SEATTLE – As the regular season begins to wind down, the Seattle Pacific University men's basketball team travels south for two more Great Northwest Athletic Conference games. The weekend starts on Thursday in Lacey, Wash. as the Falcons take on Saint Martin's at 7:30 p.m. before visiting Western Oregon on Saturday at 4:15 p.m.
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"There is no easy week in our conference," head coach Grant Leep said. "Saint Martin's has been playing at such a consistent level all season. They are always tough to play against and shoot it so well. Western Oregon plays incredibly hard, and they have a lot of strong, physical athletes. We are at a point in the season where we must take it one game at a time. Our team needs to practice this week with an elite focus on what needs to be done to play the best we can on Thursday, and again on Saturday. We have a lot of things to learn from the first time playing these teams and continue to improve."
LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons split last weekend when they hosted Western Washington and Simon Fraser. The Vikings edged past the Falcons 72-67 last Thursday night. Shaw Anderson and Kelton Samore tied for a team-high 15 points in Thursday's game. Anderson and Paulsen tied for a team-high of five rebounds as well. Samore had an efficient night, going 7-for-10 from the field while pulling down five rebounds.
Last Saturday, the Falcons needed everything they got to escape from an overtime game against the Red Leafs with an 82-78 victory. The game came down to execution down the stretch. The final tie of the game came off a jumper from Zack Stone that knotted the score at 78 with 45 seconds to play.
A timeout from SPU allowed coach Leep to draw up the play he wanted. After inbounding Syon Blackmon had the ball on the right wing. Zack Paulsen flashed to the high post and received a pass from Blackmon.
As Paulsen caught the ball, he noticed Anderson being fronted in the low post. Paulsen put a pass where only Anderson could get to it. Anderson caught the ball in wide open space, where he'd go up for what would be the game-winning dunk.
The Falcons stopped the Ref Leafs in their final attempt to tie the game. Blackmon pulled down the defensive rebound and would ice the game by making two free throws.
Blackmon led the way with five points during that stretch of what proved to be a big day for Sammamish Native. Blackmon led the Falcons with 19 points on 7-for-13 shooting. He pulled eight rebounds and had three assists with stellar defense throughout the game.
SHOOTING IT WELL
The Falcons remain one of the best shooting teams in the country. They rank fourth in the country in 3-point percentage, hitting 41.1 percent of their attempts. SPU is fifth in the nation in field goal percentage at 51.6 percent.
INDIVIDUAL STANDOUTS
Anderson continues to lead the conference with 19.6 points per game. Zack Paulsen pours in 12.7 points per game, good enough for ninth in the GNAC. Samore ranks second in the conference in field goal percentage, hitting 63 percent of his attempts. Sze averages 3.1 assists per game, the seventh most in the league.
THE D2SIDA WEST REGION POLL
SPU has held a firm spot in the D2SIDA West Region Poll throughout the season. For the second week in a row, the team ranks ninth. The regional poll is released every Monday, followed by the national poll every Tuesday. Each region has six representatives (two per conference) that comprise the regional poll. The national poll has 16 voters - 2 from each region.
SCOUTING THE SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS ( 18-4, 10-2 GNAC)
The Saints join Montana State University Billings as one of two teams ahead of the Falcons in the conference standings. The Yellowjackets have secured their spot in the GNAC Tournament, while the Saints and Falcons aren't far from doing the same. The Saints enter the weekend on a five-game winning streak.
The first match-up between the Falcons and the Saints turned into an instant classic on Jan. 14. The Saints entered the game ranked 23rd in the country. SPU and SMU were tied 13 times, and the lead was swapped 21 times before the Falcons edged past the Saints 92-87. Anderson scored six consecutive points down the stretch to seal the victory.
The Saints are one of the best-scoring teams in the league, averaging 82.5 points per game. Defensively, the squad is allowing just 70.8 points per game. The team does it from deep, as they'll enter the weekend hitting 11.2 3-pointers per game. The game could be won or lost on the glass, as the Saints average 38.6 rebounds per game.
Kyle Greeley leads the team with 14.7 points per game, the fourth most in the GNAC. Christian Haffner and Branden Bunn are the 3-point specialists, both shooting 43 percent or better and ranking inside the top 10 in the conference. The potent offense flow through Jade Nielsen-Skinner, who dishes out 5.8 assists per game. Nielsen-Skinner guards as well, with 1.5 steals per game.
SCOUTING THE WESTERN OREGON WOLVES (9-10, 6-6 GNAC)
The Wolves enter the weekend in fifth in the GNAC standings. They've been on a run of late, winning four of their last five games. Most recently, the team fell to the Saints last Saturday.
The first game between the Falcons and Wolves happened in Seattle on Jan. 12. SPU downed WOU 87-79. Anderson took over in the late stages, scoring 15 consecutive points including a monster slam in the late stages. Anderson led everyone with 30 points on 10-for-14 shooting while knocking down all three of his 3-point attempts. He grabbed seven rebounds, dished out three assists, and had two blocks.
The Wolves enter the weekend scoring 73.5 points per game. Cameron Cranston leads the squad as a would-be top-five scorer in the conference, averaging 14.3 points per game. Cranston has played in just 12 games this season. Cameron Benzel rebounds well, ranking fifth in the conference with 6.6 rebounds per game. Myers Qiant ranks second in the conference in assists with 6.2 per game.
