SEATTLE -- Shaw Anderson nailed the game-winning 3-pointer from the left corner as time expired Monday afternoon, lifting Seattle Pacific to a 68-65 home triumph over Great Northwest Athletic Conference-leading Saint Martin's in a rescheduled men's basketball game.
 
The contest was tied, 65-65, after the Saints' Jaden Nielsen-Skinner missed a trey attempt from out top. SPU's Harry Cavell collected the rebound and sent an outlet pass to Sharif Khan, who raced down the floor on the dribble. Khan flipped the ball to Divant'e Moffitt, who found Anderson alone in the corner  in front of the Falcons bench.
 
The 6-foot-6 sophomore forward quickly launched a high-arching shot that dropped through the basket to secure the Falcons first win of the 2022 calendar year.

SHAW ANDERSON GAME-WINNING 3-POINTER

Monday's game was initially scheduled for Jan. 6, but was postponed due to Covid protocols. SPU is still battling injuries and illness as Coach Grant Leep was forced to constantly shuffle the lineup to give regular breaks to the seven players that participated.
 
That minimal rotation provided a gritty performance that saw the Falcons fight from behind after facing a 10-point deficit in each half.
 
"Overall, this was a great team win," Leep exclaimed. "They just kept battling and playing hard to stay in the game, even with a short bench. Then we made the play at the end with the game on the line. We really needed this win."
 
The Falcons (9-7) improved to 2-3 in GNAC play, halting a two-game losing streak.
 
First-place SMU (11-4), saw its league ledger fall to 4-2 and its seven-game overall winning streak came to a close. The Saints suffered their first setback in well over a month, since a 76-67 home loss to Alaska Anchorage in their GNAC opener on Dec. 2.
 
THE HOT CORNER
During the second half of games the Falcons' offense operates on the east end of the court, in front of their bench. Over the years, many game-winning and otherwise monumental shots have been made from that location.
 
"Sharif has hit so many big shots from that corner during his career that we call it "Khan's Corner," Leep said. "Today some other guys had success from there and we made another memory from that left corner."
 
Leep credited the players for creating the game-winning shot. He had not established a play for them to implement.
 
"That was 100 percent on the guys. With that little time left after we rebounded their miss, instead of calling a timeout I like to see what they can come up with.
 
"They moved the ball so well, getting down the floor fast and then Divant'e had the presence to get it to Shaw in the corner. He was set up to shoot and had good form on that one. We've seen Shaw hit so many times in practice from there and you could tell this one was going in right after he released it."
 
SCORING SUMMARY
Anderson tallied the Falcons' first seven points en route to a team-best 19-point performance. The winning basket came on his third 3-pointer of the contest.
 
Divant'e Moffitt contributed 15 points and five assists for SPU, which got 10 points from Syon Blackmon.
 
Following a subpar 35-percent shooting effort in the first half (12 of 34) in which they hist just 2 of 14 treys, the Falcons heated up. They shot 54 percent after halftime (13 of 24), making 7 of 12 attempts from 3-point range, to finish at 43 percent (25 of 58) and 9-for-26 for the game.
 
The Saints, who shot 54 percent before intermission (15 of 28), were limited to 42 percent in the second half (10 of 24). For the game they made 48 percent of their attempts (25 of 52).
 
SMU's Tyke Thompson led all scorers with 21 points. He shot 7-of-8 from the field and made all three of his 3-point tries.
 
Nielsen-Skinner, named the GNAC Player of the Week earlier Monday, scored 12 points, Kyle Greeley had 11 and Brett Reed 10. Reed added 10 rebounds to lead the visitors' 31-30 edge on the boards.
 
SHAW ANDERSON INTERVIEW

FIRST HALF SUMMARY
After playing from behind for most of the early action, SPU reeled off nine unanswered points, five of them from Cavell. When Mehdi El Mardi finished a backdoor layup off a feed from Blackmon, the hosts held a 20-19 edge.
 
The Saints reclaimed the lead, at 23-22, before closing the half with a stellar shooting display. They drained seven straight shots to spark a 16-7 run. Christian Haffner capped that surge with a right-side trey for a 39-29 advantage with 1:07 showing on the clock.
 
SPU's Moffitt converted two free throws with just under a minute to play to set the halftime score at 39-31 in favor of the Saints.
 
SECOND-HALF SUMMARY
Skinner's driving layup 17 seconds into the second half put SMU ahead 41-31.
 
Then Moffitt took control. The senior point guard scored his team's first nine points after halftime.
 
Moffitt ignited a 15-2 run with a 3-pointer from the left corner and that proved to be a productive spot all day for SPU.
 
Blackmon completed the spree with back-to-back treys from that same corner, just 28 seconds apart, with 11:52 left to play. Those consecutive bombs put the Falcons in front, 54-49, for the first time since 2-0 in the game's opening minute.

SYON BLACKMON SECOND 3-POINTER
 
SPU managed to extend the lead to as large as 59-51 at 7:21 after five straight points from Anderson.
 
The Saints netted the next eight points, the last four from Marky Adams, to equalize at 59-59 with 4:41 remaining. Neither team led by more than three points the rest of the way.
 
Consecutive baskets by Thompson gave SMU a 63-62 edge with just over a minute to play, but Khan answered with three consecutive free throws to send the Falcons in front, 65-63, with 1:04 displayed on the clock.
 
SMU's Reed made a difficult shot with his back to the basket in heavy traffic to level the score, 65-65, with 45.5 seconds left and set up the dramatic finish in the Falcons favor.
 
UPCOMING ACTION
The SPU men continue their frenetic 4-games-in-8-days stretch with two road games later this week. They visit Western Washington on Thursday and Simon Fraser on Saturday with both games slated to start at 7:00 p.m.
 
The next home game for the Falcons is January 27 versus Alaska Fairbanks. Tip-off is 5:15 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion.
  
NOTABLE
• Harry Cavell grabbed his 613th career rebound to take over the No. 13 position among the all-time school leaders in that category. He supplanted Jim Hilliard who collected 611 caroms from 1968-71.
 
• Divant'e Moffitt leapfrogged two former Falcons on the all-time school scoring charts to move into the No. 16 position. His career point total increased to 1,227, a figure that is two better than Andy Poling (2011-13). Moffitt needs six points to replace Oroville Anderson (1955-59) in the No. 15 spot.

RECORDS
Saint Martin's 11-4, 4-2 GNAC
Seattle Pacific 9-7, 2-3 GNAC
 
NEXT SPU GAME
Seattle Pacific at Western Washington
Thursday, January 20; 7:00 p.m. PST
Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.