Friday, March 13, 2015

BY DAN LEPSE

AZUSA, Calif. –- The Falcons got bullied on the boards last time. Their resolve to not let it happen again fueled Friday’s first-round romp.

Mitch Penner scored 15 of his game-high 19 points during the second half for Seattle Pacific, which staged an 81-69 upset victory over 16th-ranked BYU-Hawaii in the opener of the NCAA Division II men’s basketball tournament at the Felix Center.

Penner  played a leading role in the decisive stretch, igniting a run of 15 consecutive SPU points with a 3-pointer and layup. He capped that spree on a put-back with 11:51 left to play and his team ahead by 12 points.

The 6-foot-5 junior forward hit 5 of 9 shots from the field and 8 of 9 from the free throw line. He grabbed a team-high eight rebounds against a much taller frontline.

“He was a fighter,” exclaimed Ryan Looney, who coached SPU into the playoffs in each of his six seasons.

“A lot of games, including tonight, Mitch has had to match himself up against a bigger guy. So to hold his ground defensively and block out when shots are going up was huge for our team.”

Entering the game SPU led the nation in rebound margin, collecting an average of 13.3 more caroms than opponents. The lone blemish on the rebounding ledger came in the first meeting versus BYUH, an 87-74 setback on Nov. 22  in Laie, Hi. 

The Seasiders 27-25 edge gave them the distinction of being the only foe to outrebound the Falcons this season.

Penner’s eight rebounds and along with six apiece from Matt Borton and Shawn Reid, helped SPU to a 36-36 standoff on the boards in Friday’s rematch.

“I don’t know if we’re necessarily happy with even, we want to be plus on the glass,” Penner explained. “They’re definitely a big team. We play kind of small, but we’re known for our habits and working hard on the glass. That definitely was huge for us to at least keep it even and keep crashing the boards.”

SPU’s four seniors all tallied double-figure points led by the 18 of Reid. Borton and Riley Stockton each scored 15 and Cory Hutsen had 11.

Hutsen and Stockton are the winningest players in SPU history, who notched their 100th career victories against just 24 losses.

The No. 7-seeded Falcons (24-6) recorded their eighth straight win to advance to Saturday’s West Regional semifinal and a meeting with No. 3 seed California Baptist (25-6) at 5 p.m. on the Azusa Pacific campus. The 21st-ranked Lancers defeated defending region champion Chico State 67-61 in their first-round contest.

BYU-Hawaii, the No. 2 seed and Pacific West Conference Tournament champion, completed its season with a 24-6 record after having its six-game winning streak stopped.

“We guarded,” Looney said of the key to victory. “For the last month now we have been lights out defensively. Our guys are in the right spots off the ball, really helping each other out. And our effort is as high as it’s ever been.”

The Seasiders entered the game scoring at an 88.5-point clip, but were limited to a season-low 69 points while shooting 39 percent (24 of 61).

The SPU men countered with 43-percent accuracy from the floor (22 of 51), a figure that included 5 of 10 shooting on 3-pointers. They converted 32 of 43 free throws, outscoring the Seasiders by 19 points from the stripe. The Falcons drained 13 of those free throws inside the final four minutes to protect their lead.

Pablo Coro paced BYUH with 13 points and Jordan Stone had 10.

The Seasiders took their final lead on a 3-pointer by Coro, and Stone got a put-back for a 45-42 edge with 17:04 left to play. They would not score again for the next 5:43, missing six shots and committing three turnovers during that span.

Five different players contributed to the 15-point surge that ensued and put the Falcons in control midway through the second half. Borton started the run with a 3-pointer at 16:39. By the 11:51 mark, when Penner scored on an offensive rebound and layup, they were ahead 57-45.

BYUH chipped away at the deficit and then scored nine unanswered points to draw within 60-59 on a tip-in by Daniel Berger with 6:00 remaining.

Penner answered with a three-point play on SPU’s next possession and, after a Seasiders basket, Stockton made a trey to extend the margin to 66-61 with 4:29 remaining. 

BYU-Hawaii began fouling and the Falcons netted their final 13 points from the free throw line to preserve the outcome.

In the first half, BYUH hit its first three shots en route to a 7-0 lead two minutes into the contest. After opening with three missed shots and a turnover, the Falcons finally got on the board at 17:39 on three-point play by Borton, who was fouled on a layup.

SPU trailed by eight before scoring five straight points, four of them by Stockton, to draw within 13-13 with 13:36 left in the first half. 

The rally continued until Reid hit back-to-back baskets to force the first tie. His 3-pointer at 7:17 knotted the score, 24-24. After a Seasiders layup, Reid followed with a layup of his own and converted the subsequent free throw to forge the Falcons first lead, 30-29 with 5:55 left in the half.

“That’s kind of what I’m here to do,” described Reid, who compiled 12 first-half points. “I’m known as a scorer and I can put the ball in the hoop sometimes. It was nice to be able to give my teammates a big lift off the bench and kind of get us rolling again and get us back in the game.”

The Seasiders briefly reclaimed the upper hand at 34-31 on a jumper by Ian Harward with 2:56 showing on the clock. But SPU closed the period with a 7-2 run, capped by a hook from Hutsen with 2.1 seconds remaining, to take a 38-36 halftime margin.

The Falcons posted 48-percent shooting accuracy (14 of 29) in the first half while limiting BYUH to 43 percent (12 of 28). Both teams hit half of their first-half trey tries, SPU at 3 for 6 and the Seasiders at 4 for 8.

The Falcons are participating in the NCAA Tournament for the 11th consecutive season, the longest current streak among Division II men’s basketball teams. They won their opening-round game for the 17th time in 26 all-time appearances.

SPU will shift gears for Saturday’s matchup, altering the game plan from defending taller opponents to guarding the quickness of the Lancers.

“It will be a lot different. Cal Baptist tries to pressure you and take you out of your stuff,” Looney said. “They’ve got a lot of talented guys on offense. 

“Tonight we were guarding size. Saturday we will be guarding some smaller guys that like to put it on the floor. So it’s a totally different test and something we’re definitely going to have to spend some time here getting ourselves prepared for.”