THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24
Seattle Pacific at Northwest Nazarene, 6:30 p.m. PST (7:30 p.m. MT)
Johnson Sports Center / Nampa, Idaho
       • Webcast:  https://youtu.be/AsCbB4UWJjE
       • LiveStats:  https://nnusports.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26
Seattle Pacific at Central Washington, 6:15 p.m. PST
Nicholson Pavilion / Ellensburg, Wash.
       • Webcast:  https://www.youtube.com/c/CWUAthletics
       • LiveStats:  https://wildcatsports.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
 
Seattle Pacific completes its regular-season men's basketball schedule on the road this week. The fifth-place Falcons (14-10, 7-6 GNAC) play a pair of teams directly ahead of them in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings, beginning with a visit to third-place Northwest Nazarene on Thursday, Feb. 24 at 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time (7:30 p.m. MST). The Nighthawks (10-8, 8-5) lost the last six meetings with SPU. On Saturday, Feb. 26 the Falcons travel to Ellensburg for a matchup versus Central Washington. The fourth-place Wildcats (14-7, 8-6) won this season's first encounter, 68-65, on Dec. 2 in Seattle.
 
Notable
SPU has played an extremely difficult schedule with two of its losses coming against teams currently ranked among the Top-13 nationally. The combined record of the nine opponents to defeat the Falcons is 135-70 (66%) and only one of them has a losing record.
 
 

Top-10 Scorers
Two players on the current roster rank among the Top-10 scorers in a Falcons uniform. Shooting guard Harry Cavell reached the 1,000-point milestone last season and currently ranks No. 7 among all-time SPU players with 1,464 career points. Point guard Divant'e Moffitt netted his 1,000th career point on Nov. 13 and has increased that to 1,383 points, a figure that ranks No. 9 on the school scoring chart.
 
Falcons Fast Facts
• The Falcons boast a 9-3 home record and are 3-2 in neutral-site contests, but just 2-5 in road outings
 
• SPU leads all NCAA Division II men's basketball teams in free throw accuracy at 81.0 percent (328-405). Nine of 11 Falcons who attempted a free throw are shooting better than 70%
 
• SPU was the nation's most accurate free shooting team in both 2020 (80.5%) and 2021 (84.2%)
 
• Divant'e Moffitt ranks 4th among GNAC scorers (18.5 ppg) and Shaw Anderson is No. 13 (14.1)
 
• Sophomore guard Zack Paulsen posted SPU's only two double-doubles (Nov. 12 & Dec. 13)
 
• Paulsen (2) & Mehdi El Mardi (1) accounted for all three of the Falcons double-digit rebound games
 
• Three Falcons have a 30-point game in their career: Divant'e Moffitt (6), Shaw Anderson (2) & Harry Cavell (1). Moffitt is the only to do so this season, scoring 31 vs. UAA (Jan. 29) & 32 vs MSUB (Feb. 12)
 

GNAC Tournament
For the 11th season, the GNAC is hosting a postseason tournament with the winner receiving the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division II playoffs. A unique feature this year is that all 10 teams will participate, for this season only. SPU captured its fourth GNAC Tournament title in 2019, adding a trophy to the display case that includes hardware from three consecutive seasons from 2013-15. Saint Martin's serves as the primary host with four days of games at Marcus Pavilion in Lacey, Wash., from March 2-5. SPU's Brougham Pavilion will be the site of six games during the men's and women's championships with two games on March 2 and four quarterfinal contests on March 3. A formula has been adopted to seed the teams, with the 7th vs. 10th seed and 8th vs. 9th meeting in first-round matchups, March 2, one in Seattle and the other in Lacey.
 
Scouting Northwest Nazarene (9-8, 7-5 GNAC)
NNU represented the GNAC in the 2001 NCAA Division II Tournament, winning two playoff games to reach the West Region final. The Nighthawks won five of their last six games capped by Tuesday's 85-64 home decision over Simon Fraser. James Nelson leads five NNU double-figure scorers with 16.6 points per game. He averages 7.5 rebounds to spark the Nighthawks GNAC-leading 38.1-boards per game. SPU leads the all-time series 65-26 and won the last seven matchups, including a 68-67 home overtime triumph on Dec. 4 in Seattle.
 
Scouting Central Washington (14-7, 8-6 GNAC)
The Wildcats lost their last outing, 70-66, at Saint Martin's on Feb. 19 after sweeping the Alaska schools at home the previous week. Xavier Smith tops all GNAC scorers with 19.0 points per game, helping CWU lead the conference in scoring at a 83.4.-point clip and field goal accuracy at 49.3 percent. The Wildcats lead the all-time series 75-61 despite losing 19 of the last 24 meetings. Central halted an eight-game series losing skid versus SPU with a 68-65 win on Dec. 2 in Seattle.
 
 

Dynamic Divant'e
Senior point guard Divant'e Moffitt leads the Falcons with 18.5 points per game, the fourth-highest figure in the GNAC, and 3.8 assists. He topped all SPU scorers in 15 games this season and in assists on 20 occasions. Moffitt surpassed the 1,000-point plateau on Nov. 13 and currently ranks No. 9 among all-time SPU scorers with 1,383 career points, just 11 shy of the 1,394 points tallied by No. 8 Brannon Stone from 1998-2002. Moffitt posted two 30-point performances this season, both at home. He erupted for 32 points versus Montana State Billings on Feb. 12 and 31 against Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 29. He has tallied six career 30-point performances. Moffitt's 92 assists are more than twice as many as any of his teammates have distributed this season (Harry Cavell has 43). Moffitt was named the 2022 GNAC Preseason Player of the Year and was honored as a unanimous first-team All-GNAC selection in 2020.
 
Cavell's Career Numbers
Guard Harry Cavell is the 10th player in SPU history to reach both the 1,000-point and 600-rebound milestones. Cavell's 1,464 career points rank No. 7 in school history and he ranks No. 10 in career rebounds with 660. Cavell is one of only four players to be ranked among the Top-10 all-time Falcons in both career points and rebounds, joining Jim Ballard (1970-72), Howard Heppner (1962-66) and Brannon Stone (1998-2002). A graduate student, Cavell was a preseason 2022 All-GNAC selection after garnering second-team and GNAC Defensive Player of the Year acclaim in 2020.
 
Shaw Returns
Shaw Anderson, the 2020 GNAC Freshman of the Year, returned to the court after missing last season. He ranks second among Falcons with 14.1 points per game and his 44 treys are 15 more than any teammate. Anderson averaged 12.8 points while shooting 55 percent in 2020. The 6-foot-6 forward was even better outside the arc, nailing 56.3 percent of his 3-pointers (58 of 103). Anderson compiled a streak off 11 straight successful 3-pointers from Jan. 30 to Feb. 8, 2020. He netted a career-high 34 points at Western Oregon (Jan. 11, 2020). Anderson posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds vs. CWU on Feb. 29, 2020.
 
Last Week
Seattle Pacific drew a split of two home games versus Northwest rivals. Divant'e Moffitt compiled 21 of his season-high 32 points before halftime on Feb. 17 for the Falcons, who gained control early and held on for an 87-79 victory over Simon Fraser. SPU avenged a 75-72 setback in the first meeting, on Jan. 22 in Burnaby, B.C. Moffitt came within one of his 33-point career-high total from Jan. 30, 2020 at Alaska Fairbanks. The Falcons got 19 points and seven rebounds from Shaw Anderson. In SPU's last outing, Lucas Holden made a 3-pointer from the right corner with 2.3 seconds left to play on Feb. 19 to lift Western Washington to a 79-78 win. Moffitt made the go-ahead basket and later sank the first of two free throws with 19.7 seconds remaining to provide a 78-76 Falcons edge. On WWU's ensuing possession D'Angelo Minnis rebounded his own miss of a floater in the key with seven seconds remaining. He was surrounded by four Falcons in the lane, but managed to feed a pass to Holden in the corner for the decisive trey. Moffitt paced SPU with 20 points and Anderson had 18.
 
2022 Season Preview
Seattle Pacific was a unanimous choice to win the 2022 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship in the coaches poll released Oct. 15 and for good reason. All five starters return from last season's 10-3 team, including the team's top-10 point producers. The Falcons feature Preseason Player of the Year selection Divant'e Moffitt along with projected all-conference candidates Shaw Anderson and Harry Cavell. Moffitt, a 2020 All-West Region honoree, topped the team with 17.6 points and 5.2 assists per game last season. Cavell scored at a 16.7-point clip and led the Falcons with 7.2 rebounds in 2021. Anderson missed all last year after receiving the 2020 GNAC Freshman of the Year award. They are joined by returning starters at guard, Sharif Khan (9.9 ppg), Zack Paulsen (9.6), and center Mehdi El Mardi (7.6). While limited to eight games, forward Kelton Samore averaged 10.3 points when healthy. "We have so many returning players, 14 of them. They are just hungry to compete and play, and play in front of people again and be a part of what is means to be a basketball player at SPU and have that experience," said Coach Grant Leep.
 
Coach Leep
The GNAC's 2020 Coach of the Year Grant Leep, 42, is in his sixth season directing the SPU men's basketball program after seven years as an assistant on the Falcons staff. He has a 97-55 career record. Leep coached the 2021 to a 10-3 record over a schedule abbreviated due to the COVID outbreak. The 2020 team's 22-7 record featured a 14-game winning streak. His Falcons won the 2020 GNAC regular-season championship and qualified for the cancelled NCAA West Regional as the No. 5 seed. Leep has strong basketball ties throughout the Northwest as an All-America player at Mount Vernon (Wash.) High School before lettering four years at Washington. Leep still owns the Huskies 3-point accuracy records for a season (52.7% in 2002) and career (42.9%). His coaching resumé includes stops at Eastern Washington and a pair of community colleges. SPU had a 165-51 (.764) record during his time as an assistant.
 
2021 Season Review
The same five starters opened every game last season and all of them are back in 2021-22. The Falcons won their final five games en route to a 10-3 overall record against an abbreviated slate of opponents. Last season's schedule took place entirely from January through the first week of March and there was no GNAC season. The NCAA conducted playoffs in 2021, but SPU was not permitted to travel out of state so could not participate. Divant'e Moffitt led the team with 17.6 points and 5.2 assists per game while Harry Cavell scored at a 16.7-point clip with 7.2 rebounds.