By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

LACEY, Wash. – Double-doubles by Mason Landdeck and Jaxon Nap propelled No. 3 seed Seattle Pacific to a runaway, 81-47 victory over No. 6 seed Alaska Fairbanks in the opening game of the 2025 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championships on Thursday afternoon at Marcus Pavilion.
 
Landdeck, a junior guard, had a season-high 14 rebounds to go along with a game-high 19 points, four assists and four steals. Nap completed his seventh double-double of the season and third against the Nanooks, finishing with a dozen points and a dozen rebounds. Owen Moriarty added 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting, and the Falcons crushed the Nanooks on the boards 52-31. “Our guys had a really conscious effort to box out, and we knew if we were going to play really good defense they would have some end-of-shot clock situations,” Nap said. “Our guys did a really good job of pinning and making sure we got those long rebounds. We turned that into under control possessions on offense, and I think that’s why we won the game.”
 
SPU improved to 16-14 with the win, and advances to Friday’s semifinals where it will face No. 2 seed Northwest Nazarene with tipoff set for noon (Pacific). “We did a pretty good job of hanging in there for 40 minutes to beat Fairbanks, which is a really talented team,” said SPU head coach Keffrey Fazio. “We knew we needed a really good effort defensively if we were going to have a chance to win this game, and our guys bought into that idea, went out and executed it.”
 
The Nanooks shot a season-worst 4-for-27 from 3-point range (14.8%) and finished the game shooting a season-low 30.2% (19-for-63) overall. Second-team all-GNAC selection Isaiah Saams-Hoy led Alaska with 17 points on 7-for-16 shooting, and was the only Nanook to finish in double figures. Alaska's season came to a close with a record of 14-14, and went 10-8 in league play to finish in sixth place.
 
SPU’s Grant Coleman knocked down a trey fresh off the bench, and Nap converted a three-point play to help give the Falcons their first lead of the game at 10-9 early in the first half.
 
The Nanooks hit their first triple of the night, but missed their next 18 from the arc. The Falcons took advantage of the cold spell and saw their lead spike to 22-13 on a made three by Landdeck with 7:40 to go in the first. Back-to-back buckets in the paint by Jonas La Tour and Trace Evans helped the Falcons keep control as time wound down in the first, as they pulled ahead 35-21 at halftime.
 
 
Nap intercepted a pass and converted it to a layup in transition, and Landdeck broke free two possessions later in similar fashion as the Falcons opened up a 49-25 edge five minutes into the second half. Saams-Hoy finally broke an 0-for-18 spell by the Nanooks by sinking a three with 9:51 to go, but by then the deficit had reached 22 points and the Falcons were well in command.
 
 “The number-one thing the coaches preached to us all week was defense travels,” Landdeck said. “We knew if we got it done on the defensive end that we’d have a chance to win, and everyone came out to play, knew their assignments and we got it done.”
 
SPU shot 31-for-64 overall (48.4%) including 31.6% (6-or-19) from 3-point range, and made 13 of 16 free throws (81.3%). SPU’s plus-21 rebound margin was its highest of the season against a Division II opponent.
 
GAME NOTES: Thursday was the first-ever tournament meeting between the Nanooks and Falcons…SPU is now 12-8 all-time at the GNAC Championships…the Falcons have competed in all but one GNAC Championships tournament…they are in pursuit of their fifth GNAC tournament title and first since the 2019 event…Alaska is now 7-6 all-time at the GNAC Championships…the Nanooks made their sixth tournament appearance this season.
 
NEXT UP: The Falcons advance to Friday’s semifinals where they’ll face the No. 2 seed Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks at noon (Pacific). NNU and SPU split their regular-season encounters. It will be the fourth time that SPU and NNU have met at the conference tournament, with the Nighthawks holding a 2-1 edge in the all-time postseason series.