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ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Shaw Anderson compiled six of his 19 points during the decisive second-half stretch Saturday, helping the Seattle Pacific men bounce back from a streak-stopping loss to defeat Alaska Anchorage, 79-73, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball contest.
 
The first-place Falcons (15-5) were victorious for the 15th time in their last 16 outings, improving to 11-1 in league play. They suffered an 83-77 setback at Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday that spoiled an opportunity to tie the school-record 15-game winning streak.
 
"I was pleased with how our group responded to a setback on Thursday," said SPU coach Grant Leep. "The prep that we had, the intensity that our guys showed and then the grittiness to come back were great. We got off to a good start and led at the half. With the way these guys shoot it, those leads can go away really fast.
 
"Even when we got down, our group had energy in the huddle. The positivity and communication that was happening in there gave me the feeling that we were pretty locked in today and we had a run coming up of our own."
 
Decisive Stretch
Saturday's game was tied, 61-61, with 8:53 to play before SPU staged the pivotal surge.
 
Anderson made a layup for the go-ahead basket, igniting a 10-2 surge that put the visitors in control. His fastbreak capped the run, providing a 71-63 advantage with 5:13 remaining.
 
Oggie Pantovic scored six straight points to draw UAA within 71-69, but Filip Fullerton doubled the Falcons lead with a layup, off a pass from Harry Cavell, with 2:12 showing on the clock.
 
Anchorage again cut the margin to two, on a layup by Tobin Karlberg with 2:01 left to play. SPU answered as Cavell converted two free throws at 1:35 to start a string of six successful shots from the line that secured the win.
 
Fabulous Frosh
 

Anderson missed only one shot in eight attempts and hit all three of his treys.
 
The freshman forward led all Falcons scorers for the first time in six games. Anderson posted his highest-scoring game since amassing a career-high 34 points on Jan. 11 after which he garnered the second of consecutive GNAC Player of the Week awards.
 
"As we see how good Shaw is, teams are going to adjust and try to take some things away," Leep described. "As he continues to grow and develops into his skillset, he'll keep finding ways to score. At every level that he has played, he just finds ways to get the ball in the basket.
 
"We knew that Shaw was a good shooter, but we didn't know that he could shoot it to this level. That's something from the 3-point line that he's added that he didn't really do in high school."
 
SPU got 12 points from Divant'e Moffitt and 10 from Filip Fullerton.
 
Bountiful Bench
Braden Olsen tallied 13 points and Mehdi El Mardi added 10 to spark an improved contribution from the Falcons' reserves. They combined for 29 points, two days after accounting for just two points off the bench at Fairbanks.
 
"The guys that came in off the bench, offensively they were more ready to go. But we know those guys are capable of that," said Leep.
 
"One of the things that we've always really prided ourselves on, with the depth that our team has is, is that when we do go into our bench there is no drop-off in the level of play. In some cases we feel like we have more than five starters. We got back to that tonight."
 
Olsen and Cavell each distributed seven assists for SPU, which registered a season-high 21 in that category.
 
The Falcons shot a stellar 56 percent from the floor (28 of 50) and nailed 8 of 17 shots from 3-point range.
 
Pantovic produced a 21-point, 12-rebound double-double for Anchorage (14-9), which dropped to 7-5 in GNAC play.
 
Karlberg and Tyrus Hosley each had 17 points for the Seawolves, who made 13 treys on 36 attempts. They shot 37 percent overall (24 of 65).
 
Second-Half Summary
UAA missed its first five treys of the second half, enabling the Falcons to gain a 55-44 lead six minutes after intermission.
 
The 3-pointers started falling for the Seawolves, who notched their next 15 points from beyond the arc. They hit 5 of 6 treys during that stretch.
 
Two 3-pointers apiece from Hosley and Jack Macdonald sparked a 12-0 run that provided a 56-55 Anchorage lead, its first since the 12-minute mark of the first half.
 
The Seawolves, who lived by the trey, soon died by it. They missed their final seven 3-pointers while the visitors capitalized to claim the victory.
 
Frenetic First Half
In the first half, UAA took an 18-17 edge on a layup by David Riley eight minutes into the contest. The Falcons responded with 17-3 spree fueled by a pair of reserves.
 
 

Sharif Khan drained back-to-back 3-pointers, the first from the left corner and the second from the right corner. El Mardi netted eight points in that span, including the final six that forged a 34-21 advantage with 8:05 left in the first half.
 
Seattle Pacific had runs of 11 points and then six points interrupted only by a 3-pointer by UAA's Hosley.
 
Treys on their next three possessions kept the Seawolves in contact, drawing them within 36-30.
 
Hosley hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key for the final basket that set the first-half score at 48-40 in favor of the Falcons.
 
SPU shot a sizzling 64 percent (18 of 28) from the field before halftime, a figure that included 7-for-12 accuracy on 3-pointers. Anchorage countered with 8 treys in 17 attempts, shooting 44 percent (14 of 32) overall.
 
Heading Home
The Falcons men return to Seattle for a three-game homestand that begins on Thursday versus Western Oregon. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. as the nightcap of a Brougham Pavilion doubleheader with the women's team.
 
The three home games are the start of a hectic stretch of four games in eight days for SPU, capped by a Feb. 13 visit to Montana State Billings.
 
"We just have to be in the moment and take it one day at a time," Leep said. "We need to go 1-0 in each of those games. That's what we'll be preaching to our guys. The nice thing is that we have three of those games at home.
 
"If we can continue to have the production off the bench that we had and use our depth during this crucial stretch, that will be really big for us."

NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020
Alaska Airlines Center / Anchorage, Alaska
 
Seattle Pacific 79, at Alaska Anchorage 73
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (15-5, 11-1 GNAC)
Anderson 7-8 2-3 19, Fullerton 4-7 2-2 10, Cavell 1-7 4-4 6, Moffitt 4-8 3-4 12, Colosimo 1-5 0-0 3, Olsen 4-6 4-4 13, El Mardi 5-7 0-0 10, Khan 2-2 0-0 6. Totals 28-50 15-17 79.
 
ALASKA ANCHORAGE (14-9, 7-5 GNAC)
Bevens 2-10 0-0 5, Pantovic 6-11 8-8 21, Hale 0-0 0-0 0, Karlberg 6-10 1-2 17, Macdonald 2-8 2-2 8, Hosley 6-14 0-0 17, Riley 2-4 0-0 4, Osuigwe 0-8 1-2 1. Totals 24-65 12-14 73.
 
Seattle Pacific.............   48   31  -   79
Alaska Anchorage............   40   33  -   73
 
3-point goals--SPU 8-17 (Anderson 3-3, Khan 2-2, Colosimo 1-3, Olsen 1-1, Moffitt 1-1, Cavell 0-6, Fullerton 0-1), UAA 13-36 (Hosley 5-11, Karlberg 4-7, Macdonald 2-7, Pantovic 1-1, Bevens 1-8, Osuigwe 0-2). Fouled out--SPU-El Mardi, UAA-Pantovic. Rebounds--SPU 33 (Olsen 6), UAA 28 (Pantovic 12). Assists--SPU 21 (Cavell, Olsen 7), UAA 20 (Hale 6). Turnovers--SPU 15, UAA 7. Total fouls--SPU 17, UAA 13. Technical fouls- None. Attendance-1411.
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Feb. 6, 8:70 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.