SEATTLE -- Damon Thacker's game-high 18 points led four double-digit scorers for Montana State Billings, which utilized an impressive early run Saturday afternoon to gain control en route to a 74-50 Great Northwest Athletic men's basketball win at Seattle Pacific.
 
The Falcons (13-9) fell from a first-place tie in the tightly packed GNAC standings as their record dropped to 6-5. The loss was just their second in 10 home games this season on Iron Coaching Court at Brougham Pavilion.
 
Billings (11-11) improved its conference mark to 7-5 after completing a sweep of the season series. The Yellowjackets has dealt SPU its two largest losses, a 67-54 decision on Jan. 15 in Billings and Saturday's 16-point result.
 
Only one other team has beaten the Falcons by a double-figure margin, Southeastern Oklahoma which was an 81-69 home victor on Dec. 15.
 
This game was almost a mirror-image of the first matchup with MSUB right down to the 54-point total for SPU, its lowest of the season. The Yellowjackets added three points to their offensive output.
 
In both meetings, the Falcons experienced a pair of lengthy scoring droughts. On Jan. 15, they went without a point for 7-minutes, 32-seconds surrounding halftime and then a 9:46 dry spell in the second half.
 
Saturday's rematch saw SPU go scoreless for 7:37 early in the first half and then 6:18 midway through the second period.
 
"They're big, they're physical, they're tough and they do a good job of contesting everything," SPU coach Grant Leep described of the suffocating MSUB defense. "We came in pretty well prepared with how we were going to attack it and we got some good looks early and didn't make them. They came down and made a bunch of their shots, especially in the first half hitting seven threes.
 
"When we're playing behind with as tough and physical as they are, that made it really hard for us. We need to do a better job of handling all of those things. We need to do a better job as coaches of giving our guys more weapons and ways to beat it. It was just a frustrating outcome today."

SHAW ANDERSON STEAL & FASTBREAK FINISH

SCORING SUMMARY
Sophomore forward Shaw Anderson paced SPU with 15 points, including 3-for-6 accuracy on 3-pointers. He accumulated 12 of those points during the first half.
 
Harry Cavell added 14 points while Divant'e Moffitt contributed nine points and four assists. Guard Sharif Khan collected nearly one-third of the team's total with nine of 28 rebounds.
 
The Falcons shot 37 percent (21 of 57), just slightly better than their 35-percent effort (19 of 54) at Billings. Those represent two of their three lowest shooting performances of the season.
 
The offensive struggles were not entirely surprising at the Yellowjackets entered the contest as the league leaders in fewest points allowed (61.1 ppg) and lowest opponent shooting percentage (41.0%).
 
Thacker converted 5 of 7 shots from the free throw line, both figures more than SPU managed as a team with 4 in 5 attempts.
 
Nicholas Sebastiao tallied 13 points for Billings, which also got 11 from Carrington Wiggins and 10 from Bilal Shabazz.
 
Emmanuel Ajanaku scored eight points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Yellowjackets 39-28 advantage on the boards. Billings parlayed nine offensive rebounds into a 14-2 margin in second-chance points.
 
MSUB shot 45 percent from the floor (24 of 53) with 9-for-23 accuracy on 3-pointers.
 
SLUGGISH START
Zack Paulsen opened the scoring for the Falcons 28 seconds into the contest on a left-baseline drive and layup. They wouldn't score again for the next 7-minutes, 37-seconds, enabling the visitors to compile a 16-2 advantage.
 
It took a couple minutes for Billings to get going. But Sebastiao finally put them on the board with a 3-pointer at 17:32 to ignite a run of 16 unanswered points. That was the first of four treys during the spree, capped by another 3-pointer from Sebastio that provided a 16-2 lead with 13:38 left in the first half.
 
SPU missed 10 consecutive shots before Moffitt scored on a steal and fastbreak layup with 11:55 showing on the clock. After Brent Finn answered with a right-corner trey for Billings, the Falcons reeled off nine straight points with baskets from four different players.
 
Syon Blackmon's three-pointer completed the surge at 9:26 and brought SPU within 19-13.
 
Neither team managed a lengthy run the rest of the period, but the Falcons pieced back-to-back baskets together just twice and entered intermission trailing 42-28.
 
Billings made 48 percent of its first-half shots (14 of 29) and was 7-of-16 behind the 3-point arc. The Falcons were limited to 39-percent shooting (11 of 28), including 4-for-11 on treys.
 
The rebounding battle was dominated by the visitors in the opening 20 minutes. The Yellowjackets collected 23 caroms and their offensive-board figure of seven nearly matched SPU's entire output of eight rebounds on both ends of the court.
 
KELTON SAMORE INTERIOR MOVE & BASKET

SECOND HALF SUMMARY
Cavell nailed a left-side 3-pointer four minutes into the second half to bring SPU's deficit under double digits for the first time after halftime. That made the score 48-39.
 
Sebastio responded by scoring the next five points, on two free throws and a 3-pointer, to extend the Billings margin to 53-39.
 
Just one other time did the Falcons draw as close as nine points, when Sharif Khan drained a trey with 12:01 remaining to move them within 57-48. Another drought ensued for SPU, which went scoreless for the next 6:18 until Cavell sank a pair of free throws at 5:43.
 
MSUB didn't capitalize too much, netting just five points during that span, but precious time was running out on the Falcons. SPU was unable to mount a late rally, mustering only four points inside the final five minutes.
 
FALCONS FAST FACT
• Divant'e Moffitt increased his career total to 1,331 points to join the school's all-time Top-10 in that category. He vaulted ahead of previous No. 11 Chris Banchero (1,327 points from 2008-11) and No. 10 Dave Wortman (1,328 points from 1958-62). Moffitt's next target, in the No. 9 spot, is Cory Hutsen, who tallied 1,334 points from 2012-15.
 
UPCOMING ACTION
The Falcons remain at home two games next week. They host Simon Fraser on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion.
 
On Saturday, Feb. 19, SPU's five seniors will be honored with a pregame ceremony prior to the 4:15 p.m. clash against Western Washington. That will be the final regular-season home game for that quintet of Falcons.
 
"We play two good teams next week in important games because our league is such a log-jam from top-to-bottom," Leep said. "We need to take this for what it was. We didn't play well and Billing played well. We didn't play well because of what Billings did, what do we learn from it that we can prevent it from happening again so that this isn't a common occurrence as far as the recipe how to knock SPU off.
 
"We've got to keep our effort, keep our togetherness and continue to play hard, intelligent basketball. This is a resilient group and we're going to respond the right way."
 
RECORDS
Montana State Billings 11-11, 7-5
Seattle Pacific 13-9, 6-5 GNAC
 
NEXT SPU GAME
Simon Fraser at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, February 17; 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.