The Seattle University men's basketball team took care of business Monday night, pulling out to a 27-point advantage at halftime and cruising to a 77-54 victory over Evergreen State College at the ShoWare Center.
Clarence Trent (Tacoma, Wash.) led the Redhawks with 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field, plus he pulled down nine rebounds, while Allen Tate (Hobbs, N.M.) finished with 12 points, eight rebounds, and two assists. Off the bench, Louis Green (Westchester, Ill.) also scored 12 points, hitting 5-of-7 shots from the field, and grabbed six boards.
A three-pointer and a layup by Tate in the first four minutes gave Seattle U an early 9-2 lead, and the Redhawks followed with nine unanswered points later in the half, seven of them scored by Trent. After a jumper by Patrick Lewis, Seattle U outscored the Geoducks, 19-4, in the last 11 minutes, as Evergreen State was held to 14.3 percent field goal shooting (5-of-35), including an 0-for-15 performance from behind the three-point line.
Evergreen State (1-7) did not give up, outscoring Seattle U in the second half, 42-38. Back-to-back three-pointers by Lewis and Travis Wagner, along with a traditional three-point play from Lewis, cut the Redhawk lead to 19 at 44-25. Seattle U extended the lead back out to 28 points at 68-40 with less than six minutes left in the game, but the Geoducks put together a 12-3 run, including consecutive three-pointers from Marice Tolliver, to bring their deficit back down.
"Evergreen did a good job in the second half of continuing to fight and scrap, but we did a good job of contesting their shots," head coach Cameron Dollar said. "We did not commit as many turnovers in the second half as we did in the first, and we rebounded, which is always good."
Tolliver led the Geoducks with 18 points, plus he pulled down five rebounds, dished out two assists, and blocked two shots. Lewis contributed 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds, and Julian Holliday scored 10 points off the bench for Evergreen State.
Eric Wallace (Winston-Salem, N.C.) struggled from the floor, hitting only 4-of-12 shots from the field, but he did grab a game-high 11 rebounds. Aaron Broussard (Federal Way, Wash.) shot only 3-of-10 from the field, but was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line to reach double figures for the fourth time this season with 10 points.
As a team, Seattle University shot 43.5 percent from the field, including 4-of-12 from behind the three-point line, and 76.5 percent (13-of-17) from the free throw line. The Redhawks won the rebounding battle, 59-36, but were able to force only nine turnovers by the Geoducks while committing 14 turnovers of their own.
Seattle University (2-2) will host Stanford at KeyArena Thursday, Dec. 1, with tip-off scheduled for 7:10 p.m. As a preview to the game, head coach Cameron Dollar will be featured in a live chat on www.seattletimes.com Wednesday, Nov. 30, beginning at 11:30 a.m. Tickets for Thursday's game are on sale through Ticketmaster and at the KeyArena Box Office, and the game will be broadcast on 770 The Truth with Dave Grosby and Gary Hill, Jr.