Los Angeles, CA -- Cal State Dominguez Hills junior Mario Malave (Emeryville, CA/Bakersfield College) poured in 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting, including a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe, but Seattle Pacific withstood a furious second-half Toro rally to take the opening contest of the Cal State L.A. Thanksgiving Classic Friday afternoon in the Eagles Nest, 70-68. With the loss, CSUDH falls to 0-2 to begin 2005-06, while SPU improves to a perfect 3-0.

Malave scored the first six Toro points as CSUDH jumped to an early 6-2 lead just 1:25 into the contest. The Falcons, however, would run off eight-straight points to take a 10-6 lead. After a Malave bucket and two by Nonso Nibo (Westchester, CA/St. Bernard's HS) would bring the lead back to CSUDH at 12-10, SPU would regain the lead at 20-19 with 9:27 left in the first half and take its biggest advantage at 43-26 at 2:59, before three 3-pointers by Murphy Cooper (Compton, CA/ Compton JC) would help whittle the lead to 10 as the Toros entered the locker room trailing 44-34 at intermission.

After the break, the Falcons would push their lead to 58-42 on a layup by Will Robbie, but two Joe Johnson (Camden, NJ/LA Trade Tech) foul shots would begin the Toro run. After buckets by Shamont Brown (Jamaica, NY/Riverside CC) and Malave trimmed the lead to 58-48 at 13:20, another Cooper trey would bring CSUDH back to 60-55 with just 11:23 remaining in regulation. Two Falcon layups would push the SPU lead to nine, but a Carlos Rivers (Long Beach, CA/LA Valley College) layup, and seven-consecutive points by Malave would knot the game at 64-64, bringing momentum CSUDH's way. After exchanging buckets, SPU's Drew Matzen would give the Falcons the lead at 68-66, but a Johnson jumper would knot the contest at 68-68 with just 0:41 to go. After SPU would take a 70-68 lead with just seven seconds left, CSUDH's Brown would try to win the game at the buzzer, but his 3-point attempt would hit the front of the rim, securing the Falcon victory.

Cooper tallied 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including 4-of-5 from behind the arc, while Rivers and Johnson chipped in with nine and eight points, respectively. Malave notched game-high honors with seven boards, while Nibo tallied five in the loss. SPU's Robbie Will dropped in 15 points to lead three Falcons in double-figure scoring, while Will also garnered team-high honors with six rebounds in the SPU win.