Redhawks Comeback Falls Short in 56-54 Loss to Pacific
STOCKTON, Calif. - For most of the night on the road, the Seattle Redhawks found themselves trailing to the Pacific Tigers, but they hung tough and played until the final buzzer Saturday night, only to fall just short in a 56-54 loss at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
Despite trailing by as much as 16 points, the Redhawks clawed their way back, with the comeback fueled by 17-5 run to close out the game. Unfortunately, a missed Maleek Arington game tying shot attempt sealed Seattle's sixth loss of WCC play in devastating fashion.
While the Redhawks outscored Pacific 36-23 in the second half, the hole they dug themselves in the first proved too much to climb out of. In the first half, Pacific established control of the paint. They Tigers won the rebounding battle and got deep paint touches that led to high efficiency shots. When Seattle tried collapsing on these post touches, the home team consistently made the right read and sprayed it out for open shots on the perimeter.
Meanwhile on offense, Seattle could not get as easy of looks as they were allowing and struggled to create open shots. While guard Brayden Maldonado finished the half with seven points and Junseok Yeo had a pair of three pointers, few others contributed as the Redhawks found themselves down 33-18 after 20 minutes.
Coming out of halftime, apparently taking well to coach Chris Victor’s adjustments, Seattle U looked completely different on both ends. While the Redhawks could not find perfect looks driving to the basket, they instead they relied on three-point shooting to quickly jump back into the game. They finished with seven three pointers made in the second half and started getting looks off Tiger turnovers, putting the home crowd on pins and needles as the double digit lead evaporated.
After the Tigers frontcourt players made the right reads throughout the first half, Seattle still pressured and forced Pacific to make the right play. The Redhawks forced nine turnovers in the second half and punished a Pacific team that has had problems taking care of the ball all season long.
Despite making a furious rally via the three-point shot and turnovers, Seattle still trailed 55-54 with eight seconds remaining. After fouling out of the inbounds, Seattle sent Pacific's’ Kajus Kublickas to the line, where he made one of his two free throws. Trailing by two, Seattle’s Arington tried to run a pick and pop action with Will Heimbrodt but drew both defenders and forced a push shot to try and tie the game up, only for it to clank of the rim as time expired.
Hitting six three-point attempts, Maldonado finished the night with a team-high 20 points for Seattle, while Yeo notched 13 points and Heimbrodt notched nine. Arington led the team with six assists in defeat.
With a chance to secure sole possession of fifth place in the WCC standings, Seattle’s comeback fell short. Now sit at 14-8 on the season and 3-6 in WCC play, the once-promising season for the Redhawks has hit the skids to an extent and they will need to turn things around quickly, starting with a road trip when they travel to Pullman to take on the Washington State Cougars on Wednesday.
