The senior standout tallied the final four points of the second half, on two free throws with 1:45 showing on the clock and then a drive and basket at 53.0. Four of his six overtime points twice tied the score.
 
The game's final deadlock occurred when Shadeed Shabazz capitalized on a Falcons turnover in the backcourt for a driving layup in traffic. That heads-up play brought Fairbanks level, 72-72, on Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion.
 
Following a Falcons timeout, Moffitt started a dribble-drive to his left from the top of the key. The 6-foor-2 point guard raced past a defender and got to the basket with a taller defender closing in. Moffitt managed to flip the ball high off the backboard and into the hoop while being fouled by Willie Thomas III.
 
"We were just trying to get into something that our guys are comfortable and confident in," explained SPU coach Grant Leep. "Divant'e made a great play to get the and-one. They did a great job executing it and we got a big finish."
 
Moffitt missed the subsequent free throw, the only one of his seven free throws that didn't go in. UAF's Coleman Sparling rebounded, but his full-court desperation heave fell short at the buzzer.

DIVANT'E MOFFITT GAME-WINNER

The Falcons (11-8) evened their league ledger at 4-4 with their third win in the last four outings.
 
Fairbanks (4-9) lost despite a 39-point performance from Shabazz. The senior guard, a product of Seattle's Rainier Beach High School, made 14 of 23 shots from the field. Shabazz was 4-for-11 from 3-point range and perfect on seven free throws.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
Moffitt topped all SPU scorers for the 16th time and reached the 20-point mark for the seventh time this season.
 
"He's a big-time player," said Leep. "Early on we were pounding the ball inside. They had to adjust to that and that's when Divant'e found his groove.
 
"Divant'e is an excellent player out of the high ball-screen game. Once they made their adjustment to make it harder for us in the post, we started playing some high ball-screen game with him. Our guys did a nice job of playing with that balance between those two styles.
 
Shaw Anderson shared SPU-high scoring honors with Moffitt with 20 points. Zack Paulsen added 18 points and topped the team with nine rebounds.
 
The Falcons shot 43 percent for the game (28 of 65) and made 5 of 21 treys. They were 13-for-14 on free throws.
 
Fairbanks countered with 46-percent accuracy from the floor (28 of 61) and made 8 of 25 shots from 3-point range. They sank all eight free throw tries.
 
Shabazz produced the first 30-point performance against the Falcons this season. The GNAC leader with 3.1 steals per game, he had four thefts Thursday.
 
"He's an incredible shot-maker and he doesn't need a lot of space to do it. When he gets going, he's hard to stop," Leep said of Shabazz. "A couple guys, Syon Blackmon and Bijon Sidhu, came in and provided us some really good energy. We tried to make his catches a lot tougher with those two guys.
 
But my goodness, Shadeed can go find any shot he wants at any time he wants."
 
Shabazz outscored the rest of his teammates, compiling 39 of UAF's 72 points. No other Nanook reached double-digit points.
 
Sparling contributed nine points and eight rebounds. Thomas III had six points and his 10 rebounds sparked UAF's 37-33 edge on the boards.

DIVANT'E MOFFITT INTERVIEW

SECOND HALF RECAP
The Falcons extended a 34-31 halftime lead with a 15-4 surge early in the second half to forge a 49-39 advantage. Anderson capped the spree with a 3-pointer off a fine feed from Sharif Khan with 12:49 remaining.
 
SPU's lead grew to as many as 11 points, at 54-43, after Bijon Sidhu nailed a left-side trey with 9:09 left to play.
 
That lead was short-lived as the Nanooks went on a 19-2 run, ignited by three consecutive 3-pointers following a traditional three-point play. They gained a 62-56 edge lead with 3:23 remaining after back-to-back 3-pointers from Shabazz.
 
The Falcons only basket during the surge came at 6:48 on a Zack Paulsen tip-in of a missed trey attempt by Syon Blackmon.
 
SPU closed within 64-60 before Moffitt's four straight points knotted the score, 64-64.
 
Each team had one chance to avoid overtime. UAF's Shabazz had the ball stolen by Harry Cavell with nine seconds remaining. On the ensuing possession, the Falcons got a driving layup attempt from Moffitt that banked off at the regulation buzzer.
 
STREAKY FIRST HALF
The game's opening eight shots all went in, as did the first three free throws.
 
The first miss for either team was a jump hook by SPU's Anderson that rimmed off at 16:23. The first attempt to go awry for the Nanooks was a layup by Koby Huerta at 15:32.
 
Shabazz hit his first five shots, including two treys for UAF. He sank all three early free throws, two of them giving the Nanooks a 22-19 lead with 12:23 left in the first half. Shabazz had 15 points inside the opening eight minutes.
 
UAF was 11-for-15 from the floor capped by a top-of-the-key trey from Sparling that provided a 29-23 advantage with 8:26 showing on the clock.
 
 

The visitors came up empty on their next nine possessions, missing six shots while committing three turnovers. That enabled SPU to claim a 31-29 edge after an 8-0 run that featured five points from Anderson and a right-corner 3-pointer from Khan with 2:31 displayed on the clock.
 
A baseline jumper by Shabazz at 2:14 and Moffitt's scoop-shot three-point play with 1:43 left set the halftime score at 34-31 in favor of the Falcons.
 
Fairbanks finished the half at 50 percent from the field (12 of 24) and also made half of its 3-point tries 94 of 8). SPU countered with 47-percent accuracy (14 of 30) and 3-for-9 from behind the arc.
 
"It was up-and-down and wild and everything in between," exclaimed Leep. "But I loved the resolve and the determination that our guys showed. We were very deliberate about where we attacked them, and how we attacked them with our personnel.
 
"Our guys did enough. We did enough, and sometimes that's what you need to do is find a way to get it done, and we did."
 
NOTABLE
• Seattle Pacific played its fourth overtime game of the season, improving to 3-1 in those contests.
 
• The 39-point effort by Shadeed Shabazz was by far the loftiest point total for an SPU opponent this season. The previous high was 28 points by Carrington Wiggins of Montana State Billings on Jan. 25. It was the most points by a Falcons opponent since Westminster's Dayon Goodman registered a similar 39-point figure on Nov. 25, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
 
• Shaw Anderson made multiple 3-pointers in each of his last eight outings, amassing 24 treys during that span.
 
• Harry Cavell increased his career total to 1,396 points to move into the No. 7 spot among all-time Seattle Pacific scorers. He surpassed the 1,394-point figure compiled by Brannon Stone from 1998-2002.
 
UPCOMING ACTION
The SPU men remain at home to host Alaska Anchorage on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. That is the nightcap of a basketball doubleheader with the Falcons women at Brougham Pavilion.
 
RECORDS
Alaska Fairbanks 4-9, 1-6 GNAC
Seattle Pacific 11-8, 4-4 GNAC
 
NEXT SPU GAME
Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, January 29; 4:15 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.