SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific University men's basketball team put together a complete performance against Vanguard on Friday afternoon, as Henry Sandberg led the team with 15 points on their way to a 72-53 victory over the Lions.

FROM THE COACH
"I'm proud of the way we came out and executed our game plan," head coach Keffrey Fazio said. "We had to fight for it, at times, and we were able to do that. Really proud of the way we played." 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Falcons trailed 8-4 when Theo McMillan's 3-pointer sparked a 22-9 run over the middle of the first half.
  • SPU went 9-for-14 during that span, including four made 3-pointers.
  • Henry Sandberg led the Falcons with nine points during that span.
• Early foul trouble limited Trace Evans in the first half before he opened the second half with back-to-back buckets.
• Grant Coleman hit a 3-pointer that gave the Falcons a 13-point lead with 17:29 left in the game.
• With 12:01 left to play, Aengus Sutherland hit a pair of free throws that started a 15-5 run that lasted four minutes and put the Falcons up 57-40.
  • The Falcons hit three 3-pointers and made all six of their free throw attempts during the run.
  • Brant Heppner led the team with six points during that span.
• From there, the Falcons kept their distance from the Lions to take the game 72-53.

 
FROM THE BOX SCORE

• The Falcons shot 50 percent (13-for-26) from the field in the first half, while limiting Vanguard to a 36.4 shooting percentage.
• SPU were even better in the second half, making 56 percent of their shot attempts and finishing the game shooting 52.9 percent (27-for-51) from the field.
  • The Falcons went 6-for-9 (66.7 percent) from 3-point range in the second half.
• Sandberg scored a game-high 15 points while going 6-for-9 from the field and adding five rebounds and four assists to his stat line.
• Evans scored 14 points and was perfect (5-for-5) from the field and the free throw line (4-for-4) in 19 minutes played.
• Julian Mora scored 12 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds for the Falcons.

 
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Sandberg was a point shy of tying his career high of 16 set on Dec. 21, 2024, against Douglas College.
  • Sandberg matched his career-high for assists, tying his performance from Feb. 22, 2025, against Alaska Anchorage.
• Mora had his best rebounding game of the season on Friday, setting a new season-high with seven rebounds.

UP NEXT
The Falcons close out the SPU Thanksgiving Classic against fourth-ranked Point Loma tomorrow at 4:15 p.m. inside Royal Brougham Pavilion.

SPU SOCIAL

• X - @SPUSports & @SPU_Basketball
• Instagram - @SPUSports & @SPU_Basketball
• Facebook - /SPUSports