February 25, 2009
BILLINGS, Mont. –
Jeff Downs made five 3-pointers en route to an 18-point performance Wednesday, helping first-place Seattle Pacific extend its season-best winning streak to five games with a 98-65 road rout of Montana State Billings at Alterowitz Gym.
The Falcons (18-7) improved to 11-3 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference games to remain atop the standings. They maintained a half-game lead over 10-3 Western Washington, which beat Western Oregon at home on Wednesday. Central Washington was idle and is now in third place with a 9-3 conference ledger..
SPU swept the season series, winning for the sixth straight time against the Yellowjackets (9-15). The Falcons won this year's first meeting, on Jan. 10 in Seattle, by a narrow 82-79 margin.
Downs made 5-of-6 treys for SPU, which was nearly as successful beyond the arc as inside. The Falcons shot 10-of-19 on 3-pointers (52.6 percent) and 38-of-68 overall (55.9%).
It marked the 19th time in 25 games this season that SPU topped the 50-percent plateau. The Falcons entered the game ranked No. 2 nationally in team field goal accuracy at 52.4 percent.
Junior
Rafael Moreira registered his fifth double-double for SPU. He tallied 15 points, on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, and grabbed 14 rebounds.
“Rafael had a good game. He rebounded really well and did a pretty good job on their big kid,” SPU coach Jeff Hironaka said. “He played much better than he did the last time we played them. We got him a couple easy looks early, a couple little layins for him to get going.”
SPU led by as many as 15 points in the first half before the Yellowjackets closed with a 7-2 run to draw within 44-34 at halftime.
Moreira netted seven straight points early in the second half to spark an 11-point SPU streak that increased the lead to 48-36 with 16:44 left in the game.
“Fortunately we were able to get a little lead early and hold onto it and then we kind of broke their will in the second half.”
Seattle Pacific gradually extended that margin, claiming its largest advantage at 96-58 with 2:42 remaining.
Five Falcons reached double-figures in points, including
Casey Reed with 11.
Reserve guard
Colby Vranes posted his first double-figure scoring game with 15 points. The junior transfer hit 3-of-5 treys and distributed four assists. He was a junior college teammate of Moreira last year at Eastern Utah College.
“That's the best he's played since he's been here, to be honest with you,” Hironaka described. “Colby had some confidence today that's for sure after he hit that first one. That's like with a bunch of guys, you hit that first one you get a little confidence and the basket looks a lot bigger than it is.
“That's nice to see as he and (Adam) Wardell are now starting to play better at the right time of year.”
Wardell came off the bench to contribute six points, four rebounds and three assists. He helped the Falcons reserves outscore their MSUB counterparts by a 43-24 margin.
Travis Bunker scored 15 points to pace the Yellowjackets, who also got 13 from Derrick Wright and 11 from Mario Burns. MSUB was limited to 35-percent shooting (21-of-60) and made just 5-of-20 shots from 3-point range.
Billings dropped to 4-9 in GNAC play with its sixth consecutive setback.
Seattle Pacific's current five-game winning streak is its longest since a seven-game stretch early last season. Coach Hironaka is pleased to see his team peaking at the right time in pursuit of a postseason berth and conference championship.
“We've taken care of five, now we're down to two games left. It's a game at a time and Saturday will be another challenge.”
The Falcons complete the road portion of their regular-season schedule on Saturday at Saint Martin's. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. at Marcus Pavilion in Lacey, Wash.
The Seattle Pacific men close out the regular season at home on Thursday, March 5 at 7 p.m. against Western Washington in Brougham Pavilion. That will be the final home game for the Falcons lone senior,
Casey Reed.
Seattle Pacific vs. Montana State Billings
Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009, 7:00 PM
At Alterowitz Gymnasium/Billings, Mont.
SEATTLE PACIFIC 98, MONTANA STATE BILLINGS 65
SEATTLE PACIFIC (18-7, 11-3 GNAC)
Downs 6-8 1-1 18; Larrieu 7-8 0-1 16; Vranes 4-7 4-4 15; Moreira 7-10 1-2 15; Reed 4-10 3-3 11; Banchero 3-8 2-2 8; Wardell 3-5 0-0 6; Diederichs 2-6 1-2 5; Anderson 2-2 0-0 4; McHugh 0-1 0-0 0; Campanaro 0-3 0-0 0.
Totals 38-68 12-15 98.
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (9-15, 4-9 GNAC)
Bunker 6-17 2-2 15; Wright 4-12 5-9 13; Burns 4-7 3-5 11; Hodge 1-4 6-6 8; Hall 2-11 0-0 6; Palmer 2-3 0-2 5; Taylor 1-2 0-0 3; Blaine 0-1 2-4 2; Hentzen 1-1 0-0 2; Meehan 0-1 0-0 0; Weisz 0-1 0-2 0.
Totals 21-60 18-30 65.
Seattle Pacific............... 44 54 - 98
Montana State Billings........ 34 31 - 65
3-point goals--Seattle Pacific 10-19 (Downs 5-6; Vranes 3-5; Larrieu 2-2; Wardell 0-2; Diederichs 0-1; McHugh 0-1; Campanaro 0-1; Reed 0-1), Montana State Billings 5-20 (Hall 2-8; Taylor 1-2; Palmer 1-2; Bunker 1-7; Burns 0-1).
Fouled out--Seattle Pacific-None, Montana State Billings-None.
Rebounds--Seattle Pacific 41 (Moreira 14), Montana State Billings 36 (Bunker 9).
Assists--Seattle Pacific 21 (Diederichs 5), Montana State Billings 14 (Burns 6).
Total fouls--Seattle Pacific 24, Montana State Billings 15.
Technical fouls--Seattle Pacific-None, Montana State Billings-None.
Att.-1067
