CHICO, Calif. – The Seattle Pacific University men's basketball team played Cal Poly Pomona on night one of the CCAA Crossover hosted by Chico State. The Falcons shut down the Broncos with stellar defense on their way to a gritty 56-50 victory.

The Falcons dominated the first half. SPU trailed CPP 13-11 with 12:23 left in the first half. Jadin Penigar scored seven straight points to start a 17-4 run for the Falcons that closed out the first half. SPU was 7-for-12 during the run, led by 10 points from Penigar.

Defensively, the Falcons held the Broncos to 2-for-14 from the field. SPU held CPP to a 25.9 shooting percentage (7-for-27) in the first half. The Falcons held the Broncos to 41.2 percent (21-for-51) from the field for the game. CPP made just one 3-pointer and made only seven free throws.

"Throughout the fall, our goal was to be become better defensively," head coach Keffrey Fazio said. "Some of the work has shown over our last two games. That work helped us win the game tonight." 

The Falcons opened the second half strong offensively. Kyle Luttinen splashed home a 3-pointer to open the half. Later, Trace Evans flushed home a dunk before Luttinen hit from deep again. His 3-pointer pushed the score to 36-21 with 16:56 to go in the game.

The Broncos chipped away at the Falcons lead, cutting it to one point with 2:21 to play. Owen Moriarty nailed a clutch 3-pointer with 2:06 to go in the game. He'd hit all four free throw attempts he took in the final 25 seconds to close out the game for the Falcons.

Luttinen led everyone with 17 points. He did it from deep, knocking down five 3-pointers while adding three rebounds and two assists. Moriarty's late buckets were huge. He finished with 12 points. Penigar was the final Falcon in double-figures with 10 points, all coming during a crucial first-half run for the Falcons. Evans led everyone with 10 rebounds.

"I'm very proud of our efforts on the road to scrap out a win," Fazio added. "We are a team that has grown a lot in a week, and we have so much more to learn and improve on."

The Falcons play host #22 Chico State on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.