SEATTLE -- This is not what Seattle Pacific had in mind after waiting over 10 months for Wednesday night's long-delayed men's basketball season opener. But the Falcons were grateful to finally be back on the court.
 
Hot-shooting Whitworth won 95-83 to spoil a 30-point performance from SPU junior point guard Divant'e Moffitt.
 
Rowan Anderson amassed 24 points and 10 assists for the Pirates. The junior guard hit 5 of 7 shots from 3-point range, helping his team to a 54-percent effort beyond the arc (13 of 24).
 
Overall, Whitworth (1-3) nailed 60-percent of its shots at 33 of 55, to pick up its first win of the year. WU is an NCAA Division III competitor from Spokane, Washington.
 
"We knew coming in that Whitworth is a really good program and they have been for a long time. We knew that we were going to be in for a really tough matchup," said Grant Leep, who began his fifth season as the Falcons head coach.
 
"I credit them for coming in ready to play. They had a lot of timely shots and they got out to a big early lead which forced our hand in trying to do some things to kind of scratch and claw our way back into the ballgame. Every time we got close, they hit another big shot. That's a team that's been battle-tested with six games already this year, including exhibitions."
 
SPU (0-1) shot well at 48 percent (27 of 56), but not well enough to counter the Pirates exceptional marksmanship on Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion that did not allow spectators due to the pandemic.
 
The Falcons were playing for the first time since March 6, 2020. They were seeded No. 5 and supposed to meet Chico State on March 13 in the first round of the NCAA Division II playoffs in La Jolla, California. That tournament was cancelled on March 12 due to the COVID outbreak and so was SPU's 2021 Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule.
 
Seattle Pacific is patching together its own slate of opponents and it is a work in progress.
 
"We are super appreciative of the work that our university administration and then our athletic administration have done to even get us to this point," Leep said. "It looks and feels so different without fans and sitting apart from each other on the opposite side of the court, but it's what it takes to play at this time.
 
"It's important for our student-athletes at this stage of their lives that they to play some games. This is the most normal that our group has felt in months. I'm very thankful for the opportunity that we have."
 
We Meet Again
These same two teams square off again Thursday at 6 p.m. in fanless Brougham Pavilion.
 
"These are unique situations," Leep said of playing Whitworth on back-to-back nights. "Usually in a conference season when you play somebody, you don't see them again for another month or so. But we get to go right back out tomorrow and we're going to take advantage of that. Obviously, we have to be better defensively. On the defensive end we left a lot lacking."
 
HARRY CAVELL STEAL & FASTBREAK DUNK

 Magnificent Moffitt
A unanimous first-team All-GNAC selection last season, Moffitt hit 9 of 16 shots from the field Wednesday and drained 10 of 11 free throws. He made half of his 4 trey tries and distributed a team-high three assists in 37 minutes of action.
 
"I don't know how, but Divant'e found a way to get better in the last 10 months when we haven't been able to really do much as a team," Leep exclaimed. "He's just a special player and we love what he brings. He makes shots, finds the right reads and just does really good stuff for us."
 
Wednesday marked the third career 30-point performance for Moffitt, whose all-time high of 33 points came on Jan. 20, 2020 at home versus Alaska Fairbanks.
 
Harry Cavell added 19 points for the Falcons, while Sharif Khan and Zack Paulsen contributed 10 apiece.
 
Five players reached double-figure points for Whitworth, which got 16 from Garrett Paxton and 15 from both Liam Fitzgerald and Miguel Lopez.

How it Happened
The Pirates increased a 10-point halftime lead to as many as 18 points, at 64-46, on a dunk by Fitzgerald with 14:09 left to play.
 
SPU later produced a 12-3 spree, drawing within 79-72 on a scoop shot by Cavell with 5:23 remaining.
 
Brad Lackey stopped that spree with a 3-pointer at 5:02.
 
There was no quit in the Falcons, who rode four consecutive free throws from Moffitt and a 3-pointer by Khan to close the gap to 83-79 with 3:12 showing on the clock. That four-point differential was as close as they came during the entire second half.
 
Anderson answered with his fifth trey and Whitworth secured the victory by converting 5 of 6 free throws inside the final minute.
 
The first half was a back-and-forth affair until the visitors staged a late surge. There were two ties and eight lead changes before Whitworth closed the period with a 14-5 spurt.
 
Before that, SPU nailed its first three shots to stake a 7-2 lead. The Pirates netted the next two baskets to level the score. The Falcons gained their final advantage on consecutive baskets by Moffitt, claiming a 21-18 edge with 12:00 left in the period.
 
Whitworth answered with eight straight points, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from Fogle, to take the lead for good at 26-21 with 10:23 to play.
 
The Pirates plundered their largest lead of the first half on a pair of free throws by Paxton just 2.9 seconds before halftime.
 
SPU Debut for Five Falcons
Five players made their debut in a Seattle Pacific uniform, all of them coming off the bench. Two of them, Chris Penner and Clayton Whitman, were red-shirt freshmen from last year's roster. The other three were newcomers to the team; Syon Blackmon, Payton Richardson and Kelton Samore.
 
The five-man starting lineup of Cavell, Khan, Moffitt, Paulsen and Mehdi El Mardi represented the only returning players available to play Wednesday and they accounted for 75 of the Falcons 83 points.
 
"Having the three seniors that we have along with Divant'e and Zack, everybody else coming into the game tonight were freshmen," said Leep "There were no fans in the stands, but when the scoreboard and there are officials on the court, it's different.
 
"We just need those game reps and that game speed for our team to get better, come together and form the identity of what our group is ultimately going to be. This was step one, and obviously we would have preferred the result to be different, but sometimes this is what it takes for us to learn and get better."
 
The Falcons hit the road next week for back-to-back games at Saint Martin's, on Jan. 20 & 21. They return home the following week to host Lewis-Clark State on Jan. 27 & 28.
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Whitworth 95, at Seattle Pacific 83
 
WHITWORTH (1-3)
McDermott 3-4 0-0 6, Fitzgerald 5-9 2-4 15, Lopez 5-7 4-6 15, Anderson 7-9 5-6 24, Paxton 6-9 3-3 16, Fogle 4-4 0-0 10, Twenge 1-2 2-2 4, Lackey 1-5 0-1 3, Vargas 1-6 0-0 2, Walker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-55 16-22 95.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (0-1)
Paulsen 3-4 2-2 10, El Mardi 3-3 0-0 6, Khan 2-7 4-4 10, Cavell 7-16 4-4 19, Moffitt 9-16 10-11 30, Samore 2-3 1-2 5, Penner 1-2 0-0 3, Richardson 0-0 0-0 0, Whitman 0-1 0-0 0, Blackmon 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 27-56 21-23 83.
 
Whitworth            48     47    -- 95
Seattle Pacific      38     45    -- 83
 
3-point goals--WU 13-24 (Anderson 5-7, Fitzgerald 3-6, Fogle 2-2, Lackey 1-2, Paxton 1-3, Lopez 1-1, Vargas 0-2, Twenge 0-1), SPU 8-24 (Khan 2-5, Paulsen 2-3, Moffitt 2-4, Cavell 1-6, Penner 1-2, Whitman 0-1, Blackmon 0-2, Samore 0-1). Fouled out--WU-McDermott, SPU-None. Rebounds--Whitworth 28 (Fitzgerald 6), SPU 26 (Samore 7). Assists--WU 19 (Anderson 10), SPU 10 (Moffitt 3). Total fouls--WU 21, SPU 22. Technical fouls--WU-None, SPU-None.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Whitworth at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Jan. 14, 6:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.