SEATTLE –
Wilfried Balata scored a season-high 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds but SFU lost 87-79 to Seattle Pacific in Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball action Thursday in Royal Brougham Pavilion.
Simon Fraser (10-11 overall) suffered its third consecutive setback to fall to 5-8 in GNAC games. The Falcons (14-9) improved to 7-5 in league play while avenging a previous loss at SFU. They suffered a 75-72 setback on Jan. 22 in Burnaby.
Balata paced Simon Fraser with his third double-double of the season, a 23-point, 11-rebound effort and nearly carried SFU to victory. He helped SFU match the Falcons team rebounding total of 35.
Jordan Lyons added 17 points and
Jahmal Wright 11. SFU scoring leader
Julian Roche, who led all scorers with 24 points in the previous encounter between the two teams, was limited to nine points.
Simon Fraser outshot SPU by hitting 46-percent of its shots (26 of 57), but was only 5-for-17 on treys. Seattle Pacific shot 44 percent (29 of 66) from the field, 9-of-27 on threes.
Both teams surpassed 80 percent from the free throw line with the Falcons converting 20 of 24 attempts while SFU made 22 of 24.
Divant'e Moffitt amassed 21 of his season-high 32 points before halftime Thursday for Seattle Pacific, which led 44-33 at intermission.
The Falcons tallied the first five points after halftime and were in control the rest of the way. SPU comfortably led by double digits until the eight-minute mark. That's when Balata capped an 8-2 run with a layup that brought Simon Fraser within 65-57.
After having its lead trimmed to 73-66, SPU's Zack Paulsen made a play at each end of the floor to help preserve the advantage. He drew a charge on Balata, forcing a turnover while drawing the fourth foul on Simon Fraser's leading scorer.
The Falcons scored on the ensuing possession to forge a 75-66 lead with 3:58 remaining.
SFU managed to narrow the deficit to six points, at 85-79, on a lofted shot in the lane by
David Penney with 14.4 seconds left to play. Seattle made two free throws with 10.7 seconds remaining to complete the scoring.
SFU plays Saturday at Montana State and Tuesday at Northwest Nazarene. The team has one final home game remaining on Saturday, Feb. 26, a day that will feature the women's team playing at 5:15 pm and the men playing at 7:30 pm against Western Washington in the West Gym. This will be the final home game for SFU's senior student-athletes on both teams and it will feature the Whiteout t-shirt toss to send both teams off to the conference playoffs. T-shirts will be tossed into the crowd throughout the games and fans are encouraged to wear white.
-- With files from SPU communications
