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SEATTLE -- Freshman Shaw Anderson compiled 15 of his game-high 22 points via perfect 5-for-5 accuracy on 3-pointers Thursday, lifting Seattle Pacific to an 83-82 Great Northwest Athletic Conference home men's basketball victory over Western Oregon.
 
The Falcons lost a 20-point halftime advantage as WOU heated up from behind the arc to take a brief 66-64 edge with 7:53 remaining on Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion.
 
Two free throws from Divant'e Moffitt evened the score and Anderson followed with a pair of his own for the go-ahead points. On the next possession Anderson stepped back behind the 3-point line and drained a jumper as the shot clock expired to produce a 71-66 lead that SPU would not relinquish.
 
The Wolves (13-6) twice closed within one point, but the hosts converted 5 of 6 free throws inside the final five minutes to repel those rallies. WOU dropped to 7-6 in conference play.
 
"The beauty of it is our guys didn't lose their cool. When Western Oregon came back and took the lead, our guys stayed composed," said SPU coach Grant Leep. "We stayed together and went on a run of our own and created a little cushion. We got some really key stops and rebounds late.
 
"This is part of our growth process as a team. We're really young with only one senior that's healthy right now. Our young men did just enough. You need to win some funky games like this sometimes to learn the lesson of how to handle it in the future."

FILIP  FULLERTON INTERVIEW

 Four-Game Lead
The first-place Falcons (16-5) were victorious for the 16th time in their last 17 contests. They improved to 12-1 in GNAC games. They swept the series from the Wolves after rallying from an 11-point deficit on Jan. 11 in Monmouth, Ore. to claim a 98-88 overtime triumph.
 
Paired with Western Washington's home loss to Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday, SPU now has a four-game lead atop the league standings with seven regular-season contests remaining. Three teams are tied for second place in the GNAC with matching 8-5 records; WWU, Fairbanks and Northwest Nazarene.
 
Fab Frosh
Anderson, a graduate of Kelso (Wash.) High School, made 6 of 9 shots from the field and was 5-for-7 from the line.
 
The 6-foot-6 forward is shooting 56.8 percent from the field for the season, but remarkably is even better on 3-pointers. He is converting treys at a 60-percent clip, having made 45 of 75.
 
"He's not afraid of the moment," Leep exclaimed. "He made some baskets, but he also turned it over a little more than he normally does. That kid just doesn't back down. We put him in tough situations because we know he can handle those and he's ready for that.
 
"It's going to be really fun watching how his game develops, but the way that he's shooting the ball from three right now is a lot of fun to watch."
 
Moffitt contributed 18 points and five assists for the Falcons, who also got 14 points from Harry Cavell and 13 from Filip Fullerton.
 
Emanuel Gant paced WOU with 19 points and Jaylyn Richardson had 17 while Dalven Brushier and Darius Lubom each chipped in 13.
 
After shooting just 3-for-12 on 3-pointers in the first half, the Wolves nailed 11 of 14 second-half treys to finish at 14-for-26 for the game. They shot 49 percent overall (29 of 59).
 
SPU countered with 57-percent accuracy (29 of 51) and shot 11-for-19 beyond the arc, sparked by Anderson's perfect night.

FILIP  FULLERTON DUNK

 Falcons Fine First Half
Turnovers in three of the first-five possessions for SPU enabled the visitors to race out to a 9-2 lead less than two minutes into the contest. Four different players scored for the Wolves and a fifth, Lubom, got into the act with their next basket. His driving layup provided an 11-5 margin.
 
Western's lead was 14-10 before the Falcons reeled off 15 unanswered points, nine of them on 3-pointers. Anderson's trey capped the run with 10:53 on the clock and the hosts leading 25-14.
 
The Wolves answered with eight straight points to draw within 22-14.
 
SPU started another spree, a 16-1 run that featured another trio of treys. They constructed a 41-23 advantage with 4:44 left in the first half.
 
The final five points of the period were netted by the Falcons, on an Anderson 3-pointer and Moffitt layup, to claim a 50-30 halftime margin.
 
SPU shot a sizzling 71 percent in the first-half (20 of 28) and were even better behind the arc at 73 percent on treys (8 of 11). Meanwhile, the Wolves were limited to 38 percent accuracy (12 of 32).
 
SPU hit its first five treys of the game, including three from Cavell, before Gabe Colosimo's miss with just over 12 minutes expired.
 
Second-Half Summary
Trailing 50-30 at intermission, the Wolves came out sizzling in the second half, hitting 5 of their first 6 treys. The opened the period with back-to-back 3-pointers, by Richardson and Cameron Cranston.
 
That caused Leep to signal for a timeout. But the break only allowed SPU to briefly stem the tide.
 
"When they came out and hit two 3-pointers, to cut our lead to 14, we took a timeout trying to settle in. We were being a little bit too passive on offense and we lost that edge of attacking. To their credit, they got into their press and created a lot of pressure which put us in situations that we didn't handle as well as we can."
 
After three Falcons points, Western staged a 20-6 surge that closed the deficit to 59-56 with 10:20 left to play.
 
The SPU lead was 64-59 before seven straight points gave the Wolves their first lead since the 13-minute mark of the first half. Tyreek Price nailed a 3-pointer with 7:53 showing on the clock for a 66-64 edge.
 
"I give Western Oregon a ton of credit. Whatever Coach (Wes) Pifer's halftime speech was, I would like to have a copy of that," said Leep. "They came out and played great in the second half.
 
"We knew they were extremely dangerous from three, coming into this game they had six guys averaging a made three a game. So, we really wanted to guard the arc and we just didn't do it well enough in the second half."
 
Fortunately for the Falcons, Moffitt and Anderson quickly tipped the scales toward SPU's side with a rapid response that regained the lead, and control of the outcome.
 
A layup by Mehdi El Mardi and two free throws from Moffitt put PSU up 83-78 with 1:17 left to play Grant quickly nailed a trey with 1:05 remaining and Lubom made of two free throws with 36.6 seconds left.
 
The final possession saw Moffitt miss a jumper with nine seconds to play, but El Mardi battled for the offensive rebound to run out the clock.
 
The two team's long-range fortunes switched as SPU shot 8-for-11 on treys before halftime and 3-for-8 after. The Wolves were 3-for-12 from 3-point range during the opening 20 minutes and 11-for-14 after that.
 
"That was just unbelievable. Just talk about a tale of two halves," Leep said. "Our guys came out and, after a pretty slow start, we really got in a groove on offense.
 
"We shot 71 percent and 73 percent from three in the first half, we know those aren't sustainable rates. But the type of shots and the way in which we were manufacturing those and getting those shots, that's something we continued to work for."
 
DIVANT'E MOFFITT PASS/FILIP FULLERTON TREY

Upcoming Action
The Falcons men remain in Seattle for two more games. They host Concordia-Portland on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. as the nightcap of Homecoming doubleheader with the women's team that plays at 2 p.m.
 
Saint Martin's invades Brougham Pavilion on Tuesday at 7 p.m. SPU then travels to Billings on Thursday to complete a hectic stretch of four games in eight days.
 
"We have to maintain our identity for 40 minutes and not just for 20 or 30," Leep said. "You just never know. These conference games the second time through, teams adjust and they do different things and they do things you haven't seen before.
 
"You just have to be ready to handle what they put at you, take it, and go from there."
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 83, Western Oregon 82
 
WESTERN OREGON (13-6, 7-6 GNAC)
Richardson 6-10 1-1 17, Cranston 3-8 0-0 8, Morrill-Keeler 1-5 0-0 2, Brushier 4-9 2-2 13, Lubom 5-10 2-4 13, Gant 7-13 3-4 19, Price 1-2 0-0 3, Baugher 1-1 0-0 3, Hamilton 1-3 2-2 4. Totals 29-59 10-13 82.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (16-5, 12-1 GNAC)
Anderson 6-9 5-7 22, Fullerton 6-6 0-0 13, Cavell 5-8 1-2 14, Moffitt 6-16 6-6 18, Colosimo 1-4 0-0 3, Olson 2-3 2-2 6, Khan 1-1 0-0 3, El Mardi 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 29-51 14-17 83.
 
Western Oregon          30     52    -- 82
Seattle Pacific         50     33    -- 83
 
3-point goals – WOU 14-26 (Richardson 4-6, Cranston 2-4, Brushier 3-7, Lubom 1-3, Gant 2-3, Price 1-1, Baugher 1-1, Hamilton 0-1), SPU 11-19 (Cavell 3-6, Anderson 5-5, Fullerton 1-1, Moffitt 0-2, Colosimo 1-3, Olsen 0-1, Khan 1-1). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – WOU 24 (Brushier 5), SPU 28 (Cavell 7). Assists – WOU 15 (Lubom 7), SPU 14 (Moffitt 5). Turnovers – WOU 14, SPU 17. Total fouls – WOU 19, SPU 13. Technical fouls – None. Attendance – 450.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Concordia-Portland at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Feb. 8, 4:15 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.