SEATTLE -- Shaw Anderson returned after a season's absence and led all scorers with 24 points Saturday for 21st-ranked Seattle Pacific which opened the campaign with a 76-65 exhibition win over a Lincoln University team coached by legendary Seattle Sonics point guard Gary Payton.
 
The Falcons reeled off 13 unanswered points to start the game on Iron Coach Court at Brougham Pavilion. But the visitors trim that margin to two later in the first half. They led 37-31 at the break, but Lincoln again rallied, this time to draw even, at 42-42, on a basket by Tre Finch with 15:53 left to play.
 
SPU netted the next eight points, four of them from Mehdi El Mardi, to gain a comfortable 50-42 margin that eventually grew to as many as 14 points.
 
COACH PAYTON
A first-year program from Oakland, California, Lincoln hired Payton as its inaugural head coach on June 4, 2021. He is an NBA Hall of Fame point guard selected to the league's 75th-Anniversary Team. Payton played 13 seasons in Seattle from 1990-2003.
 
Nicknamed "The Glove," Payton ranks No. 4 among all-time NBA players with 2,445 career steals and is 10th with 8,966 assists. He is an Oakland native and played at Oregon State University.
 
Payton was impressed with the Falcons.
 
"They play really well. When you bring back 11 of your players, there's a chemistry with each other. They know their floor and shot the ball well. They punished us when they had to, when we made mistakes. That's what a good team does, they punish people when they make mistakes."
 
Saturday was the third game in four days for the Oaklanders on a Northwest swing that included setbacks at Western Washington and Central Washington.
 
Grant Leep is a lifetime Northwest resident and longtime fan of Payton during his Sonics days. But once the clock started, the Seattle Pacific coach was all business.
 
"It was really cool in the lead-up to the game and being able to have a conversation with Gary Payton and talk about basketball with him. Once the ball's tipped, it's one team against another and I don't think that I even noticed it anymore," Leep described.
 
"Growing up as a Sonics fan and understanding the importance of the time that he spent in Seattle and what he meant to the sports culture of the city, to have him in our gym was pretty special."

SHAW ANDERSON INTERVIEW

STAT SUMMARY
Anderson made 9 of 19 shots from the field, including 4-for-11 accuracy on 3-pointers.
 
"I'm glad he's on our side," Leep said. "Shaw is such a tough matchup and brings us a lot of versatility. He's an unselfish player who has a knack for putting the ball in the basket."
 
Divante'e Moffitt was the only other Falcon in double figures, with 14 points. El Mardi contributed seven points and a game-high nine rebounds to spark SPU's 43-39 edge on the boards.
 
The coach's son, Julian Payton, paced the Oaklanders with 18 points on 7-for-13 shooting. The 6-foot guard made both of his treys.
 
Jordan McGlory added 12 points for Lincoln.
 
Lincoln shot better, hitting 47 percent of their attempts (27 of 58) to 36 percent for the Falcons (25 of 70). SPU made up for it with nine 3-pointers on 34 tries while the Oaklanders only attempted four treys and made two of them.
 
While encouraged with the exhibition win, Leep was seemingly as excited by the return of spectators to the stands. The crowd of 568, many of them family not allowed to attend last season due to the COVID outbreak, seemed equally happy to be there.
 
"It was just great to be back on the floor. We haven't played here since March 6th of 2020 in front of fans. So, for us to be back in front of fans was so much fun. We told our guys to make sure that they take the moment in and appreciate it, because it had been so long.
 
NEXT GAME
The Falcons start a challenging regular-season schedule with a tough trip to St. Joseph, Missouri. They compete in the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic next Saturday and Sunday.
 
SPU squares off with No. 20 Alabama Huntsville on Nov. 6 at 11:00 a.m. PDT before a clash with top-ranked and defending NCAA Division II national champion Northwest Missouri State on Nov. 7 at 3:30 p.m.
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, October 30, 2021
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
at (#21) Seattle Pacific 76, Lincoln University 65
 
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY
Payton 7-13 2-2 18, Garcia-Floyd 0-3 2-4 2, McGlory 5-7 2-4 12, Hays 3-5 2-4 8, Bradley 4-13 1-2 9, Sims 1-3 0-0 2, Lillard 0-1 0-0 0, Wright 2-4 0-0 4, Finch 2-5 0-0 4, Attles 0-0 0-0 0, Bledsoe 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 27-58 9-16 65.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC
Anderson 9-19 2-2 24, Samore 1-2 0-0 2, Paulsen 3-7 2-4 9, Cavell 1-12 4-4 7, Moffitt 5-11 2-2 14, Khan 2-6 2-2 7, El Mardi 3-6 1-3 7, Whitman 0-1 2-2 2, Blackmon 1-4 2-2 4, Medjo 0-2 0-0 0, Sidhu 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-70 17-21 76.
 
                         1    2   -  Final
Lincoln..............   31   34   -   65
Seattle Pacific......   37   39   -   76
 
3-point goals--LU 2-4 (Payton 2-2, Lillard 0-1, Wright 0-1), SPU 9-34 (Anderson 4-11, Moffitt 2-3, Khan 1-4, Paulsen 1-4, Cavell 1-8 Samore 0-1, Whitman 0-1, Blackmon 0-2). Fouled out--LU-None, SPU-None. Rebounds--LU 39 (McGlory 8), SPU 43 (El Mardi 9). Assists--LU 10 (Payton, McGlory, Hays, Finch 2), SPU 10 (Moffitt 4). Total fouls--LU 24, SPU 16. Technical fouls--LU-None, SPU-Whitman. A-568.