SEATTLE – Seattle U men's basketball rallied from a 14-point deficit midway through the first half, outscoring Cal State Fullerton 41-27 in the second frame to remain unbeaten at home and claim a 69-62 win at Climate Pledge Arena Wednesday night.
Riley Grigsby led all scorers with 22 points, going 10-of-19 from the field, and contributing 12 big second-half points. Cameron Tyson finished with 15 points, Alex Schumacher had 10 and Brandon Chatfield had another big performance with six points, including a long three, and 10 rebounds.
Cal State Fullerton (4-4), the reigning Big West Conference Tournament champions, were paced by Max Jones and Latrell Wrightsell, Jr., who finished with 16 and 15 points respectively.
The Redhawks opened the game flat, unable to find the bottom of the basket until the 15:19 mark on a Viktor Rajković driving layup. The offense found no rhythm through the first frame and the Titans would earn a double-digit lead, 15-4, by the 12:47 mark.
The spread grew to 14, 32-18, before the Redhawks slowly started to chip away. They would close out the half on a 10-2 spurt, including back-to-back buckets from Grigsby and a buzzer beating tip in from Seyi Reiley that made it 35-28 Titans at the break.
"We didn't show up to compete today," said Head Coach Chris Victor. "We talked about it yesterday and at shootaround this morning and we still came out flat. We weren't playing the basketball that got us the great start to the season and that was very frustrating to our staff and players. At halftime we challenged the guys at to play the last 20 minutes the way we know we can play, and they stepped up."
Grigsby would open the second half with a three, forcing an early Titan timeout. He would go on to give Seattle U it's first lead of the night, 49-48, on a steal and fast break layup with 8:17 to play.
A 12-2 Redhawk run capped by a Chatfield dunk pushed the lead to six, 56-50, with 5:20 to go. Cal State Fullerton pulled within a possession twice down the stretch, but free throws and big buckets from Grigsby and Schumacher completed the comeback win.
Seattle U finished the night shooting 42 percent from the field and had just six three pointers, a season low.
After shooting a hot 52 percent in the first half, Cal State Fullerton managed just 33 percent from the field and 2-of-12 from three in the second frame.
The Redhawks are off until Dec. 10, traveling to Grand Forks, N.D., to face University of North Dakota. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. Central, 1 p.m. Pacific.
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