Senior guard Sango Niang scored 27 points and the Simon Fraser University Clan held on to defeat Seattle Pacific Falcons for the first time since joining NCAA Division II, 84-83, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference basketball game last Saturday at Brougham Pavilion.
It was a badly needed win for the Clan, which had lost all 13 previous meetings against the Falcons since joining the NCAA five years ago, including a 115-81 decision on Jan. 8 in Burnaby. The Clan won despite being held 26-points below its season scoring average, which leads the nation at a 110.5-point clip.
“This is a sweet win for our program,” said head coach James Blake. “This was a total team effort tonight. We went into the game with no pressure and we talked about just going out and just playing.”
With the victory, Simon Fraser moves to 4-9 in the Great Northwest and 9-12 overall. The Clan is in seventh place and remains in contention for one of six berths in the conference tournament.
“We are a roller coaster of a team with a lot of freshman and new players but this effort tonight really showed how good we really are, and how good we can be,” said Blake. “I'm proud of these guys and I am looking forward to coming home next week.”
The Clan returns home for games in the West Gym tonight (Thursday) versus Northwest Nazarene and Feb. 14 against Central Washington. Tip-off is 7 p.m.
Naing, who leads conference scoring with 23.5 points per game, scored 19 of his 27 points in the second half, including the Clan's final five points. His driving layup with 2:27 left to play put Simon Fraser up 81-78.
Seattle’s Mitch Penner hit the second of two free throws 15 seconds later to draw SPU within two, but Niang answered with a three-pointer at 1:43 to forge an five-point lead.
The Falcons hit two more free throws down the stretch and a layin by Cori Hutsen with 41.6 seconds to play to set the final score.
SPU had possession with 5.9 seconds remaining after rebounding a missed shot by Niang and calling a timeout, but Riley Stockton's running jumper from the top-right corner of the lane rimmed off.
Niango scored 27-points on 8-of-17 shooting, pulled down five rebounds and added two assists in 35 minutes. He shot four-of-nine from beyond the arc and seven-of-eight from the charity stripe.
Seattle’s Hutsen recorded a double-double with career-high marks with 28 points and 10 rebounds.
The Clan rallied and tied the game on four occasions in the second half before taking the lead for good, at 79-78, on a three-pointer by Patrick Simon with 3:12 left to play. Simon finished with nine points, six rebounds and one steal in 25 minutes.
Roderick Evans-Taylor joined Niang in double figures with 17 points.
The Clan hit 43-percent of their shots and drained 12 of 30 three-pointers, while the Falcons connected on just two of 13 treys.
The Falcons converted only 47.5 percent of their free-throw attempts, while the Clan was 16 of 24 shooting from the stripe.
SFU trailed by as many as 11 points late in the first period, before coming back to take the lead 35-34 at the break.
