SEATTLE -- Nearly a year to the day after a remarkable rally in their favor, the Falcons didn't want to see history repeat itself.
 
Freshman guard Syon Blackmon came off the bench to score a career-high 18 points Friday night, including a trio of first-half 3-pointers for Seattle Pacific which built a large lead and held on for an 89-79 men's basketball home victory over 13th-ranked Northwest Nazarene.
 
The Falcons (8-3) picked up their third straight win and their eighth in the last nine outings. They owned a comfortable 48-23 halftime advantage that increased to as many as 32 points before the visitors forged a furious finish. NNU was unable to close within single digits despite runs of 14 and eight points inside the final 10 minutes.
 
Blackmon's 6-for-8 performance from the floor featured four 3-pointers in six attempts. He tallied double-figure points for the third straight game and surpassed his previous career best by seven points.
 
"Syon has come into our program and he's just found a way to make a role on this team from the jump," SPU coach Grant Leep exclaimed. "I love that mentality that he has. He's used his defense to get into our rotation and then he's been aggressive on offense when we've needed him to, he's found the right moments to do it."
 
Zack Paulsen contributed 14 points for the Falcons, who also got 13 from Mehdi El Mardi, 12 from Sharif Khan and 10 from Divant'e Moffitt. Khan matched Blackmon's 4-for-6 accuracy on treys and Moffitt distributed seven assists.
 
SPU shot 50 percent from both the floor (30 of 60) and 3-point range (15 of 30).

DIVANT'E MOFFITT INTERVIEW

This time Seattle Pacific was the beneficiary of a big lead, one that they didn't want to see evaporate on Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion.
 
The last time these teams met, on Feb. 27, 2020 at the same venue, NNU built a hefty 37-11 first-half advantage before the Falcons rallied for a 72-70 victory. There would be no revenge for the Nighthawks, who were unable to mount a similar successful rally Friday.
 
"That game with NNU was a year ago tomorrow that happened," Leep said after Friday's game. "So, we've seen comebacks happen and we've seen it happen in this gym. I know our group was aware of that, in a good way. It was a motivator to continue to play hard and do the things that we needed to do to preserve the lead."
 
Northwest Nazarene (10-2) had an eight-game winning streak halted. Ezekiel Alley compiled 17 of his game-high 19 points during the second half. Early foul trouble kept the Nighthawks' leading season scorer in check as he netted just one basket. He picked up two fouls in the opening minute and sat for the next 12 minutes.
 
After halftime, Alley nailed 5 of 7 shots from the field and 7 of 8 free throws.
 
George Reidy was the only other NNU player in double figures, notching 13 points.
 
The Nighthawks converted 58 percent of their second-half attempts (18 of 31) after shooting just 36 percent (11 of 31) in the first period.
 
"Our guys were really excited to play this game. It's a new opponent and team that was ranked in the Top-25 nationally," Leep said. "Our group was really prepared and had a great week of practice. You look at how young our group is and we're starting to grow, we're starting to mature and it's showing. Now the challenge is to do it again."
 
SHARIF KHAN TREY OFF THROUGH-THE-LEGS BOUNCE PASS FROM DIVANT'E MOFFITT

SPECTACULAR START
NNU registered only one basket in its opening 11 possessions with five turnovers and six missed shots in that span. Despite three turnovers of their own, the Falcons were able to capitalize for a 12-2 lead with six minutes elapsed.
 
Khan started the contest with a 3-pointer and his second trey capped an eight-point run that concluded the impressive game-opening spree.
 
Two minutes later, SPU reeled off 12 unanswered points to extend its margin to 27-8. Clayton Whitman scored five points to fuel the run that concluded on a jump hook by El Mardi with 7:51 left in the half.
 
It took the Nighthawks nearly 12-1/2 minutes to reach double digits in scoring, getting their 10th point on a runner in the lane by Kobe Terashima at 7:35.
 
SPU hit 52 percent of its first-half shots from the field (16-31) and was even better behind the arc, making 10 in 18 trey tries.
 
The 10th 3-pointer came with four seconds showing on the clock. Paulsen received a pass from Moffitt, scored from the left corner, was fouled by Brandon Recek and completed the four-point play with a free throw. That forged the Falcons largest lead to that point, at 48-23, and that scoreline held into halftime.
 
"Our guards do such a good job of getting into the paint and collapsing their defense, and mainly Divant'e because of how much we have the ball in his hands," Leep described. "Then our guys stayed very disciplined to their spots in our offense and when he delivered an on-time, on-target ball they were ready to knock them in. And boy, when you see one go in early that just gets your confidence going."

SECOND-HALF SUMMARY
The teams traded points for the opening several minutes of the second half before SPU put together a string of nine consecutive points. That helped construct the game's largest lead, at 77-45, when Paulsen made a 3-pointer with 9:53 remaining.
 
There was no quit in NNU, which proceeded to score the next 14 points. But the deficit was too big as that only trimmed the margin to 77-59 with 5:43 left to play.
 
A late run of eight straight points brought the visitors within 82-70 with 1:31 remaining. But the Falcons converted 5 of 6 free throws during the final 1:28 to secure the win.

JACOB MEDJO 3-POINTER FROM BEHIND-THE-BACK BOUNCE PASS BY SHARIF KHAN

WE MEET AGAIN
The same two teams square off Saturday afternoon in Seattle for a 2 p.m. clash in Brougham Pavilion.
 
"We have all the respect in the world for that team and how they've played this season, their coaching staff and the preparation that they do," said Leep. "They're going to come out read to go tomorrow. We're going to get their best shot, for sure.
 
"Obviously coming into this weekend, we wanted to do everything we could to get two wins. We only got one tonight. So now we need to go back and do it again as best as we can Saturday and have that same energy, focus and effort."
 
The SPU men then close out their regular-season slate next Saturday, March 6, with a 1 p.m. home game versus Saint Martin's.
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Friday, February 26, 2021
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 89, (#13) Northwest Nazarene 79
 
NORTHWEST NAZARENE (10-2)
Murphy 2-3 0-0 4, Terashima 2-6 2-2 6, Alley 6-12 7-8 19, Roth 3-5 1-2 7, Reidy 5-10 3-4 13, Recek 2-4 2-2 7, Nelson 3-5 0-0 7,; Bergersen 2-2 0-0 6, Allen 2-8 0-0 5, Gruhler 1-3 0-0 3, Rose 1-1 0-0 2, Ferrin 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 29-62 15-18 79.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (8-3)
El Mardi 4-6 5-7 13, Paulsen 3-5 5-7 14, Khan 4-8 0-0 12, Cavell 3-9 0-0 7, Moffitt 4-11 2-3 10, Blackmon 6-8 2-2 18, Medjo 3-8 0-0 8, Whitman 2-3 0-0 5, Elsner 1-1 0-0 2, Richardson 0-0 0-0 0, Penner 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-60 14-19 89.
 
                                1    2   -  Final
Northwest Nazarene..........   23   56   -   79
Seattle Pacific.............   48   41   -   89
 
3-point goals--NNU 6-19 (Bergersen 2-2, Recek 1-2, Allen 1-3, Nelson 1-3, Gruhler 1-1, Ferrin 0-1, Murphy 0-1, Terashima 0-1, Roth 0-2, Reidy 0-2, Alley 0-1), SPU 15-30 (Blackmon 4-6, Khan 4-6, Paulsen 3-5, Medjo 2-6, Whitman 1-2, Cavell 1-4, Penner 0-1). Fouled out--NNU-None, SPU-None. Rebounds--NNU 38 (Terashima 6), SPU 26 (Cavell, Khan, El Mardi 5). Assists--NNU 7 (Reidy 2), SPU 17 (Moffitt 7). Total fouls--NNU 20, SPU 18. Technical fouls--NNU-None, SPU-None.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
(#13) Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Feb. 27, 2:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.