January 16, 2009
BELLINGHAM, Wash. –
Rafael Moreira hit the go-ahead basket with 38 seconds left and
Adam Wardell's tip-in at 0:20 was the difference Saturday as the Seattle Pacific men dealt first-place Western Washington an 86-84 Great Northwest Athletic Conference defeat at Carver Gymnasium.
The Falcons won their seventh straight game against Western. They improved to 10-5 overall and took over first place with a 3-1 conference ledger.
The Vikings sustained their first GNAC setback, falling to 2-1 with a 10-3 overall record. It was the first loss in eight home outings for WWU.
“It was nice to get that win since they were undefeated. Now nobody is undefeated in the conference,” said coach Jeff Hironaka whose team opened the two-game road trip Thursday with a 77-62 loss at Central Washington.
“We needed that split. Naturally you would want two, then you would be really happy. But on the road, when you get a split you have to take it.”
Western's Ira Graham had a chance to force overtime, but his runner in the lane caromed off and Calin Schell's tip-in fell short at the buzzer.
The Vikings led 58-52 before Reed scored five points to fuel an 11-1 SPU surge. That run put the Falcons ahead 63-59 with 13:29 left to play.
Casey Reed put back a missed shot with 2:16 remaining to forge the game's 12th tie. Following three straight misses by WWU, Moreira banked in a jump hook for an 84-82 SPU lead.
“We ran a play and tried to get it into him,” Hironaka described. “Rafael made the jump hook and kind of redeemed himself for getting a technical earlier for hanging on the rim.”
After an errant Vikings shot, SPU's
Brandon Larrieu missed a fastbreak layup. Wardell, a 6-foot-2 reserve guard, leaped and managed to tip the ball in and extend the margin to 86-82.
“Wardell had a big tip on Larrieu's miss,” said Hironaka. “That was huge because realistically we probably shouldn't have shot it. But Brandon was going and you knew he wasn't going to stop and pull it out.
“Adam was just trailed on it and tipped it in, thank heavens. That gave us a four-point lead and a little bit of cushion.”
WWU's Morris Anderson sank a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left to set the final score.
SPU dominated inside, recording a 50-30 advantage on points in the paint. The Falcons were led by the 21 points of Reed.
Chris Banchero contributed 17 points, Larrieu added 15 and Moreira finished with 13.
The Falcons were also deadly from outside, shooting 6-of-12 from 3-point range. SPU hit 56 percent of its field goal tries (34-of-61) while limiting the Vikings to 37-percent accuracy (27-of-73).
The stellar shooting was in stark contrast to Thursday night when the Falcons shot a season-low 38 percent (23-of-60) at Central Washington.
“We took better shots tonight,” Hironaka explained. “We got open shots and we hit them. Against Central we didn't hit some of those open shots. It makes a big difference for us.”
The Falcons entered the week as the nation's best shooting team and are now shooting a collective 52 percent on the season.
SPU led by as many as 10 points in the first half before Michael Duty came off the Vikings bench to score 12 points during the final 12:17 of the first half. The Falcons trailed 48-47 at halftime despite outshooting WWU 58 percent to 47.
Graham scored 26 points to pace the Vikings, who also got 19 from Anderson and 16 from Duty. Schell had a double-double with 10 points and 13 boards, helping Western register a 49-33 rebounding advantage.
The Seattle Pacific men return home to host Northwest Nazarene on Wednesday, Jan. 21. Tip-off is 7 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion.
