The Seattle University Redhawks are on a three-game win streak after defeating the Sacramento State Hornets 98 – 67 Saturday.
The 31-point victory is the second largest margin of victory this season and 98 points is the second most the Redhawks have scored all season. The only time Seattle U has played better was an away win over Oregon State 99–48 Jan. 6. As with the match against Oregon State, the Redhawks shot the lights out.
"We shot the ball well tonight," said coach Cameron Dollar. "I think the beauty of it is it's not glamorous. It's more just hitting singles all night and then you look up and you got a homerun."
Five players scored in double digits against the Hornets. Cervante Burrell racked up 15 points with three rebounds, two assists and a steal. Chris Gweth put up similar numbers, reaching 16 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal. Mike Boxley hit a couple late three-pointers to nab 11 points with two rebounds, and Charles Garcia had a solid all around performance, shooting five out of seven from the field. Garcia ended up with 12 points, nine rebounds and three assists. However, despite such a strong team effort, none was more impressive than Alex Jones.
Jones finished with a career high 19 points, hauled down five rebounds and two steals all on 18 minutes played. The junior forward from Phoenix, Ariz. was a perfect three for three from the foul line and eight for 11 from the field. Despite the career night, he was humble about it all.
"Yeah it's crazy," he said. "It was my teammates' job getting me open mostly. I didn't do anything."
The game started out all Seattle U as the Redhawks built an early lead they would never lose. They went for a 15-2 run from the tip-off thanks to some fantastic shooting and a pesky full-court press. For just the third time this season, Seattle U started without Charles Garcia, as Dollar elected to start the game off small and fast.
"It had less to do with Chuck and more to do with the five guys getting after it this week in practice," he said.
The Hornets never really seemed capable of handling the press, turning the ball over 13 times in the first half.
Perhaps the flashiest point of the night came from Jones as he stepped up on defense to steal from Justin Eller of Sacramento State. After picking the ball away from Eller, Jones dribbled the length of the floor to throw down a ferocious two-handed jam. The 2,917 in attendance erupted with cheers.
Jones, 6-feet 8-inches tall, played as if he were a whole foot taller. With 5:39 to play, he caught the ball in the low post and was triple teamed. Instead of kicking the ball back outside, the forward muscled his way through the defense to put in a tough lay-up.
As if breaking the triple team was not enough, Jones drew a foul on the play, sinking the free throw for the three-point play.
"He showed us a new trick on that fast break where he went up there and dunked that one pretty good," Dollar said of the play.
Garcia made his own highlight reel move with some quick footwork in the paint, freeing himself up to thunder home a slam-dunk. However, all was not good on the play. The referees decided Garcia hung on the rim too long and gave him a technical foul. Thanks to a rule change this season, hanging on the rim is a class B technical foul and did not count toward his personal foul count.
The Redhawks will look to extend their win streak to four with a home game Tuesday against Univeristy of California-Davis.
Dillon may be reached at dgilbert@su-spectator.com.
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