Saturday, March 7, 2015

BILLINGS, Mont. – Most Valuable Player Cory Hutsen tallied 13 of his career-high 34 points early in the second half Saturday, leading Seattle Pacific to its third consecutive Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament men’s basketball championship with an 81-68 victory over Western Washington at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

The second-seeded Falcons (23-7) earned the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA West Regional which begins next Friday. They will make their 11th consecutive playoff appearance, the longest current streak among Division II men’s basketball teams.

Hutsen broke the GNAC tournament single-game scoring record of 32 points established in 2013 by Central Washington’s Mark McLaughlin. He hit 15 of 23 shots from the field and eclipsed his previous career-best output of 28 points.

Mitch Penner  was the only other Falcon in double digits with 12 points. He completed his fifth double-double with 11 rebounds, sparking SPU’s 36-22 advantage on the boards.  SPU began the week leading Division II in rebound margin (13.6).

A 6-foot-8 senior center, Hutsen helped SPU quickly expand a 35-28 halftime lead, scoring 13 of his team’s first 14 second-half points. Hutsen produced an eight-point run by himself as part of a stretch when he accounted for eight straight Falcons baskets. By the time Hutsen capped that run on a hook shot with 14:57 left to play, his team led 49-33.

SPU won its seventh straight game while stopping Western’s 10-game streak of success. The Falcons advanced to the conference championship game by virtue of a 73-54 win over Northwest Nazarene in Friday’s semifinals.

The No. 5 seed Vikings (20-11) lost to SPU for the third straight time in the GNAC tournament final. They had swept this year’s two regular-season meetings.

Ricardo Maxwell netted 13 points to pace Western, which also got 12 from Jeffrey Parker and 11 from Joey Schreiber.

The Vikings trailed by 18 points in the second half before Maxwell scored six points to spark a 13-6 surge that trimmed the deficit to 63-52 with 6:24 left to play.

SPU scored six of the game’s next eight points to repel the rally and begin rebuilding the lead to as many as 19 points.

The Falcons shot 51 percent from the field (29 of 57) and nailed 4 of 9 treys while limiting WWU to 43-percent accuracy (23 of 54) and just 4 of 18 on 3-point tries.

In the first half, the teams traded baskets for the opening five minutes before SPU broke a 9-9 tie, taking the lead for good on a layup by Bryce Leavitt. Matt Borton followed with a layup to put the Falcons up 13-9 with 13:59 left in the first half.

That margin grew to a first-half high of 10 points on back-to-back baskets by Hutsen sandwiched around a free throw for a 29-19 lead with 5:11 on the clock.

Western drew within 31-26 on a 3-pointer by Schreiber at 1:11. After an exchange of baskets, the Falcons forged a 35-28 halftime margin on two free throws by Penner with 1.2 seconds remaining. He rebounded an miss by teammate Shawn Reid and was fouled while attempting a tip-in.

Seattle Pacific, which was already the only multiple title winner in the five-year history of the GNAC Tournament, now has two more championship trophies than any other school.

The SPU men won their initial conference tourney title in 2013, beating regular-season winner Western Washington 72-70 on a last-second 3-pointer by Jobi Wall.

They repeated as GNAC tournament champions in 2014 with another victory over the Vikings, this time by a 65-62 count.

The 64-team NCAA Tournament field will be announced on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time via a live selection show that airs on the official NCAA website at the following address:  www.ncaa.com/sports/basketball-men/d2

The playoffs begin with first-round action on Friday. The West Region semifinals will be played Saturday and the regional championship game on Monday.