BELMONT, Calif. – Suffering their first lost of the season, the Simon Fraser University men's basketball team fell to the Fresno Pacific University Sunbirds in the first game of the Notre Dame De Namur Thanksgiving Classic, 84-64.

"We played hard and executed our game plan for the most part in the first half," said assistant coach Chris Cline.  "They had two very good players that made some great plays in the second half and we backed down and let those guys do what they wanted."
 
Free-throw shooting poisoned the Clan as they shot only 47 percent, converting nine of 19 shots while the Sunbirds hit 80 percent, shooting 16 of 20.

David Gebru (Seattle, WA) led SFU with 19 points and seven rebounds. Playing hard across the court, Elijah Matthews (Washington, DC) added 17 points, six rebounds, and four assists.

FPU was led by two Sunbirds who passed the 20-point mark. Malcolm Griffin led all players with 23 points and 10 rebounds while John Taylor added 21. Matt Samuels also chipped in 12 points.

The Sunbirds led for the first two minutes of the game, but the Clan quickly took the lead off a converted three-pointer from Taylor Dunn (Vancouver, WA).

After a 7-2 run, SFU gained their largest lead off the half leading FPU 20-13 with 10:43 remaining.

Responding with a 5-0 run of their own, the Sunbirds took back the game which initiated a back-and-forth battle for the lead.

Over the next six minutes, neither team was able to build more than a two possession lead and FPU led 37-33 at halftime.

The Sunbirds continued to carry the lead the remainder of the game, thanks in part to 26 points off SFU turnovers.

With 7:44 left to play, FPU expanded their hold to double digits but the Clan were able to cut the 11-point lead to six.

However, SFU was held to six points in the final six minutes of the game, hitting only three of nine shots.

The Clan was were not able to overcome the Sunbirds second half 60 percent field goal mark and  75 percent free-throw shooting percentage, resulting in the 20 point loss.

"Tomorrow's a big game against Notre Dame de Namur. We just need to put this one behind us and get ready for that one," finished Cline.

Continuing their road trip, SFU will face Notre Dame de Namur University at 7 p.m. on Saturday night.

The Clan will return to the West Gym on December 1 when they take on the current NCAA division II National Champions, the Western Washington University Vikings in the West Gym at 7:30 p.m.