SEATTLE -- It wasn't all smooth sailing.
 
Surprisingly, there was a rough stretch in the midst of Divant'e Moffitt's 32-point performance. The junior point guard seized the helm midway through the second half, righted the ship and steered Seattle Pacific to victory.
 
Moffitt scored eight of his game-high 32 points during Thursday's five-minute overtime session, lifting SPU to an 82-79 comeback victory over fourth-ranked Lewis-Clark State in a men's basketball clash on Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Falcons (4-2), who picked up their fourth straight win, trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half before mounting a successful rally.
 
After Moffitt put SPU ahead 66-65 on two free throws with 39.4 seconds remaining, the Warriors' Damek Mitchell answered 14 seconds later with a deep 3-pointer for a 68-66 edge.
 
Moffitt worked his way inside for a spinning layup at 13.3 to forge a 68-68 tie and Mitchell couldn't convert a layup at the end of regulation so the teams went to overtime.

DIVANT'E MOFFITT DRIVE FOR OPEN LAYUP

Prior to the late-game heroics, the Falcons were struggling. They missed 9 of their final 11 shots to end the first half and 7 of their first 9 to open the second. Sandwiched around halftime they missed 10 consecutive 3-pointers.
 
Moffitt was not immune to the team's struggles. He missed his final four first-half shots and his first five after intermission.
 
He was subbed for with 15:46 on the clock and sat for four minutes.
 
"Divant'e was tired, that's a big part of it," Coach Grant Leep said. "We were able to get him a little bit more of an extended break than he's had in games this year. He got back in his groove and his rhythm and did the things that we have seen Divant'e do so consistently in his career here at SPU. He's really loves to win and stepped up his game at the end to help us do that."
 
Moffitt nailed a long-distance bomb from the top of the key to end the Falcons' 3-point drought and draw them within 54-50 with 9:14 left to play. That was as close as they had been since the nine-minute mark of the first half.
 
That huge trey ignited Moffitt's remarkable closing run during which he amassed 21 points over the final 14 minutes of the game. He reached the 30-point mark for the fourth time in his career and the second time this season.
 
LCSC scored first and didn't trail in the extra session until Zack Paulsen's 3-pointer with 3:08 remaining put SPU ahead for good, at 74-73. Moffitt followed with a short jumper at 1:23 and later spun for a layup in the lane with 47.8 seconds left to forge a 78-75 lead.
 
Paulsen hit 2 of 4 free throw attempts inside the final 27 seconds to sustain the lead, but Mitchell responded with two of his own to bring LCSC within 80-79 with four seconds left.

ZACK PAULSEN INTERVIEW
 
Moffitt's pair of free throws with 2.5 seconds showing on the clock clinched the outcome as the Warriors never got a chance for a tying trey as their inbounds pass went astray and gave SPU possession.
 
"These back-to-backs are really hard," said Leep. "With the team that we have right now and how young we are, we're still learning how to win. Tonight showed how competitive our group is, how together our group is. It really reflects well on the identity that we're trying to build with this team.
 
"With a young group like this it's really important for them to understand that we won't shoot 70 percent for a half like we did at Saint Martin's last week. Sometimes we need to scrap together and find a way to go win a game, and that's what our guys did. This was a really good, gritty team win tonight."
 
Moffitt made 10 of 23 attempts from the field and shot 10-for-12 from the line.
 
Harry Cavell compiled an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double to lead SPU's 40-32 margin on the boards. Paulsen, a red-shirt freshman, matched his career high with 11 points.

HARRY CAVELL DUNK

The Falcons drained 3 of 4 shots during overtime, improving their overall accuracy to 44 percent (28 of 64).
 
Lewis-Clark State (12-3), from Lewiston, Idaho, competes as a member of the NAIA. The Warriors came into the week with just one defeat. They leave Seattle with two additional losses after an SPU sweep that included Wednesday's convincing 82-65 decision.
 
"We knew last night that L-C State was off, we didn't get their best shot. But boy did they come back tonight prepared and ready to go," Leep said. "We got their best shot tonight. I loved how resilient our group was, taking their best shot and giving one back. We just kept coming and we kept coming and didn't stop until the game was done and we got a victory."
 
Thursday's contest was a much tighter affair, inspired by a 22-point first-half outburst from Trystan Bradley. He added just four points to that total after halftime, finishing with 26.
 
"Our guys did a better job of executing the game plan against him. We were trying to take him off the 3-point line and if there was a size mismatch on the post we tried to have some support from backside help," explained Leep. "What we've found with these back-to-back games is that legs are tired and bodies are sore for the second one, and with that our communication drops.
 
"When we are able to communicate through our tiredness, all of a sudden you see a rise in our intensity, our effectiveness defensively and our ability to execute our game plan."
 
Mitchell registered 24 points for L-C State, which also got 11 from Jake Albright and 10 from Hodges Bailey.
 
The Warriors shot 44 percent (25 of 57) and nailed 11 of 26 shots from 3-point range.
 
First-Half Summary
Bradley tallied eight points during the opening four minutes, sparking the Warriors to an early 14-3 advantage with 15:30 left in the first half. The game was tied 3-3 before they reeled off 11 unanswered points.
 
SPU responded with a 16-4 spree, featuring seven points from Moffitt, to claim a 19-18 edge with 11:56 showing on the clock.
 
The visitor's regained the lead and it gradually grew as high as 11 points before SPU's Clayton Whitman made a layup off a pass from Moffitt with 29.6 remaining, to trim the Warriors margin to 43-34 at halftime.
 
Cavell, who poured in 21 first-half points on Wednesday en route to a 30-point performance, was limited to eight in the opening period.
 
LCSC rode stellar shooting to the strong start, making 54-percent of its shots (15 of 28) in the half and 7 of 13 from 3-point range. The Falcons were held at 40 percent (12 of 30) from the field and 4-for-11 on treys.
 
Next Game
The SPU men get a break from the strenuous back-to-back game schedule they've undergone the last three weeks. They play a single game on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at home versus Northwest University. Tip-off is 6 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion, which does not allow spectators due to the pandemic.
 
"This Northwest team is not going to come in here afraid, I know that," Leep projected. "They've been playing a bunch of Division I opponents and they're not going to be intimated coming here. We need to be ready to compete with the same consistency, scrap and grit that we just showed tonight."
 
That the Eagles, from Kirkland, Washington, are winless in five games can be attributed to a brutal schedule that consisted entirely of NCAA Division I opponents. Northwest has played California, Oregon State, Portland, Portland State and Seattle University.
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, January 28, 2021
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 82, #4 Lewis-Clark State 79 (ot)
 
LEWIS-CLARK STATE (12-3)
Bradley 10-13 3-6 26, Stevenson 1-4 2-2 4, Bennion 1-3 2-2 4, Bailey 3-8 1-2 10, Mitchell 6-17 8-8 24, Albright 4-8 2-2 11, Courtney 0-3 0-0 0, Spencer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-57 18-22 79.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (4-2)
El Mardi 0-1 0-0 0, Paulsen 3-6 2-4 11, Khan 3-6 2-4 8, Cavell 6-9 4-5 18, Moffitt 10-23 10-12 32, Medjo 3-7 0-0 7, Blackmon 2-6 0-0 4, Whitman 1-5 0-0 2, Richardson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-64 18-25 82.
 
                                  1    2   OT  -  Final
Lewis-Clark State.............   43   25   11  -   79
Seattle Pacific...............   34   34   14  -   82
 
3-point goals--LCSC 11-26 (Mitchell 4-10, Bailey 3-8, Bradley 3-6, Albright 1-2), SPU 8-26 (Paulsen 3-3, Cavell 2-4, Moffitt 2-6, Medjo 1-4, El Mardi 0-1, Whitman 0-3, Blackmon 0-2, Khan 0-3). Fouled out--LCSC-Albright, Seattle Pacific-None. Rebounds--LCSC 32 (Bradley, Mitchell 7), SPU 40 (Cavell 11). Assists--LCSC 17 (Mitchell 7), SPU 10 (Moffitt 4). Total fouls--LCSC 21, SPU 20. Technical fouls--LCSC-None, SPU-None.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Northwest University at Seattle Pacific
Wednesday, Feb. 3, 6:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.