PORTLAND, Ore. – After picking up two wins on its home floor, including a victory over fourth-ranked Point Loma last Saturday, the Seattle Pacific University Men's Basketball team has been named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Team of the Week.
The Falcons made the most of being at home for Thanksgiving. They hosted the SPU Thanksgiving Classic and picked up significant in-region victories over Vanguard and fourth-ranked Point Loma. Saturday's victory over fourth-ranked Point Loma was the highest-ranked opponent the Falcons have beaten since Fazio took over in May of 2023. It's the third victory over a ranked opponent during that span. The Falcons look forward to one GNAC game this weekend before the conference schedule resumes in January.
"When you're playing west region teams, you know the magnitude in terms of teams who are in the national tournament most years," head coach
Keffrey Fazio said. "We played (Point Loma) twice last year – they hosted a Thanksgiving event and they bumped us out of the national tournament. So there was some year over year knowledge about them from our guys. Now, we are looking forward to the opportunity to go on the road against a really good team. It would be great to head into the break 1-0, and that's what we try to do every game."
SPU's holiday weekend started with a 72-53 victory over Vanguard last Friday. The Falcons used a 22-9 run in the first half and a 15-5 run in the second half to gain separation from the Lions. The Falcons shot 52.9 percent (27-for-59) from the field, including 11 made 3-pointers.
Henry 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.
Trace 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.
Mora was sensational in Saturday's 80-73 victory over fourth-ranked Point Loma. He scored 24 of his game-high 26 points in the second half for the Falcons. He went 7-for-9 from the field, including a 4-for-5 effort from 3-point range. Mora made all eight of his free throw attempts and added three assists with just one turnover to his stellar night for the Falcons.
"We don't win the GNAC Championship last year without him and what he did," Fazio said of Mora. "He is finally healthy and has a full off-season under his belt. To score 24 points in the second half in one of the biggest games of his career was huge. I am very happy for him, but I'm not surprised. The kid is just wired to score, and he is a winner. The talent has always been there, but he has had to overcome a lot of adversity to get to where he's at. I'm glad he's a Falcon. He just won't be told no, and he showed a bit of that in the Point Loma game."
Aengus Sutherland and
Brant Heppner had big moments for the Falcons against the Sea Lions. In the second half, the Falcons had a 10-minute stretch where they outscored the Sea Lions 34-17. Sutherland had three steals during that span and finished the game with a new career high of four. Heppner set a new career best with nine points and 3-pointers made (3).
The Falcons get a brief taste of GNAC play when they travel to Montana State University Billings for a game on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. PST.
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