SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific University men's basketball team enters this weekend's Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament as winners of four consecutive games, as the GNAC team of the week set sights on a deep postseason run in Ellensburg, Wash. this weekend.
QUOTABLE
"I'm very proud of how our group finished. Winning this time of the year is hard. We've been able to find ways to win and that's all that matters in March. Headed into the conference tournament, for us, it's win or go home. I just hope we don't want to go home more than our opponent." - interim head coach
Keffrey Fazio said.
MEN'S BRACKET
Thursday, March 7
Quarterfinal 1: 5:15 p.m. – No. 3 Seed Saint Martin's vs. No. 6 Seed Alaska Anchorage
Quarterfinal 2: 7:30 p.m. – No. 4 Seed Central Washington vs. No. 5 Seed Seattle Pacific
Friday, March 8
Semifinal 1: 5:15 p.m. – No. 2 Seed Northwest Nazarene vs. Winner of Quarterfinal 1
Semifinal 2: 7:30 p.m. – No. 1 Seed Montana State Billings vs. Winner of Quarterfinal 2
Saturday, March 9
7:30 p.m. – Winner of Semifinal 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal 2
TICKETS
Tickets for the 2024 GNAC Men's Basketball Championships are available online at
www.gnactickets.com. Tournament passes, good for all men's and women's games, are $60 for adults and $40 for students, children and seniors. Individual session prices, which include two games per session, are $15 for adults and $11 for students, children, and seniors.
HOW TO FOLLOW
All games of the 2024 GNAC Basketball Championships will be streamed live, free of charge, on
GNAC.tv. Shawn Walli and Dustin Daniel are set to call all the action from Ellensburg. Live stats for all games of the men's tournament will be
available online here.
MARCH FAVORS THE FALCONS
The SPU men's basketball team has qualified for the GNAC Tournament for the 12th time since the tournament began in 2011. It's the most of any team in the conference. This is the sixth consecutive appearance in the GNAC Tournament for SPU. The Falcons' four GNAC Tournament trophies are the most of any team in the conference. SPU won three straight titles from 2013-2015, and last claimed the tournament crown in 2019.
GNAC TEAM OF THE WEEK
The SPU men's basketball team was named the GNAC Team of the Week after sweeping Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks in the final weekend of regular-season play.
Anderson led the Falcons with 23 points on 8-for-13 shooting against the Seawolves. He went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Moriarty scored 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting with six rebounds and three assists.
Theo McMillan led the Falcons with a team-high five assists.
The Falcons closed their regular season with a 62-56 defeat of the Nanooks. The Falcons overcame a sluggish first half on Saturday.
Jonas La Tour knocked down a 3-pointer with 14:12 remaining in the game. It started a 10:35 run that saw SPU outscore UAF 25-10.
Kyle Luttinen led the team with six points during that stretch, while La Tour,
Trace Evans, and
Jadin Penigar scored five points each. The Falcons led 54-46 and would keep their lead until the final buzzer.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
SPU men's basketball has a new all-time scoring leader in
Shaw Anderson, who set a new record last Saturday.
Anderson's climb to the top of the SPU scoring mountain has been consistently great. Anderson started each of the 115 games he's appeared in with the Falcons. He's averaged more than 34 minutes per game in those appearances. Anderson has accumulated 694 field goals, 207 3-pointers, and 364 free throws. It adds up to 1,959 career points, and sole possession of a program record that hasn't been touched in 66 years, or roughly 792 months, or more than 24,000 calendar days.
Shaw dethrones SPU Athletics Hall of Famer Loren Anderson. Loren established 13 program records during his time at SPU. Shaw now claims three of those records, including career points (1,959), career field goals (694), and single-game free throw percentage (16-for-16).
FREE-FLOWING OFFENSE
The Falcons enter the weekend with the best shooting percentage of any team in the tournament. SPU is hitting 48.8 percent from the field, including a conference-best 38.5 percent from 3-point range. The Falcons are the only team in the conference to make more than 300 3-pointers this season, with 302 makes.
Evans leads the squad by shooting 57 percent from the field. It's the third-best mark in the GNAC. Anderson's hitting 50.9 percent of his attempts while averaging 21 points per game.
Maui Sze is splashing home 43.8 percent of his 3-point tries while dishing out 3.8 assists per game, the third most in the GNAC.
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