Falcons Men Storm Back Late, Beat Vikings 80-72
February 8, 2003

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (Feb. 8) -- Yusef Aziz scored 19 of his 28 points in the second half as Seattle Pacific University stormed from nine points down in the final 14 minutes to beat Western Washington 80-72 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game Saturday night at Carver Gym.

Jason Chivers (So., 6-8, Palmdale, Ca.) added 19 points for the Falcons (8-2, 12-7), who avenged their only home GNAC defeat and won for the sixth time in seven games to remain in a virtual tie for first with Humboldt State.

Western (5-5, 11-8) lost its fourth in the last seven games and was led by Jason Burrell's 19. Grant Dykstra had 17.

Seattle Pacific trailed 48-39 with 14 minutes to go and 58-52 when Vikings center and top scorer Mike Palm left the game after picking up his fourth foul with 9:01 left. From that point the Falcons proceeded to go on a 20-6 run, with Aziz (Sr., 6-4, Seattle, Wa./Foster) scoring 11 of the points.

Aziz made two free throws to give his team the lead for good and Maurice Cato (Sr., 6-0, Fairfield, Ca.) connected on a key three-pointer during the spree for a 68-64 lead. Cato scored all 10 of his points in the second period and had six assists.

Aziz converted all 12 of his free throws, tying a school record, and was 8-12 from the field. He also had seven rebounds and three steals. Chivers was 6-8 from the floor and 7-8 at the line.

The Vikings out-rebounded SPU 37-28 but shot just 42 percent (26-62) and were outscored by 22 at the foul line where the Falcons hit 35 of 40. SPU is now 12-1 when shooting at least 49 percent from the field.

Jesse Keely added 10 points and Daniel Sandrin contributed nine points and a team-high eight rebounds.

SPU committed only three second-half turnovers and matched Western rebound for rebound after intermission.

Neither team could manage much of an advantage in the first half, with the lead exchanging hands five times and six ties. Western went on top 25-20 on Kyle Jackson's trey but the Falcons came back to knot the score at 31-all at halftime by taking advantage of their 15 first-half free throws.

The Falcons remain on the road at third-place Alaska Fairbanks Thursday night.

SEATTLE PACIFIC -- Aziz 8-12 12-12 28; Chivers 6-8 7-8 19; Keely 3-6 4-4 10; Cato 2-6 4-4 10; Daniel Sandrin 1-5 7-9 9; Lee 1-1 0-0 3; Woodard 0-1 1-2 1; Cohen 0-1 0-0 0; Harris 0-3 0-1 0. Totals 21-43 35-40 80.

WESTERN WASHINGTON -- Burrell 5-11 6-9 19; Dykstra 6-13 3-4 17; Stevens 6-8 2-4 14; Palm 5-12 2-2 12; Jackson 2-6 0-0 5; Campbell 2-8 0-2 5; Arthur 0-2 0-0 0; Visser 0-1 0-0 0; Diggs 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-62 13-21 72.

Halftime--SPU 31, WWU 31. 3-point goals-SPU 3-11 (Cato 2-5; Lee 1-1; Keely 0-1; Sandrin 0-1; Harris 0-2; Aziz 0-1), WWU 7-22 (Burrell 3-6; Dykstra 2-6; Campbell 1-4; Jackson 1-3; Diggs 0-1; Palm 0-2). Fouled out--none. Rebounds-SPU 27 (Sandrin 8), WWU 38 (Stevens, Campbell 8). Assists-SPU 14 (Cato 6), WWU 14 (Dykstra 4). Total fouls-SPU 19, WWU 26. A-2,020