Box Score    |   Final Stats

LAS VEGAS – Little things earned Shawn Reid the playing time to put up big numbers Wednesday.
 
The reserve guard more than doubled his career-high total with 30 points in just 18 minutes, helping Seattle Pacific rally from an early 15-point deficit to defeat Dixie State 76-66 in the opening round of the Las Vegas Challenge.
 
Reid entered for the first time 8:11 into the game with SPU trailing 17-2. He compiled 14 first-half points and finished the game hitting 12 of 15 shots, including 5-for-7 accuracy on 3-pointers.
 
Those five treys matched his entire season total entering the contest.
 
A 6-foot-4 senior from Post Falls, Idaho, Reid is a transfer from Montana State who sat out last season as a red shirt. He was averaging 5.1 points and his previous career-best scoring output was a 13-point performance on Dec. 6 at Central Washington.
 
"Shawn's always been somebody who's capable of doing what he did tonight on the offensive end," said SPU coach Ryan Looney. "It was hard for us to reward him with playing time early in the year because we needed him to value all the little things as well.
 
"We not only got 30 points from Shawn tonight, but he defended to the best of his ability and he impacted the rebounding on both ends of the floor too."
 
Reid picked up three rebounds, made one steal and committed just one turnover.

 

Junior Mitch Penner (Seattle, Wash./Kennedy HS) was the only other SPU double-figure scorer with 12 points.
 
"That was our best win of the year," Looney exclaimed. "I'm really excited about how our guys responded after being down 17-2 to start the game. A lot of teams in that situation would have sagged their backs and our guys definitely did not."
 
The Falcons (8-3) close out the non-conference portion of their schedule on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m., clashing with Rollins. The Winter Park, Florida based opponent defeated Saint Martin's 73-67 in Wednesday's first game at the Orleans Arena.
 
Dixie State (4-4) was led by the 22 pints of DeQuan Thompson. Mason Sawyer added 17 points and Zach Robbins 10.
 
The Falcons entered the game as the nation's seventh-best shooting team at 53.1 percent. They didn't look it during the opening 10 minutes, hitting just 1 of 15 shots, including nine errant 3-point tries.
 
That shooting slump enabled Dixie to build a 17-2 advantage fueled by eight points from Thompson. The Red Storm netted the game's first five points.
 
Cory Hutsen scored on a jump hook at 16:48 for the only SPU points during the opening 10 minutes.
 
DSU followed with a run of 12 unanswered points, capped by a free throw from Trevor Hill at 11:49 that provided the 17-2 margin.
 
Reid entered the game at that point and proceeded to amass 14 points by halftime, eclipsing his previous career-high game total. He got a tip-in at the 10:00 mark that ignited a 30-13 surge.
 
Penner's 3-pointer with 4:06 left in the first half was the first trey in 13 attempts for the Falcons. Reid nailed a pair of 3-pointers and Joe Rasmussen's basket at the buzzer put SPU ahead 34-30 at halftime.

 

"At about eight minutes in, we thought we needed to try some different players," said Looney. "Obviously by the boxscore you can see Shawn Reid had an unbelievably good night. But even guys like Will Parker, Garrett Swanson and Joe Rasmussen had huge contributions off the bench."
 
Powered by Reid's production, the Falcons bench outscored their counterparts by a commanding 43-7 margin.
 
SPU scored the first six points of the second half and never trailed the rest of the way.
 
The Red Storm closed the gap to 67-64 on two free throws by Collin Woods with 3:57 remaining. SPU answered with a free throw from Matt Borton and Reid's fifth 3-pointer to push the lead back to seven points.
 
The Falcons converted 5 of 6 free throws during the final 1:08 to seal the victory.
 
The SPU men finished at 47 percent (27 of 58) shooting for the game, a figure that includes an 8-for-24 mark from beyond the arc. After missing their first 12 treys, they nailed 8 of their final 12 long-range attempts.
 
Dixie shot 43 percent (22 of 51), but made just 2 of 13 shots from 3-point range.
 
The Falcons have a quick turnaround before their next outing as this game ended at 9:30 p.m. and they tip-off at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.
 
"We tried to feed them real quick and got them immediately into bed," Looney described. "I don't think we'll have any problem getting up to play.
 
"Because of foul trouble and some of our starters not playing well early, our minutes were real balanced. We spread them out between nine guys."
 
That game versus Rollins is the Falcons' final competition before Christmas.
 
"The biggest thing is Thursday's game is going to be totally different," said Looney. "They're going to make us have to guard a unique style on defense and then they zone the entire game. So we're going to have to run stuff differently on offense than what we normally would."
 
SPU resumes action at home on Jan 1 against Great Northwest Athletic Conference rival Western Oregon. Tip-off is 7 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Las Vegas Challenge
Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014
Orleans Arena / Las Vegas, Nev.
 
Seattle Pacific 76, Dixie State 66
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (8-3)
Penner 2-8 7-9 12, Hutsen 2-7 0-0 4, Carroll 4-7 0-2 8, Stockton 2-6 0-0 5, Borton 1-5 2-4 4, Reid 12-15 1-4 30, Swanson 2-4 4-4 9, Rasmussen 1-3 0-0 2, Parker 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 27-58 14-23 76.
 
DIXIE STATE (4-4)
Ogden 3-6 3-4 9, Robbins 3-7 4-4 10, Sawyer 5-13 6-8 17, Nielson 0-3 1-4 1, Thompson 9-15 3-5 22, Woods 0-2 2-2 2, Hunter 1-2 0-0 2, Hill 1-3 1-2 3 Morris 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-51 20-29 66.
 
Seattle Pacific........   34   42  -  76
Dixie State............   30   36  -  66
 
3-point goals—SPU 8-24 (Reid 5-7, Swanson 1-3, Stockton 1-4, Penner 1-4, Rasmussen 0-1, Boton 0-2, Carroll 0-3), DSU 2-13 (Thompson 1-4, Sawyer 1-7, Nielson 0-1, Hill 0-1). Fouled out--SPU-Borton, Hutsen, DSU-Ogden. Rebounds—SPU 35 (Borton 8), DSU 35 (Robbins 9). Assists—SPU 14 (Stockton 7), DSU 10 (Sawyer 3). Total fouls—SPU 23, DSU 21. Technical fouls--SPU-None, DSU-None. A-250.
 
 
Next Men's Basketball Game
Las Vegas Challenge
Seattle Pacific vs. Rollins
Thursday, Dec. 18, 2:30 p.m. PST
Orleans Arena / Las Vegas, Nev.