PORTLAND, Ore. – The Great Northwest Athletic Conference announced its Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll on Thursday afternoon, with Seattle Pacific University slotted for a seventh-place finish by the league's coaches.
Central Washington was selected to win the conference by the league's coaches. They gained 90 points and six first-place votes. Northwest Nazarene was slotted in second place with 85 points and two first-place votes. Montana State University Billings earned 75 points and one first-place vote. Western Washington and Saint Martin's tied for fourth, with the Vikings earning one first-place vote. The Falcons landed in seventh with 43 points.
"We're excited to compete this year," head coach
Keffrey Fazio said.
The Falcons went 18-15 during the 2024-25 season. They were exceptional at home, picking up 10 wins inside Royal Brougham Pavilion. An 11-7 conference record set the Falcons up for a run through the GNAC Championships. An 81-47 quarterfinal victory over Alaska Fairbanks was followed by a 73-68 defeat of Northwest Nazarene in the semifinals. The tournament culminated in a 71-62 victory over Central Washington, as the Falcons claimed their conference-record fifth GNAC title.
The GNAC Title sent the Falcons to the NCAAA Tournament for the 30th time in program history. SPU's magical March ended at the hands of top-seeded Point Loma in the opening round.
Trace Evans returns to the Falcons as a graduate senior. He's coming off a season in which he averaged 10.9 points per game, shot 61.1 percent from the field, and had 4.9 rebounds per game for SPU. Evans was named Second Team All-GNAC and earned GNAC All-Academic honors and College Sports Communicators Academic All-District.
Grant Coleman and
Nikias Schoenerstedt return for their senior seasons. Coleman was responsible for one of the biggest moments of the 2024-25 season for the Falcons. He splashed home a game-winning 3-pointer at Western Washington on Feb. 8, 2025. The shot extended SPU's winning streak to six games, while ending a seven-game winning streak for the Vikings.
Schoenerstedt appeared in 27 games and made eight starts for the Falcons. He scored a season-high six points at Saint Martin's on Jan. 2, 2025, and grabbed a season-high five rebounds against Linfield on Nov. 23, 2024.
Julian Mora and
Logan Kinloch return as redshirt juniors. Mora showcased some heroics during the GNAC Championships last season. He scored 15 points off the bench in the semifinals, followed by an 11-point outbreak in the championship game. Mora was deadly from 3-point range, finishing the weekend 6-for-9 from deep.
Kinloch's moment came on the defensive play that led to Coleman's game-winner against the Vikings. Kinloch blocked a shot by the Vikings to earn a possession for the Falcons. To that point, it was the only blocked shot of his career. Kinloch scored a season-high 12 points against Douglas College in Dec. 21, 2024.
The Falcons welcomed seven newcomers to the roster over the summer as part of the 2025-26 signing class.
Connor Drinkwine and familiar Falcon
Theo McMillan return as transfers to SPU. Drinkewine averaged 18.4 points per game at Skagit Valley College last season. He broke the single-season 3-point record at SVC. McMillan spent last season at Clark College and averaged 17.8 points per game, 6.4 rebounds per game, and 6.2 assists per game.
Brant Heppner, Logan Rianey,
Sebastian Arius,
Nirvaan Misra, and
Yoav Ziklik join the Falcons for their first season of collegiate basketball. Heppner was a dual-sport athlete at Lynden High School. Heppner was a two-time First Team All-League selection and was the league's Most Valuable Player as a senior. Heppner was a part of three state championship-winning teams and was on the state tournament's All-Tournament team twice. Heppner also played football in high school. And was First Team All-League in football twice. He was a part of two state championship football teams as well.
Arius had a standout career at Auburn Mountainview High School. He averaged 18 points per game, nine rebounds, three assists, and three steals per game as a senior. Arius was named the NPSL Most Valuable Player. He collected Second Team Honors once. Arius earned Tacoma News Tribune Second Team All-Area, was on the WIBCA All-State team, and earned the Academic CTE Award.
The Falcons open their season with an exhibition against the Seattle Mountaineers on Nov. 5 at 7:00 p.m. The games count when the Falcons head to Pomona, Calif., for the Bronco Classic on Nov. 14-15. Their first official home game is Nov. 21 at 7:00 p.m. when the Falcons host Evergreen State inside Royal Brougham Pavilion.
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