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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20
(#20) Seattle Pacific at Simon Fraser, 7:00 p.m. PST
West Gym / Burnaby, B.C.
 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22
(#20) Seattle Pacific at Western Washington, 7:00 p.m. PST
Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.
 
• Webcast & LiveStats for both games: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/spu
 
Seattle Pacific has already secured the 2020 Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season championship, its sixth overall to tie Western Washington for the most since the league was formed in 2001-02. The 20th-ranked Falcons now set out to impress the NCAA Division II Tournament committee, hoping to position themselves for an at-large berth in case they don't secure the league's automatic bid with another GNAC playoff title. SPU (19-5, 15-1 GNAC) plays its final two scheduled road games this week, beginning Thursday, Feb. 20 at Simon Fraser. The Clan (14-11, 7-9) feature the league's fifth-leading scorer in Jasdeep Singh at 16.4 points per game. On Saturday, Feb. 22 the Falcons travel to Bellingham to square off with Western Washington. The second-place Vikings (15-9, 10-6) are winless in their last four matchups with SPU.
 
Ranking Report
SPU was ranked 20th when the national rankings were released Tuesday, joining the coaches poll for the first time since being listed No. 23 on March 12, 2019. The last time the Falcons were ranked higher than 20th was No. 19 on Feb. 2, 2016.
 
20th-Win Pursuit
The Falcons are one win away from reaching the 20-win mark for the 26th time in the program's 76-year history. They finished with 22 victories last season.
 
Falcons Fast Fact
SPU is in the midst of one of the most successful stretches in school history, having won 19 of its last 20 games. A win on Thursday would match the Falcons' finest one-loss streak. The 2002 squad, that established an SPU record 15 consecutive victories, lost its next game before winning five straight for a 20-1 streak. This year's team came within one of that school-record unbeaten streak with 14 wins from Nov. 16-Jan. 25.

JACOB MEDJO INTERVIEW

Frosh Phenom
Freshman Shaw Anderson is a two-time GNAC Player of the Week (Jan. 6 & Jan. 13). He averages 13.2 points while shooting 57 percent from the field (110 of 193). The 6-foot-6 forward is even better outside the arc, hitting 58.9 percent of his 3-pointers (53 of 90). Anderson compiled a streak off 11 straight successful 3-pointers from Jan. 30 to Feb. 8. He poured in a career-high 34 points at Western Oregon (Jan. 11).
 
Notable
Braden Olsen ranks No. 16 nationally in free throw accuracy at 89.4 percent (59 of 66) ... Two of SPU's five losses came versus teams currently ranked nationally in the top-25, including Azusa Pacific (6) and Cal Poly Pomona (25). The combined record of the five teams that defeated the Falcons is 82-38 (68.3%) ... The Falcons boast a 14-0 record in games when they score 80 or more points ... Sharif Khan leads SPU with 28 steals despite averaging just 16 minutes ... Eight different Falcons have led the team in scoring in a game ... SPU won all 18 games when it was ahead with five minutes remaining and has a 16-1 record when leading at halftime ... The Falcons have been without the services of last year's leading scorer (14.4 ppg), Gavin Long, who missed the last 11 games with a shoulder injury. Long was a second-team All-GNAC honoree in 2019.
 
Last Week
The Falcons stretched their winning streak to five games with an 86-75 home win over Saint Martin's (Feb. 11) and 83-62 road victory at Montana State Billings (Feb. 13) that was the program's 1,200th all-time win. Reserve point guard Braden Olsen was the Falcons leading scorer in both outings with a career-high 24 points versus the Saints followed by a 15-point performance at Billings
 
About Simon Fraser (14-11, 7-9 GNAC)
> The fourth-place Clan have cooled off, losing five of their last seven contests.
 
> Four players average double-digit points for Simon Fraser paced by Jasdeep Singh, who scores at a 16.4-point clip to rank No. 5 among GNAC players. Wilfried Balata averages 14.2 points and 6.9 rebounds.
 
> The Falcons own a 20-3 lead in the all-time series. They won the first 13 matchups with Simon Fraser before going 7-3 since then. SPU won the last three encounters, including a 94-68 decision earlier this year, on Jan. 25 in Seattle.
 
About Western Washington (15-9, 10-6 GNAC)
> Second-place WWU won two of its last three games and has a 10-3 home record.
 
> Trevor Jasinsky tops four Vikings double-figure scorers with a 14.1-point average that ranks 14th among GNAC players. Jalen Green averages 13.5 points, D'Angelo Minnis 12.2 and Siaan Rojas 10.9.
 
> The Falcons own an 87-55 series advantage and won the last four meetings, including a 74-65 victory in this year's first meeting on Jan. 23 at SPU.
 
Sharp Shooters
The SPU men lead the GNAC and rank No. 15 nationally in team field goal accuracy at exactly 50.0 percent, reaching the 50-percent mark 13 times in 24 contests and winning all 13. They held all but two foes under 50-percent and won all 16 games when out-shooting opponents. SPU hit an astounding 70 percent of its attempts (42 of 60) in a Dec. 20 home win over Puget Sound, nearly eclipsing the school record of 71.2 percent (37 of 52) set against BYU-Hawaii on Jan. 29, 2000. Five Falcons are making more shots than they miss, led by the 57-percent accuracy (110 of 193) of Shaw Anderson, who is also SPU's best 3-point shooter at 59 percent (53 of 90). The Falcons rank fourth nationally in free throw accuracy at 80.5 percent and six players convert free throws at better than an 80-percent clip, topped by Braden Olsen, whose 89.4-percent accuracy (59 of 66) ranks 16th among NCAA Division II players.
 
Dynamic Divant'e

Point guard Divant'e Moffitt is in the midst of a stellar sophomore campaign. His 16.5-point average ranks fourth in the GNAC and his 3.4 assists per game is fifth. Moffitt erupted for a career-high 33 points at Alaska Fairbanks (Jan. 30), his second 30-point performance. He reached double-figures 19 times, six of them 20-point performances. Moffitt has been the Falcons top scorer in nine games and leading assister 14 times. He shoots 52 percent from the field and 82 percent from the free throw line.
 
Youth Movement
Just six of the 13 players on the roster had worn an SPU uniform before this season and only two of them were primary starters last season (Harry Cavell, Gavin Long). The 11-player rotation implemented includes six underclassmen. Four are freshmen, with true frosh Shaw Anderson and Zack Paulsen joined by red-shirts Jacob Medjo and Filip Fullerton. Sophomores Divant'e Moffitt and Braden Olsen share point-guard duties. The infusion of newcomers also features reserve center Mehdi El Mardi, a junior transfer from Trevecca Nazarene, and incoming freshmen Chris Penner and Clayton Whitman, who are red-shirting.
 
Court Report
SPU players have produced four 30-point games, the most since there were four in 2017. Shaw Anderson tallied 33 points on Jan. 4, the most by a Falcon since Feb. 14, 2017 when Tony Miller had 33. Anderson then compiled 34 points on Jan. 11. Divant'e Moffitt tallied 30 points on Jan. 18 and erupted for a career-high 33 on Jan. 30 ... Anderson was named the GNAC Player of the Week on consecutive Mondays (Jan. 6 & Jan. 13) and Moffitt garnered the weekly honor on Dec. 2 ... Senior Gavin Long and junior Harry Cavell were named to the 15-man Preseason All-GNAC team and the Falcons were projected second in the coaches preseason poll.
 
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 70-40 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.
 
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.
 
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 Brougham Pavilion. SPU and the No. 2 seed will receive first-round byes in the men's bracket while the lower seeds meet on March 5. The semifinals are set for March 6 and the championship game is March 7.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Next Week
SPU hosts its final regular-season home games, entertaining Northwest Nazarene on Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. and Central Washington on Feb. 29 at 4:15 p.m.