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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9
Seattle Pacific at Concordia-Portland, 7:30 p.m. PST
LCEF Court / Portland, Ore.
 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 11
Seattle Pacific at (#24) Western Oregon, 4:15 p.m. PST
New PE Building / Monmouth, Ore.
 
TUESDAY, JANUARY 14
Seattle Pacific at Saint Martin's, 7:00 p.m. PST
Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.
 
• Webcast & LiveStats for all three road games: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/spu/
 
SATURDAY, JANUARY 18
Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m. PST
Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
• Webcast: https://www.youtube.com/user/SPUsports  
• LiveStats: www.sidearmstats.com/spu/mbball
• Tickets: http://siteline.vendini.com/site/spufalcons.com
 
On the road again! For the first time in over a month, Seattle Pacific embarks on a road trip, putting its eight-game winning streak and first-place standing on the line. The Falcons (8-4, 4-0 GNAC) begin a three-game, six-day journey with a visit to Concordia-Portland on Thursday, Jan. 9 for a 7:30 p.m. contest. The Cavaliers (1-11, 0-4) seek to snap a six-game losing streak. On Saturday, Jan. 11, SPU travels to Monmouth to meet 24th-ranked Western Oregon at 4:15 p.m. That contest features a rematch of the 2019 GNAC Tournament championship game when SPU defeated the Wolves (8-2, 2-2) by a score of 78-66 in Bellingham for its fourth league tournament title. The road swing concludes on Tuesday, Jan. 14 at Saint Martin's with a 7 p.m. game in Lacey, Wash. The Saints (4-9, 2-2) ended SPU's 2019 season with a 67-63 decision in the West Regional semifinal of the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Falcons return home on Saturday, Jan. 18 to host Montana State Billings at 2 p.m. on Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion. The Yellowjackets (6-6, 1-3) lost nine of their last 10 encounters versus SPU.

 

Player of the Week
Freshman Shaw Anderson, who compiled 44 points and 15 rebounds while hitting 16 of 26 shots from the field to lead SPU to a pair of home victories, was named the GNAC Player of the Week on Monday. He posted a career-high 33-point performance in Saturday's (Jan. 4) 86-68 triumph over Alaska Fairbanks in a matchup of the GNAC's lone remaining undefeated squads. His prolific scoring night marked SPU's first 30-point game in nearly three years. Anderson's previous high game as a collegian was a 20-point effort at Sonoma State on Nov. 26. The 6-foot-6 forward nailed 4 of 5 shots from 3-point range and shot 12-for-16 overall from the field while also contributing nine rebounds and three assists versus the Nanooks. On Thursday (Jan. 2), Anderson tallied 11 points and six rebounds in an 83-76 win over Alaska Anchorage.
 
Youth Being Served
Only five of the 13 players on the roster had ever before worn an SPU uniform and just two of them were primary starters last season (Harry Cavell, Gavin Long). The 11-player rotation utilized so far includes six underclassmen. Four of those are freshmen, with red-shirt frosh Jacob Medjo and Filip Fullerton joined by true freshmen Shaw Anderson and Zack Paulsen. A pair of sophomores, Divant'e Moffitt and Braden Olsen, share the point-guard duties. The infusion of newcomers also features starting center Mehdi El Mardi, a junior transfer from Trevecca Nazarene, and incoming freshmen Chris Penner and Clayton Whitman.

FILIP FULLERTON INTERVIEW

 Court Report
Saturday's (Jan. 4) 33-point scoring night by Shaw Anderson marked SPU's first 30-point performance in nearly three years, since Tony Miller had 33 versus Saint Martin's on Feb. 14, 2017 ... Senior Gavin Long and junior Harry Cavell were named to the 15-man Preseason All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference team and the Falcons were picked second in the coaches preseason poll.
 
Scouting Concordia (1-11, 0-4 GNAC)
> The Cavaliers last their last six games after getting their lone win, 61-60, over Notre Dame de Namur on Nov. 23.
 
> CU features the scoring tandem of Hunter Sweet and Dakota Ayala, who average 16.0 and 13.0 points, respectively.
 
> SPU boasts a 9-1 series lead after sweeping both games in 2019. The Falcons won 80-78 on Jan. 17 in their last visit to Portland, getting a last-second putback layup by Nathan Streufert. SPU then won the rematch, 78-50, on Feb. 16 in Seattle.
 
Scouting (#24) Western Oregon (8-2, 2-2 GNAC)
> The 24th-ranked Wolves won their last three outings and are 4-0 at home this year.
 
> WOU has four double-digit scorers led by the 18.4 points of Dalven Brushier.
 
> SPU leads the all-time series 42-25 and won the last two meetings to halt a 10-game losing skid versus Western Oregon.
 
> The Wolves won last year's first matchup, 73-71, on Jan. 19 in Monmouth. SPU was a 66-57 victor on Feb. 14 in Seattle and then recorded a 78-66 result on March 9 in Bellingham in the 2019 GNAC Tournament championship game.
 
Scouting Saint Martin's (4-9, 2-2 GNAC)
> The Saints, who lost their last four games, captured their first GNAC regular-season championship in 2019.
 
> First-year coach Aaron Landon, who takes over for Alex Pribble, spent his previous six years at South Puget Sound Community College. His SMU offense features four double-figures scorers led by CJ Jennings, who scores at a 15.9-point clip.
 
> SPU owns a 98-41 series lead despite losing seven of the last eight meetings. The Falcons lone win in that stretch was a 67-63 decision on Feb. 19, 2019 in Seattle.
 
> The Saints won last season's first encounter, 80-63 on Jan. 22 in Lacey. They ended SPU's 2019 season with a 67-63 triumph on March 16 in San Diego, Calif. in the NCAA Division II West Regional semifinal.
 
Scouting MSU Billings (6-6, 1-3 GNAC)
> The Yellowjackets attack is headlined by Brendan Howard. The 6-foot-6 sophomore forward leads the GNAC with 22.2 points per game and is second in rebounding with an average of 8.7 boards.
 
> MSUB also boasts two other high-scoring players as Zharon Richmond averages 17.5 points per contest and Tyler Green 14.9.
 
> The Falcons lead the series by a 44-31 margin, but had an eight-game winning streak over MSUB snapped with a 92-63 loss on Jan. 26, 2019 in Billings. SPU won the rematch, 76-67, on Feb. 21 in Seattle.
 
Quoting Coach Leep
On the 8-game winning streak -- "It's a testament to the character of the group that we have. They stayed together through the tough times. We played a very difficult schedule early, we did that intentionally. That was hard to go through, but they stayed the course and didn't let their heads get down. They kept working hard and now it's starting to pay off and we obviously want to keep it going and keep getting better every time that we come out."  On the 3-game road trip -- "Our team has been great on the road all year and we'll approach them just like we would any other game. The things that we do well, those travel with us. We have depth, we don't miss a beat when we put guys in off the bench for our starters. The level of play continues to be high. Our guys are so locked into what we're doing and what our identity as a group is right now and that will travel with us anywhere that we go."
 
Coach Leep
Grant Leep, 40, is in his fourth season directing the SPU men's basketball program after seven years as an assistant on the Falcons staff. He has a 59-39 career record. Leep coached the 2019 team to a 22-7 record that featured a late 13-game winning streak. His Falcons won the GNAC Tournament and advanced to the West Regional semifinal of the NCAA Division II Tournament. Leep 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.
 
Decade of Dominance
The winningest decade in the stellar history of SPU basketball came to a close on Dec. 20 with the program's 211th victory from 2010-19. The 211-88 record produced a 70.6 winning percentage that ranks second all-time, trailing only the 71.3 percent mark (206-83) compiled by the Falcons teams from 2000-09.
 
2020 Season Preview
Two starters return from the Seattle Pacific team that posted a 22-7 record in 2019, won the GNAC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA West Regional semifinal. Headlining the list of returnees is leading scorer Gavin Long. The 6-foot-5 senior guard averaged 14.4 points en route to second-team All-GNAC honors. Junior guard Harry Cavell is also back after averaging 10.2 points as a starter in 2019. A quartet of returning guards bolsters that starting tandem, a group that includes Gabe Colosimo, Sharif Khan, Divant'e Moffitt and Braden Olsen. Graduation hit the frontcourt hard, but capable reinforcements are prepared to fill the void. The Falcons have two transfers eligible at the center position, Filip Fullerton from Portland State and Mehdi El Mardi from Trevecca Nazarene. A fantastic four-man freshman class is brimming with talent and only lacks experience in the college game. All four were standouts in the Washington state prep ranks. The frosh class is comprised of Shaw Anderson (Kelso HS), Zack Paulsen (Curtis HS), Chris Penner (Capital HS) and Clayton Whitman (Lynden HS).

 

Gavin the Great
SPU senior Gavin Long averages 11.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, pouring in a season-high 23 points on Dec. 20 vs UPS. He is a two-time All-GNAC selection, earning second-team honors last year after honorable mention acclaim in 2019. The 6-foot-5 guard led the Falcons with a 14.4-point scoring average last year. With 1,189 career points, Long currently ranks No. 19 among all-time Falcons scorers.
 
GNAC Tournament
SPU captured its fourth GNAC Tournament title last year, adding a 2019 trophy to the display that includes hardware from three consecutive seasons between 2013-15. The conference determines its automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division II Tournament with a post-season playoff. The top-six finishers in the regular-season standings will participate in the GNAC Tournament. All of the conference's 2020 men's and women's playoff games will be contested at SPU's Brougham Pavilion. The top-two seeds receive a first-round bye while the lower seeds meet on March 5. The semifinals are set for March 6 and the championship game is March 7.
 
2019 Season Review
The Falcons returned to the NCAA Division II Tournament after a two-year absence. They reeled off 13 consecutive victories en route to a GNAC Tournament championship and appearance in the NCAA West Regional semifinal. SPU's final record of 22-7 included a 16-4 league ledger that was good for second place in the GNAC standings. Coleman Wooten earned first-team All-GNAC honors, Gavin Long was a second-teamer and Nikhil Lizotte garnered honorable mention acclaim.
 
Falcons Fast Fact
The Falcons fashioned a 13-game win streak from Jan. 31 to Mar. 15, 2019 that was their longest since a school-record stretch of 15 straight victories in 2002. Last year's win streak was stopped by a 67-63 loss to Saint Martin's in the NCAA West Region semifinal that ended the Falcons season.
 
Postseason Pursuit
SPU seeks to return to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the second straight season after a two-year absence in 2017 and 2018. 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.