Kicking off their non-conference schedule, the Seattle Pacific University men’s basketball team hosted the California Collegiate Athletic Association Crossover in Royal Brougham Pavilion.

The Falcons lost 76-73 to California State University, Chico on Friday, Nov. 8, and 70-60 to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona on Saturday, Nov. 9

Chico State gave little room for SPU to work with, but the Falcons made use of every opportunity. Seattle Pacific spent most of the game ahead of Chico State, losing the lead three times. In the 34th minute, a tie broke in favor of Chico State and SPU was unable to recover.

Junior forward Trace Evans was the top scorer with 19 points. Evans commented on the team losing the lead.

“We just got a little bit complacent. In the first half, we started hot, playing really well [but] then we got away from what we wanted to do,” Evans said. “Chico’s historically a very tough team. It’s all about who’s toughest [and] we weren’t.”

The Falcons were walled off by the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos, struggling to shake their defensive pressure. Seattle Pacific nearly tied the score in the second half, only behind 51-48, but could not break ahead. Jonas LaTour, a redshirt-sophomore forward, led the team in scoring with 14 points (four three-pointers and five field goals).

Head Coach Keffrey Fazio said the team continues to improve.

“We played well enough to win [but] it wasn’t perfect,” Fazio said. “We were a little bit flat coming out and buried ourselves in a little bit of a hole. I was proud to see a response to get back into it, but we have to do better. We’re going to do a lot of learning on the court this fall.”

Seattle Pacific’s next time on the court will be an exhibition match against the University of Washington Huskies on Wednesday, Nov. 13, in the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion at 7 p.m.