ST. GEORGE, Utah – Seattle University men's basketball played Senior Night spoiler for a second straight game, holding off Utah Tech down the stretch to clinch a 70-65 win in Burns Arena in St. George, Utah, in both team's regular-season finale.
The Redhawks move to 13-17 on the season and complete their final regular season of Western Athletic Conference play with an 8-8 league mark, good for the fifth seed in next week's WAC Tournament in Las Vegas.
Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe had a career night for the Redhawks, pouring in 26 points to go with eight rebounds. Paris Dawson matched his career-high of 19 points and Brayden Maldonado added 12 points.
Utah Tech (6-25, 2-14 WAC) was paced by Samuel Ariyibi's 20 points. Justin Bieber added 12 for the Trailblazers.
The teams battled back-and-forth early until a technical foul drawn by Head Coach Chris Victor at the 9:11 mark seemed to light a spark under the Redhawks. Following the Trailblazers' two free throws, Seattle U rolled off nine straight points, including seven from Moncrieffe, to open up a 24-18 advantage.
Fourteen first-half points by Moncrieffe and 13 from Dawson helped the Redhawks hold a 39-37 lead at the break.
After shooting 11-of-11 from the charity stripe in the first half, free-throw shooting in the second nearly did the Redhawks in as they managed just 10-of-25 in the frame. But they would go 4-of-6 from the line in the final 1:50, including two each from Dawson and Will Heimbrodt to seal the season sweep of the Trailblazers.
Seattle U will open WAC Tournament play on Thursday, March 13 as the No. 5 seed. They will face fourth-seed Abilene Christian at 6 p.m. at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The game will air on ESPN+.
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