Thanks to contributions on both ends of the floor from several players, Seattle University was able to earn a hard-fought 58-52 victory over New Mexico State Saturday night at KeyArena at Seattle Center.
Jarell Flora (Bremerton, Wash.) led the Redhawks with 16 points and seven rebounds, hitting four three-pointers as he played almost the entire game. William Powell (Huntsville, Ala.) tied his career high with 14 points, plus he pulled down six rebounds, while Shore Adenekan (London, England) came off the bench and contributed 11 points, four rebounds, and two blocked shots, including several emphatic dunks that brought the crowd into the game.
“Getting the ball into the middle of their zone was a big key in being able to attack it, but having the guts to go in there and make a play was great to see,” Seattle U head coach Cameron Dollar said. “Defensively, we hung in there and kept jabbing at them, and then to be able to be efficient offensively, especially in the second half, was huge for us to get the win.”
In a game of runs, Seattle U scored six unanswered points, including a four-point play from Isiah Umipig (Federal Way, Wash.), to take an 11-6 lead six minutes into the game. New Mexico State responded with its own 13-2 scoring run over the next five minutes, led by Ian Baker with two three-pointers and Tshilidzi Nephawe with five points, to take its biggest lead of the night at 19-13.
The Redhawks went on an 8-0 run, with two Flora three-pointers bookending an Adenekan dunk, but Pascal Siakam scored two straight baskets as the Aggies retook the lead, 23-21. The final five minutes of the first half was a seesaw battle, as Nephawe answered a Powell layup with one of his own to tie the game at 28-28 heading into the locker room at halftime.
New Mexico State (10-10, 2-1 WAC) scored the first four points of the second half on a jumper by Siakam and a layup from Remi Barry, but Seattle U answered with an 8-0 scoring run, the last four points scored by Jack Crook (Manchester, England). After a dunk by Siakam, the Redhawks scored six unanswered points, all by Adenekan, to take their biggest lead of the night at 47-37 halfway through the second half.
The Aggies scored nine unanswered points over a three-minute span to pull to within one at 49-48, but Umipig hit a three-pointer, and easy baskets by Jadon Cohee (Langley, B.C.) and Adenekan extended Seattle U’s advantage back to six at 56-50. New Mexico State was forced to commit several fouls just to put the Redhawks into the bonus, and Flora made two free throws with 17 seconds remaining to help clinch the win.
Siakam shot 8-of-12 from the field as he finished with 17 points and eight rebounds while Nephawe, still recovering from an injury, notched a double-double off the bench with 12 points and 10 rebounds, plus he blocked two shots. As a team, the Aggies shot 39.6 percent (21-of-53) from the field, including 3-of-15 from behind the three-point line, and 7-of-10 from the free throw line, plus they won the rebounding battle, 32-26.
Umipig was held under double figures in scoring for the second time in three games with seven points, but he dished out four assists and provided veteran leadership in 39 minutes on the floor. Emerson Murray (Vancouver, B.C.), making his first start of the season, dished out a game-high six assists plus picked up two steals and two defensive rebounds in the winning effort.
As a team, the Redhawks shot 51.1 percent (23-of-45) from the field, the first time the team hit more than half its field goal attempts against a Division I team since the Nebraska-Omaha game on Nov. 19. For the second straight game, Seattle U committed just eight turnovers, and the Redhawks dished out 17 assists on 23 made baskets.
The victory was Seattle U’s first over the three-time defending WAC Tournament champion Aggies since the Redhawks joined the Western Athletic Conference in 2012. It was the second Seattle U win over New Mexico State in the all-time series, with the first coming in the same building, then known as the Seattle Center Coliseum, on Feb. 20, 1971.
Seattle University (9-8, 2-1 WAC) hits the road next weekend, taking on Chicago State Thursday, Jan. 22, at 7 p.m. local time (5 p.m. Pacific time). The game will be broadcast on the American Sports Network as well as on 770 AM KTTH, with Dave Grosby and Gary Hill Jr. providing the audio descriptions on the radio.