LACEY, Wash. -- Kelton Samore hit the go-ahead basket with 50.2 seconds remaining for Seattle Pacific, which converted 25 of 26 free throws Thursday to win at Saint Martin's for the second straight night with a 70-62 decision.
 
The Falcons (2-2) evened their record a day after posting a 91-81 victory on the same Marcus Pavilion court. This time, they outscored their hosts by 21 points from the line and sank their first 18 free throws before Divant'e Moffitt's attempt with 2:25 left to play accounted for their lone miss.
 
"The one we missed was in-and-out. So that one almost dropped too," exclaimed SPU coach Grant Leep. "It's nice to be deep in free throw shooters because it is a great thing to have.
 
"We appreciate it more because our teams from previous years weren't as good at making free throws. It's just an easy source of points when you have guys that make them. And we have guys that make them. We shoot free throws in practice like every team in America does, but it has become part of who we are and it's a big thing that ultimately impacts winning games."
 
SPU sustained the lead for the majority of the second half, scoring the first seven points of the period to lead 42-30. The margin was 46-35 before the Falcons suffered a four-minute scoreless drought. That stretch covered six empty possessions that included five errant shots and two turnovers.

Tense Down the Stretch
The Saints (0-3) capitalized with a run of eight straight points. They eventually tied the game, 54-54, on a put-back by Marky Adams with 6:47 left to play.
 
Less than three minutes later, Demonte Malloy made the first of two free throw tries to provide a brief 57-56 lead for Saint Martin's.
 
The game was tied 62-62 when Moffitt found Samore open underneath the basket for an easy layup with 50.2 seconds showing on the clock. That ignited a game-closing run of eight straight SPU points, the final six coming from the free throw line.

KELTON SAMORE JUMPER IN THE LANE

A 6-foot-9 red-shirt freshman transfer from American University, Samore amassed 25 points in Wednesday's first meeting. His scoring Thursday came on 5-for-11 shooting.
 
Joining Samore with 13 points for the Falcons were Harry Cavell and Sharif Khan. Cavell grabbed nine rebounds to top SPU while Khan made a trio of treys one night after draining six 3-pointers.
 
Zack Paulsen added 11 points for the Falcons and Moffitt had 10 to go along with a career-high nine assists.
 
"Divant'e does such a great job of getting into the paint and when you do that, generally teams will collapse and play multiple defenders on you," Leep described. "He has a very good understanding of what we're looking for and how our offense is spaced.
 
"Then to get an assist you obviously need guys on the other end of it who can finish the play and put the ball in the hold. If he sets guys up for easy baskets that helps our offense click and find more rhythm."
 
Seattle Pacific needed near-perfect results from the charity stripe to offset a 39.6-percent shooting effort (19 of 48) from the field that featured 7-for-19 accuracy on 3-pointers.
 
Ty Velasquez tallied 13 points to pace the Saints, who also got 11 from Malloy and 10 from Adams.
 
Saint Martin's shot 40 percent (26 of 65), but made only 6 of 23 treys.

HARRY CAVELL FALL-AWAY JUMPER

First-Half Summary
In the first half, the Saints hit their first three shots to go ahead 6-3. That lead grew to a high of seven points, at 17-10, on a dunk by Adams with 13:56 left in the first half.
 
At that point, the Falcons couldn't be blamed for having flashbacks to Wednesday night in the same arena when Saint Martin's raced out to a 21-point, first-half advantage before the visitors rallied for an improbable victory.
 
"Our guys handled it really well. We got to a little bit of a slow start and that's something that we'll need to get better at as the season goes on," said Leep. "To their credit, Saint Martin's has a good team and they have some guys who can step up and make big shots.
 
"Once we got back to defending the way that we want to, that allowed us to find a rhythm and get some transition baskets. We held them to 30 points in the first half and only 32 in the second. When you hold teams in the 60s, that puts you in position to be close, and then making free throws allows you to win those close games."
 
SPU didn't wait that long for Thursday's comeback. They immediately embarked on a 12-2 run, claiming a 22-19 edge on a reverse layup at 8:46 by Mehdi El Mardi off a fine feed from Cavell.
 
The lead changed hands five times before the Falcons surged ahead with a six-point spree.

 

Moffitt, SPU's leading scorer on the season, was held without a point in Wednesday's first half. He made sure that didn't happen again, scoring seven points over the final 5:45 of the opening period to give the Falcons a 35-30 halftime margin.
 
SPU shot 46 percent (12 of 26) and made 5 of 11 treys in the first half while holding the Saints at 39 percent (13 of 33) and 3-for-11 on 3-pointers.
 
Upcoming Action
The Seattle Pacific men return home next week to host Lewis-Clark State in back-to-back games on Jan. 27 and 28. Both contests begin at 6 p.m. The Warriors are ranked No. 4 nationally among NAIA competitors.
 
"We need to get some rest, that's going to be the first thing," Leep said about his players recovering from games on consecutive nights before preparing for a difficult challenge. "That L-C State team is really good. Coach (Austin) Johnson does an amazing job with that group and they are ranked in the top-five nationally. They beat Whitworth twice, a team that came in and beat us twice.
 
"With the schedule that we put together, we wanted to challenge our guys. This is one of the premier NAIA programs in the country and I'm very thankful for the opportunity to play them. They have an All-American guard (Damek Mitchell), they're big and they can shoot. L-C State is a great team and this will be a really good test for our guys to see how much better we've been able to get in the two weeks that we've been playing."
 
The Falcons recently added another home game to their schedule as they will host Northwest University on Feb. 3 at 6 p.m.
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 70, at Saint Martin's 62
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (2-2)
El Mardi 2-3 4-4 8, Paulsen 2-5 6-6 11, Khan 3-8 4-4 13, Cavell 3-7 6-6 13, Moffitt 3-9 3-4 10, Samore 5-11 2-2 13, Blackmon 0-3 0-0 0, Richardson 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 19-48 25-26 70.
 
SAINT MARTIN'S (0-3)
Wang 0-2 0-0 0, Adams 5-5 0-1 10, Schumacher 4-15 0-1 9, Thompson 3-4 0-0 8, Moore 4-6 0-2 8, Malloy 5-16 1-2 11, Coddington 1-5 1-2 3, Velasquez 4-12 2-2 13, Lenker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-65 4-10 62.
 
Seattle Pacific      35     35   -- 70
Saint Martin's       30     32   -- 62
 
3-point goals--SPU 7-19 (Khan 3-7, Paulsen 1-1, Moffitt 1-1, Samore 1-2, Cavell 1-4, Richardson 0-1, Blackmon 0-3), SMU 6-23 (Velasquez 3-7, Thompson 2-3, Schumacher 1-6, Moore 0-1, Coddington 0-1, Malloy 0-5). Fouled out--SPU-None, SMU-None. Rebounds--SPU 31 (Cavell 9), SMU 33 (Malloy, Moore 9). Assists--SPU 12 (Moffitt 9), SMU 9 (Moore 3). Total fouls--SPU 15, SMU 23. Technical fouls--SPU-None, SMU-None.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Lewis-Clark State at Seattle Pacific
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 6:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.