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SEATTLE -- Senior Rafael Moreira took motivation from an unusual comment by his coach and came alive on Friday.
The 6-foot-9 post registered an 18-point, 14-rebound double-double as the Seattle Pacific men opened the basketball season with an 81-63 victory over Dominican of California on the first day of the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic at Brougham Pavilion.
The decision marked the first official win for first-year coach Ryan Looney in his regular-season debut on the SPU sidelines. This was the first counting game for the Falcons (1-0), who defeated Simon Fraser (82-59) and the Blue Angels (116-79) in exhibition contests.
Moreira (Brasilia, Brazil) scored 20 points, but had just two rebounds against the Blue Angels in SPU's last outing, drawing this peculiar quip from Looney.
“We went into practice on Monday and I told him that he got two more rebounds than a dead man. So, hopefully that worked.”
Moreira confirms that he took the comment to heart.
“Coach has been emphasizing rebounding presence so I think I did a better job of that today with 14 boards. Last game I had two, so he has been getting on me all week long to box out and go get the board.”
Moreira did much of his damage after halftime on Friday, nearly posting a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds in 13 second-half minutes.
That effort drew only positive remarks from Looney.
“He did a great job in the second half controlling the paint when shots came off the glass on both ends.”
Moreira helped SPU outrebound the Penguins 44-31 for the game.
Junior point guard Chris Banchero (Seattle, Wash./O'Dea HS) led the Falcons with 20 points, including five straight during a decisive second-half spurt.
SPU, which scored the first eight points of the second half and stretched its 39-34 halftime edge to 47-34, saw Dominican (0-2) close within 52-49. It was 57-53 for the Falcons when Banchero drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key, then stole the ball and went coast-to-coast for a layup.
Sweet capped the run when he hit a layup off a feed from senior wing Rob Diederichs (Shoreline, Wash./Shorewood HS), was fouled and completed the three-point play for a 65-53 lead.
The margin never fell below double digits after that.
Senior wing Brandon Larrieu (Puyallup, Wash./Franklin Pierce HS) tallied 14 points and Sweet (Port Orchard, Wash./South Kitsap HS) added 10 for the Falcons.
Austin Bryan had 20 points to lead Dominican, which is located in San Rafael, Calif., and is in its first year of NCAA Division II play after competing previously in the NAIA. Alex Ward added a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds while Killian Larson contributed 10 points.
The Falcons shot 45.3 percent from the floor (24 of 53), and went to the free throw line 32 times, hitting 27. Dominican hit 34.9 percent from the floor (22 of 63), but got just 19 free throws, hitting 15.
“Obviously it's exciting any time you win,” said Looney. “Dominican did a great job tonight. They made it harder on us than we probably wanted it to be. A lot of credit goes to them.
“We need to definitely get better. Our team doesn't necessarily trust in our system on both ends of the floor yet. Until we get to the point that we do, it's going to be a little bit of a struggle for us.”
Looney inherited four starters from SPU's 2009 NCAA Tournament team. He is implementing a new offensive and defensive game plan, utilizing a system that helped him direct Eastern Oregon to back-to-back NAIA Tournament berths the last two seasons.
Performances like Friday's are beginning to make believers out of the Falcons.
“In the first game, to get a win by almost 20 points makes us feel really good. It makes us trust the system much more,” Moreira said. “The last couple games we were kind of lost in the system and we didn't even know where to go 100 percent. I think we're getting there, but we still have a long way to go. At least for myself I feel like I trust the system much more now than I did before.”
SPU winds up Sodexo Classic play on Saturday at 7 p.m. against Cal State Monterey Bay. The Otters fell to Western Washington on Friday afternoon, 72-58. Western takes on Dominican at 3 p.m. Saturday.
NCAA Men's Basketball
Sodexo Tip-Off Classic
Friday, November 20, 2009
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.
Seattle Pacific 81, Dominican (Calif.) 63
DOMINICAN (CALIF.) (0-2)
Bryan, Austin 7-14 3-4 20; Ward, Alex 6-14 1-1 13; Larson, Killian 5-10 0-0
10; McNally, Xander 1-7 4-6 6; Mulholland, Fox 0-1 4-4 4; Lewis, Mark 1-4
0-0 3; Sokol, Tyler 0-2 3-4 3; McKinnon, James 1-8 0-0 2; Muldrow, Xavier
1-1 0-0 2; Poncia, Brett 0-0 0-0 0; Flack, Alastair 0-1 0-0 0; Wells,
Michael 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-63 15-19 63.
SEATTLE PACIFIC (1-0)
Banchero, Chris 6-14 7-7 20; Moreira, Rafael 4-9 9-10 18; Larrieu, Brandon
6-13 0-0 14; Sweet, Ryan 3-3 3-5 10; Diederichs, Rob 2-5 4-6 8; Downs, Jeff
1-3 2-2 5; Vranes, Colby 0-1 2-2 2; Anderson, Jake 1-3 0-0 2; Wardell, Adam
1-1 0-0 2; McHugh, Mark 0-0 0-0 0; Hope, Grant 0-0 0-0 0; Mar, Alex 0-0 0-0
0; Campanaro, Chauncey 0-0 0-0 0; Morse, Scott 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-53 27-32
81.
Dominican (Calif.)............ 34 29 - 63
Seattle Pacific.................. 39 42 - 81
3-point goals--Dominican (Calif.) 4-11 (Bryan, Austin 3-5; Lewis, Mark 1-2;
McKinnon, James 0-3; Ward, Alex 0-1), Seattle Pacific 6-18 (Larrieu, Brandon
2-5; Downs, Jeff 1-3; Sweet, Ryan 1-1; Banchero, Chris 1-2; Moreira, Rafael
1-1; Morse, Scott 0-1; Anderson, Jake 0-2; Vranes, Colby 0-1; Diederichs,
Rob 0-2). Fouled out--Dominican (Calif.)-None, Seattle Pacific-None.
Rebounds--Dominican (Calif.) 31 (Ward, Alex 11), Seattle Pacific 44
(Moreira, Rafael 14). Assists--Dominican (Calif.) 16 (Bryan, Austin 4;
Flack, Alastair 4; McNally, Xander 4), Seattle Pacific 15 (Larrieu, Brandon
3). Total fouls--Dominican (Calif.) 24, Seattle Pacific 21. Technical
fouls--Dominican (Calif.)-None, Seattle Pacific-None. A-814.
Next games --
Saturday, Nov. 21
Western Washington vs. Dominican (Calif.), 3:00 p.m.
Cal State Monterey Bay vs. Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
