AZUSA, Calif. – The Seattle Pacific University men's basketball team closed out the opening weekend against Cal Poly Pomona at the Cougar Classic hosted by Azusa Pacific on Saturday evening. Shaw Anderson and Zack Paulsen combined for 61 points, but the Broncos were able to edge past the Falcons 83-78.
 
Anderson and Paulsen were outstanding for the Falcons on Saturday. Anderson led all scorers with 32 points, going 8-for-14 from the field while knocking down all 13 free throw attempts. Paulsen wasn't far behind his teammate, scoring 29 points while going 8-for-12 from the field. He knocked down eight 3-pointers on the night and had three rebounds and four steals against the Broncos.

"We learned a lot about our team this weekend," head coach Grant Leep said. "We competed and played hard tonight. Cal Poly is a good, well-coached team. They were able to bounce back from a tough loss the night before and play with a lot of physicality and determination. I'm proud of the resiliency we showed, led by Zack and Shaw. Tonight was one of those games that we didn't get enough stops to get the job done." 

The Falcons and Broncos battled throughout Saturday's game. Paulsen nailed a 3-pointer with 10:44 left in the first half to tie the game at 21. CPP went on a brief 6-0 run that lasted 3:14 to go up 27-21. SPU worked their way back into the game, as a layup from Syon Blackmon with five seconds left in the first half cut the CPP lead to 37-35. That's where the score stayed until halftime.
 
The Falcons opened the second half with a 7-2 run. A dunk from Anderson put SPU up 42-38 early in the second half. With 13:21 to go, Anderson knocked down a triple to keep the SPU lead at four. Ben Baker-McCann banked home a layup put the Falcons up 54-48 with 12:36 left in the game.
 
Free Throws from Trace Evans had the Falcons up 58-52 with 10:31 to play. From there, the Broncos went on a 16-6 run over the next 4:30. Derrick Caxton capped the run with a 3-pointer that put CPP up 68-64 with six minutes left in the game.
 
SPU cut the lead to one with 4:57 left to play in the game. That's as close as they'd get, as CPP held on to their lead. They'd go on to take the game 83-78.
 
The Falcons shot well from the field in Saturday's contest. They went 21-for-46 (45.7 percent) from the field, including an 11-for-22 (50 percent) performance from 3-point range. They made 78.1 percent (25-for-32) of their free throw attempts. The Broncos created their separation in the paint, outscoring the Falcons 42-20 in that area.
 
The Falcons are back in Azusa, Calif. Next weekend for the GNAC/PacWest Challenge. They'll take on host school Azusa Pacific on Friday, Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. from the Felix Events Center.