LACEY, Wash. – The Seattle Pacific Falcons didn't want to settle for just one double-double. And they definitely didn't want to settle for another early exit from postseason play.
Mason Landdeck scored 19 points and pulled down 14 rebounds, Jaxon Nap went for 12 points and 12 boards, and SPU rolled to an 81-47 victory against Alaska Fairbanks to open the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament on Thursday afternoon inside Marcus Pavilion at Saint Martin's.
"I'm trying to show up and make everyone else better from the point guard spot," Landdeck said. "We did a good job of finding each other for open looks. Nap and Truck (Trace Evans) did a good job of boxing out and the ball came my way."
"Everyone had a conscious effort to box out and get into people," Nap said. "We knew that if we guarded well, we'd have some situations where the ball would be coming off the rim hard. Our guys did a good job of grabbing rebounds and turning them into controlled possessions on offense."
Owen Moriarty added 18 points for the No. 3-seeded Falcons (16-14), who won their first GNAC Tournament game since 2019 when they beat Western Oregon in the championship contest, 78-66. They were knocked out in the semifinals in 2020 and in the first round in 2022, '23, and '24.
SPU advanced to a Friday semifinal contest against No. 2 seed Northwest Nazarene. That one tips off at noon.
Landdeck hit 7 of 13 from the field, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range. Along with his points and rebounds, he dished four assists and came up with four steals. Nap was 5 of 10 and also handed out four assists. Moriarty was 6 of 9 and had a team-high five assists.
When the Falcons played Fairbanks on Jan. 25 in Brougham Pavilion, they let the Nanooks hang around and finally had to pull out a last-minute 56-54 victory. In the rematch on Feb. 20 in Fairbanks, they fell behind and never were able to come all the way back in dropping a 71-60 decision.
On Thursday, it was different. Seattle Pacific took control during the first half … and took care of business after that.
Up 22-17 inside the seven-minute mark, the Falcons closed the half on a 13-4 run to take a 35-21 lead into the locker room.
Then in the first 5 ½ minutes of the second half, SPU outscored Fairbanks by a 16-4 margin, building their bulge to 51-25. The difference never dipped below 22 after that.
"We did a nice job of playing a full 40 minutes," head coach Keffrey Fazio said. "Fairbanks is a talented team, and you can't give them any openings to hurt you. We knew we needed a good effort defensively, and our guys were committed to that. I'm proud of how they executed our plan."
Fairbanks, which came in on a five-game winning streak, ended the season at 14-14.
"This conference year after year shows tremendous parody," Fazio said. "It's hard to look forward too much, but for us, we know we must win this thing to get to where we want to go. It's okay to take a peak forward, but we'll let this settle before getting another game plan ready for tomorrow's game against Northwest Nazarene. Our guys will have to go out and execute it and make it theirs."
BY THE NUMBERS
-- The Falcons shot 48.4 percent (31 of 64). They limited Fairbanks to 30.2 percent (19 of 63).
-- Thanks to Landdeck's 14 and Nap's 12, SPU dominated the boards, 52-31.
-- This was Nap's second double-double against the Nanooks. He had 16 points and 13 rebounds in the Jan. 25 contest in Seattle.
-- Fairbanks launched 27 shots from downtown but drained just four The Falcons were 6 of 19.
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