HAYWARD, Calif. – The Seattle Pacific University men's basketball team put on a furious second half comeback against 24th-ranked Cal State East Bay on Saturday evening, but a game-tying shot in the final moments was off the mark, and the Falcons fell 57-54 to the Pioneers.
 
FROM THE COACH
"Obviously, really proud of the toughness and togetherness," head coach Keffrey Fazio said. "On the road against an undefeated team that's ranked inside the top 25. We knew it wasn't going to be pretty, but we knew we had to fight for 40 minutes, and I thought we did. But we came up just a little short."

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a free throw and layup from Trace Evans, the Pioneers went on an 18-5 run that lasted 7:03 against the Falcons.
  • The Falcons struggled from the field to start the game, going 2-for-9 during that run.
• A 3-pointer from Aengus Sutherland halted the run, as the Falcons and Pioneers played to a one-point difference over the final 10 minutes of the first half.
• SPU trailed CSUEB by nine points at halftime.
• The Falcons opened the second half with a 17-8 run against the Pioneers, as a long 3-pointer from Julian Mora tied the game at 46 with 7:55 left to play.
  • Mora led the comeback with eight points, while Theo McMillan scored four points during that stretch.
• The Pioneers answered with an 11-3 run over the next five minutes of the game.
  • CSUEB went 6-for-7 from the free-throw line during the run.
• The Falcons went on a 5-0 run over the final 1:42 of the game and had a chance to tie with a 3-pointer in the final seconds, but the shot didn't go down.
• The Pioneers took the game 57-54.

FROM THE BOX SCORE

• The Falcons shot 46.15 percent (12-for-26) from the field in the second half of Saturday's game, including a 55.56 percent (5-for-9) effort from 3-point range.
• Mora and Coleman tied with a team-high 12 points, while adding three rebounds each for the Falcons.
  • Coleman was SPU's best 3-point shooter, going 4-for-5 from beyond the arc.
  • Mora had three assists in Saturday's game as well.
• Evans tied McMillan with a team-high six rebounds for the Falcons.
  • Evans poured in nine points, while McMillan scored eight points.
• The Pioneers took advantage of SPU turnovers, scoring 18 points off 16 turnovers from the Falcons.
• The CSUEB bench outscored the SPU bench 25-8 in Saturday's game.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• The Pioneers have not lost a game this season, and entered the weekend ranked 24th in the National Association of Basketball Coaches top 25 national poll.
• The Falcons tied Jessup's performance on Nov. 15 against the Pioneers with the narrowest margin of victory for CSUEB this season.

 
UP NEXT
The Falcons visit San Francisco State in a rare Sunday matchup at 2:00 p.m.
 
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