Falcons fans ... you're probably missing SPU sports as much as we are during this difficult time. While we can't bring you live action, we can turn back the clock and relive remarkable events from the 2019-20 seasons for each of our teams. A recap of one athletics highlight will be featured every Monday, Wednesday & Friday for the next several weeks. Find a complete list of the award winners & a video with the links to the right.   Enjoy!


PORTLAND, Ore. (March 4, 2020) – Seattle Pacific convincingly captured the 2020 regular-season team title and Wednesday several individuals responsible for that success received honors when the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball awards were announced.
 
Grant Leep, who directed the 25th-ranked Falcons to an 18-2 league mark and a record five-game lead in the final standings, was named as the GNAC Coach of the Year.
 
"To me that's a staff award," Leep said. "The quality of assistants that I have, I'm very fortunate to work with those guys every day. It's just been really fun the way that we've come together as a staff."
 
After opening the season with four straight losses, the Falcons compiled a 14-game winning streak that was the second-longest in school history. They posted a 22-6 overall record by winning 22 of the last 24 games. That clinched back-to-back 20-win seasons under Leep.
 
SPU's Shaw Anderson was voted the Freshman of the Year by the conference coaches and junior Harry Cavell shared the Defensive Player of the Year award with Shadeed Shabazz of Alaska Fairbanks. Shabazz, from Seattle's Rainier Beach High School, was voted the Player of the Year as well.
 
Both Anderson and Cavell were selected to the All-GNAC second-team squad.
 
Sophomore Divant'e Moffitt represented the Falcons on the first-team as one of five unanimous selections.

COACH GRANT LEEP INTERVIEW

 Moffitt tops SPU and ranks fourth among GNAC players with a 16.8-point scoring average. His 3.5 assists per game are the GNAC's sixth-highest figure. The 6-foot-2 point guard is shooting 52 percent from the field and is accurate 81 percent of the time from the free throw line.

 

A product of Spanaway Lake (Wash.) High School, Moffitt tallied double figures 23 times, eight of them 20-point performances. He erupted for a career-high 33 points at Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 30.
 
"The strides that he's made from his freshman year to his sophomore year have been unlike any player that we've had in our program for a long time," Leep said of Moffitt. "He really improved his game this summer and he's gotten better over the course of the year, developing into a point guard. His ability to rise up and elevate his game more has been so crucial for the success of this team."
 
Anderson, who started every game, was the unanimous GNAC Freshman of the Year selection. His 34-point performance on Jan. 11 at Western Oregon was the Falcons finest scoring game this season. He concluded the regular-season campaign with his first double-double, a 10-point, 10-rebound effort against Central Washington on Feb. 29.

 

The 6-foot-6 forward from Kelso (Wash.) High School averages 12.8 points and 4.6 rebounds. He is a sure shooter, hitting 55 percent of his shots, including remarkable 57-percent accuracy on 3-pointers (58 of 101).
 
"What a great year. He's come in and made an impact from day one," Leep exclaimed in praising Shaw. "The way that he shot the ball has been absolutely incredible this year. Every time that he shoots it, I think it's going in."
 
Cavell ranks eighth among conference rebounders, collecting 6.7 caroms per contest. He accounted for 21 steals and 16 blocked shots. The graduate of McNary High School in Keizer, Oregon registered three double-doubles for SPU.
 
 

Along with his defensive prowess, Cavell produces at the offensive end of the floor as well. He is the Falcons' second-leading scorer at 13.6 points per game and converts 50 percent of his shots.
 
"I love that he got recognized for that," Leep said. "The hard thing with perimeter defenders like Harry is, often times we put him on the other team's best offensive player, there's not really a metric that you can measure the impact there. So to receive that honor from the coaches in the league, that means that he really made an impact.
 
"The way that Harry handled himself this year and the way that he's taken on all these assignments that we've given him from point guards to bigs has been just absolutely remarkable."
 
Joining Moffitt on the six-man first team were guards Shabazz, Dalven Brushier of Western Oregon and Jayden Bezzant of Northwest Nazarene along with forwards Oggie Pantovic of Alaska Anchorage and Trevor Jasinsky of Western Washington.
 
All of those first-teamers will be participating in the GNAC Tournament that takes place Thursday through Saturday, March 5-7 in SPU's Brougham Pavilion.
 
The GNAC second team featured Anderson and Cavell along with Brendan Howard of Montana State Billings, Jasdeep Singh of Simon Fraser, Ezekiel Alley of Northwest Nazarene and Darius Lubom of Western Oregon.
 
The Falcons are the No. 1 seed and will host this week's GNAC Tournament on Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion in Seattle.  They have a semifinal matchup on Friday at 2:15 p.m. against the winner of Thursday's quarterfinal clash between No. 4 seed Northwest Nazarene and No. 5 Alaska Anchorage.
 
Saturday's GNAC men's championship game is scheduled for 5 p.m.
 
Tickets for the men's and women's GNAC championships are available online here -- GNACtickets.com
 
The GNAC champion receives the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Tournament that begins on Mar. 13. SPU advanced to the West Regional semifinals of the 2019 national playoffs.
 
2020 GNAC MEN'S BASKETBALL AWARDS
Coach of the Year – Grant Leep, Seattle Pacific
Player of the Year – Shadeed Shabazz, Alaska Fairbanks
Freshman of the Year – Shaw Anderson, Seattle Pacific
Defensive Player of the Year – Harry Cavell, Seattle Pacific & Shadeed Shabazz, Alaska Fairbanks
Newcomer of the Year – Shadeed Shabazz, Alaska Fairbanks
 
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
 
First Team
Shadeed Shabazz, Alaska Fairbanks (G, 6-1, Jr., Seattle, WA)
Divant'e Moffitt, Seattle Pacific (G, 6-2, So., Spanaway, WA)
Dalven Brushier, Western Oregon (G, 6-3, Sr., Colorado Springs, CO)
Jayden Bezzant, Northwest Nazarene (G, 6-2, Sr., Tauranga, New Zealand)
Oggie Pantovic, Alaska Anchorage (F, 6-7, Jr., Kovin, Serbia)
Trevor Jasinsky, Western Washington (F, 6-8, Sr., Camas, WA)
 
Second Team
Brendan Howard, MSU Billings (F, 6-6, So., Great Falls, MT)
Harry Cavell, Seattle Pacific (G, 6-6, Jr., Keizer, OR)
Jasdeep Singh, Simon Fraser (F, 6-8, Jr., Delta, BC)
Ezekiel Alley, Northwest Nazarene (G, 6-0, Jr., Tucson, AZ)
Shaw Anderson, Seattle Pacific (F, 6-6, Fr., Kelso, WA)
Darius Lubom, Western Oregon (G, 6-1, Jr., Kent, WA)