Box Score

Fresno Pacific saw its 14-game home winning streak come to an end, falling 69-67 to Simon Fraser in the home opener.

Malcolm Griffin had 22 points, six steals and five assists, and Jackson Carbajal added 11 points in his Sunbird debut. The Sunbirds led by seven at halftime, by 11 early in the second half and by four with six minutes remaining, but SFU went on a 15-6 run in the closing minutes to come away with the victory.

"This is an extremely disappointing loss but I'm confident that we can learn several valuable lessons from this," said head coach Chris Wright. "Give Simon Fraser credit, they're a talented team that they made a lot of big plays down the stretch. I thought they out-toughed and out-executed us tonight."

Phil Jackson got the home crowd on its feet with two electrifying dunks, finishing with nine points and five rebounds in his debut. Trevon Clayton led the Sunbirds on the boards with eight and FPU would outscore SFU 50-26 in the paint. The Sunbirds outscored the Clan 18-2 on fastbreak points but SFU would score 22 points off 15 Sunbird turnovers.

The Sunbirds were also plagued by a woeful 2-for-10 night from the free-throw line. SFU meanwhile connected on 13-of-14 free throws (93%).

FPU out-shot SFU 51% to 40% in the game and out-rebounded the Clan 35-31.

Sango Niang scored 14 points to lead SFU, which connected on 10 of its 29 three-point attempts. Ibrahim Appiah had a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds.

The Sunbirds make a quick trip up the 99 to take on UC Merced tomorrow at 7:30 pm. FPU is 4-0 the last two seasons against the Bobcats.