What’s new?
Rough patches are to be expected.
After a three-win streak, Seattle Pacific men’s basketball faced two consecutive losses to Central Washington University and Northwest Nazarene University. However, the Falcons quickly corrected themselves and swept their following four opponents.
Seattle Pacific defeated the Saint Martin’s University Saints 72-65 on Saturday, Feb. 1, the Western Oregon University Wolves 82-65 on Thursday, Jan. 30, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks 56-54 on Saturday, Jan. 25, and the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves 64-60 on Thursday, Jan. 23, in Royal Brougham Pavilion.
The Saint Martin’s Saints ranked No. 25 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches poll and were a favorite to win the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in the preseason poll.
Saturday’s game against the Saints opened with six ties in the first half. The lead briefly changed to SPU at 8:31 and 7:03 thanks to three-pointers from LaTour and Landdeck. Saint Martin’s held the lead for most of the half but was never further ahead than five.
Another six ties followed in the second half. The Falcons won a 52-52 tie with 9:40 remaining and held the lead for the rest of the way to secure the win.
Top scorers:
Against the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves — Landdeck, 19 points
Against the Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks — Nap secured his fourth double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds
Against the Western Oregon Wolves — Moriarty, 24 points
Against the Saint Martin’s Saints — Landdeck, 20 points
All eyes on:
Landdeck and junior forward Trace Evans have been incredible on the scoreboard for the Falcons. In his first season with the Falcons after transferring from Hawaii Pacific University, Landdeck is the team’s fifth-best scorer with 207 points, averaging 9.4 per game. Halfway through his third season with the Falcons, Evans has become the team’s second-best scorer with 233 points, averaging 12.9 per game.
Upcoming:
Seattle Pacific is 11-11 overall and 7-4 in the GNAC. The Falcons head back on the road to challenge the Simon Fraser University Red Leafs on Thursday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m. in Burnaby, British Columbia, and the Western Washington University Vikings on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. in Bellingham, Washington.
Head coach Keffrey Fazio said the team has prioritized preparing for anything Western Washington or Simon Fraser has changed since SPU’s previous encounter with them in January.
“Teams evolve and change, so [we’re] watching their film and studying what they’re doing lately,” Fazio said. “We’ll watch our game from the past to see if we can pick up any information that could be useful for us. We’re going to prepare, put our guys in the best situation to be successful and try to win the game in front of our faces.”
The Red Leafs are ninth in the GNAC standings with a 3-8 conference record and a 7-14 overall record. Simon Fraser has two players in the top five of the GNAC for scoring: junior forward Luke Howard is second with 322 points, averaging 16.9 per game, and sophomore guard Irish Coquia is fifth with 339, averaging 16.1 per game.
The Red Leafs also sport a three-point scoring percentage of 35.8, the third-best in the GNAC. Seattle Pacific has the advantage in the paint with a 47.4 field goal percentage compared to Simon Fraser’s 44.5.
Western Washington is fifth in the GNAC at 6-5 and 14-7 overall. The Vikings’ Will Wilson, a senior guard, is third in the GNAC for scoring with 349 points, averaging 16.6 per game. Western Washington is in the top five for each scoring category, field goals, three-pointers and free throws. Defense and rebounding will be SPU’s best asset to close the difference.
