Grant Leep said, putting his own spin on a familiar phrase.
 
"We obviously had a great run where we were playing really well on both ends of the floor. Tonight we didn't play our best defensively. If we're going to play in manner that we're relying on just making shots to win games, these are some of the performances you are going to get."
 
League-leading SPU (14-5) tasted defeated for the first time in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, falling to 10-1.
 
Local Boys Make Good
The Falcons had no answer for Shabazz, a junior guard from Seattle's Rainier Beach High School. He registered his third consecutive 30-point performance, hitting 14 of 25 shots from the field and all seven of his free throws.
 
Divant'e Moffitt, a product of Spanaway Lake (Wash.) High School, countered with a career-high 33 points for SPU on seven fewer shots than Shabazz. The sophomore point guard converted 16 of 17 free throws while contributing six rebounds and four assists.
 
"Getting to the free throw line as often as Divant'e did, and being as good a free throw shooter as he is, that was really big," said Leep. "He made some big shots and got into the paint to make some good plays. Divant'e's play was really good for us and he has really played at a high level all year."

That was the sixth 20-plus point performance for Moffitt, whose previous career-high total was 30 versus Montana State Billings on Jan. 18 in Seattle.

 

Harry Cavell added 14 points for SPU, which also got 13 from Shaw Anderson and 12 from Gabe Colosimo.

The Falcons got only two points off the bench, coming on a jumper by Jacob Medjo midway through the second half. They were outscored 16-2 by the UAF reserves.
 
The Nanooks (8-11) improved to 7-4 in GNAC play. They also had four double-figure scorers as Spencer Sweet scored 17 points, Alex Sommerfield had 14 and Koby Huerta 10.
 
The hosts outshot SPU by better than 10 percent with 47-percent accuracy (27 of 58) compared to 36 percent (22 of 61).
 
SPU survived a sluggish start to briefly take a five-point first-half lead and trail just 34-31 at halftime.
 
Turning Point
The first seven points after intermission were tallied by the Falcons, who led 38-31 and maintained that same margin, at 46-39, after Shaw Anderson nailed a 3-pointer with 15:06 left to play.
 
"We got off to a decent start in the second half, getting up by as much as seven, and then they came back and made some big baskets, big threes. We just didn't put them away," Leep explained.
 
The Nanooks reeled off nine consecutive points and, after Moffitt tied the score on a driving layup, went ahead for good at 51-48 on a 3-pointer by Sommerfield with 11:36 remaining.
 
That advantage steadily grew to a high of 12 points, at 73-61, with 2:52 remaining. That was larger than any deficit than SPU faced during the recent winning streak.
 
"They did a really good job of hitting tough shots," said Leep. "We had a hard time stringing together consecutive stops that would allow us, in the second half, to chip away at that lead and get back in the game."
 
The visitors made it interesting, netting five straight points to draw within 73-66 with 1:21 showing on the clock. But Fairbanks drained 10 of 12 free throws during the final 1:07 to secure the result.
 
Series History
UAF defeated the Falcons for just the third time in the last 26 meetings, stopping an eight-game losing skid in the series. SPU won this season's first encounter, 86-68, on Jan. 4 in Seattle.
 
Shabazz was held to 15 points, on 3-for-17 shooting, in that matchup. He entered Thursday's game as the GNAC leader, scoring at a 24.6-point clip.
 
"Obviously, Shabazz was terrific tonight and he made a lot of big plays for them. He got more layups tonight," Leep said of the difference between the two meetings. "When you see a couple shots go in, it's easier to get into a rhythm. We allowed him, as a left-handed player, to get left too often.
 
"You have to have a very good, solid, collective effort on defense and your positioning has to be disciplined and spot-on. We were just a little bit too loose with it tonight and when he gets in a rhythm, he's really hard to stop and he can start making tough shots. That was the big difference tonight, we let him get too many layups."
 
Another streak was halted for SPU, which had posted 20 consecutive regular-season wins over GNAC opponents, dating back to their last league setback on Jan. 26, 2019.

The Falcons suffered their first road loss of the season in nine outings.
 
Slow Starting SPU
The temperature was a chilly minus-21 at tip-off Thursday, and the Falcons were frigid inside the arena. They missed eight of their first nine shots and committed two turnovers, enabling Alaska to claim an early 7-3 edge.
 
That margin grew to 19-10 on back-to-back baskets by Shabazz, the first a 3-pointer. At that point, SPU was successful on just 4 of 16 shots from the field.

 

After the Falcons' Cavell completed a three-point play, Shabazz scored on a driving layup and Sommerfield sank two free throws to put the Nanooks up by 10. SPU faced only its second double-digit deficit during the winning streak as Fairbanks led 23-13 with 9:20 left in the first half.
 
The visitors finally heated up as Moffitt scored seven straight, igniting a run of 15 unanswered points the propelled SPU into a 28-23 lead with 5:26 to play before intermission.
 
The Nanooks missed nine straight shots, a drought that Shabazz halted on a fastbreak layup with 4:27 showing on the clock. After Colosimo responded with a 3-pointer, Fairbanks netted the final nine points to stake a 34-31 halftime margin.
 
That was only the second time SPU trailed at the half during its winning streak.
 
Neither team shot well in the first half with the Nanooks at 39 percent (14 of 36) and SPU 41 percent (9 of 29).
 
Shabazz tallied 20 of the Nanooks 34 first-half points on 9-for-16 shooting.
 
Next Game
The SPU men remain in Alaska, paying a visit to Anchorage for a game on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
 
"We have to bounce back for the game in Anchorage," Leep said. "We need to get back to being that really good, solid defensive team that we were during our streak that we had. We'll take the lesson, learn from this one and get ready to go on Saturday."
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020
Alaska Airlines Court / Fairbanks, Alaska
 
at Alaska Fairbanks 83, Seattle Pacific 77
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (14-5, 10-1 GNAC)
Anderson 4-11 2-2 13, Fullerton 1-4 0-0 3, Cavell 4-11 5-8 14, Moffitt 8-18 16-17, 33, Colosimo 4-9 0-0 12, Olsen 0-4 0-0 0, Khan 0-2 0-0 0, El Mardi 0-0 0-0 0, Medjo 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 22-61 23-27 77.
 
ALASKA FAIRBANKS (8-11, 7-4 GNAC)
Kachjanni 1-1 0-0 2, Shabazz 14-25 7-7 38, Sweet 4-9 7-8 17, Daugharty 0-0 0-2 0, Huerta 3-10 4-4 10, McCullough 0-0 0-0 0, Howard 1-1 0-1 2, Lee 0-2 0-0 0, Banks 0-2 0-0 0, Sommerfield 4-8 2-2 14. Totals 27-58 20-24 83.
 
Seattle Pacific.............   31   45  -   77
Alaska Fairbanks............   34   49  -   83
 
3-point goals – SPU 10-29 (Cavell 1-3, Moffitt 1-5, Colosimo 4-8, Fullerton 1-2, Anderson 3-6, Olsen 0-2, Khan 0-2, Medjo 0-1), UAF 9-27 (Shabazz 3-8, Sweet 2-7, Huerta 0-4, Somerfield 4-8). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – SPU 40 (Cavell 10), UAF 30 (Shabazz, Sommerfield 7). Assists – SPU 12 (Moffitt 4), UAF 12 (Shabazz 6). Turnovers – SPU 11, UAF 7. Total fouls – SPU 20, UAF 21. Technical fouls – UAF: Daugharty. Attendance – 325.
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Seattle Pacific at Alaska Anchorage
Saturday, Feb. 1, 8:30 p.m. PST
Alaska Airlines Center / Anchorage, Alaska