SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific University men's basketball team celebrated Logan Kinloch, Julian Mora, Grant Coleman, and Nikias Schoenerstedt before a must-win game against Montana State University Billings, as a thrilling 87-85 victory over the Yellowjackets locked the Falcons into next weekend's Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships.
 
FROM THE COACH
"Obviously, a lot of our thoughts were with our seniors today and really all week," head coach Keffrey Fazio said. "We love those guys and everything that they've given to our program during their time here. This week was big, with playoff implications, and I'm really impressed by our team's focus on staying true to who we are while being ready for the moment and staying loose, too. That's what Falcons do."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Falcons opened the game with a 12-6 run over the Yellowjackets that lasted five minutes.
  • SPU went 5-for-7 from the field during that span, with five different players scoring.
• The Yellowjackets took a 14-12 lead with 13:55 left in the first half.
• SPU and MSUB went back-and-forth, with the first half featuring seven ties and eight lead changes.
• The Falcons trailed by three points with 3:23 left in the first half, before closing it out with a 10-0 run.
  • Henry Sandberg led the group with four points during that stretch, including a tough buzzer-beating layup to cap the run.
• SPU's 10-0 run at the end of the first half gave them a 40-33 lead at halftime.
• The Falcons maintained their gap over the Yellowjackets throughout the second half and led 70-62 with 5:45 left to play.
• The Yellowjackets stormed back into the game, going on a 15-8 run over the next four minutes.
  • MSUB's Miles Gruske took over, scoring 11 of the team's 15 points during the comeback try.
  • Mora was solid during this stretch, scoring four points for the Falcons.
• SPU led 78-77 with 1:52 left, as the Falcons clutched up to close out the game with a 9-5 run.
  • The Falcons went 5-for-6 from the free throw line over the final 1:16 of the game to help secure the victory.
• MSUB's Gruske hit a 3-pointer with a second left, but it wasn't enough as the Falcons took the game 87-85.

FROM THE BOX SCORE

• The Falcons went 30-for-52 (57.7 percent) from the field for the game, including an 11-for-20 (55 percent) performance from 3-point range.
• Sandberg went 8-for-13 from the floor on his way to leading the Falcons with 19 points.
• Mora scored 17 points, powered by three 3-pointers.
• Coleman hit scored 16 points while going 4-for-6 from 3-point range and tied with Theo McMillan for a team-high six rebounds.
• Trace Evans scored 13 points while going 4-for-6 from the field, while grabbing five rebounds.
• McMillan scored nine points and tied an MSUB player with a game-high nine assists, along with tying for a team-high in rebounds with six.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• The Falcons were in a must-win situation to secure their spot in next weekend's GNAC Championships.
• With wins by Central Washington and Alaska Fairbanks, MSU Billings was eliminated from the GNAC Championships.
• The Falcons have now advanced to 14 of 15 GNAC Championships since the tournament began in 2011
  • SPU owns the record with five GNAC Tournament Championships.
    • The Falcons three-peated from 2013-15 and took home titles in 2019 and 2025. 

UP NEXT
The Falcons will play in the GNAC Championships opening round on Thursday, March 5, on the campus of Western Washington in Bellingham, Wash.
 
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