February 5, 2009
FAIRBANKS, Ak. – Six players registered double-figure points for the Seattle Pacific men, who overcame a 16-point first-half deficit Thursday en route to a 96-87 victory over Alaska Fairbanks in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference basketball contest at the Patty Center.
The Falcons record improved to 13-6 overall. They are 6-2 in conference play, moving into a second-place tie with Central Washington, which was idle Thursday. Western Washington (6-1) maintained its first-place position with a 69-54 win at Alaska Anchorage.
Fairbanks dropped to 5-12 and 2-6 in GNAC play. The Nanooks lost their last three meetings with SPU and trail the all-time series 45-14.
Sophomore
Chris Banchero scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half to lead SPU, which also got 15 apiece from
Rob Diederichs and
Rafael Moreira.
Casey Reed chipped in 13 points,
Brandon Larrieu added 12 and
Jeff Downs 10.
Moreira scored 14 of his points in the first half, keeping the Falcons within striking distance and setting up their second-half surge.
The Nanooks jumped out to the early lead on the strength of stellar shooting. They hit their first four shots and 16 of their first 24 to build a 40-24 margin with 8:48 left in the first half. Included in that hot start was 7-of-10 shooting from 3-point range.
“We didn't start out real well. We were looking at a big goose egg,” said SPU coach Jeff Hironaka. “Fortunately they kept shooting and shooting and eventually they cooled off. They started missing long shots and we got some long rebounds and were able to go on the break. They still hit some shots, but not at the same pace they started at.”
The Nanooks cooled considerably, making just 2-of-13 treys and 16-of-45 shots overall the rest of the way.
SPU quickly erased the first-half deficit and drew even at 44-44 on a fastbreak layup by Larrieu 3:10 before halftime. Following a basket by UAF's Emmanuel Jenkins, the Falcons got a jumper from Reed and 3-pointer from Larrieu to go ahead 49-46.
The Nanooks scored the final six points of the half to claim a 52-49 edge.
SPU streaked ahead 58-52, scoring the first nine points of the second half to take the lead for good.
The Falcons put the game away with a barrage of 3-pointers midway through the period. They got four straight baskets on treys, the final three by Diederichs, to forge an 85-75 advantage with 5:50 left to play.
“We were wide open at times tonight. We attacked the basket off the bounce, they stepped over to help and we kicked it out,” Hironaka described.
“We were able to find the open guy. When we did that, we caught it and hit the open shots.”
UAF drew within 90-85 on a Jon Moe 3-pointer with 1:29 remaining, but Banchero answered by hitting 3-of-4 free throws to seal the SPU win.
Jenkins and Moe tied for game-high honors with 24 points for the Nanooks and Colin Matteson added 12.
The Falcons made 54.5 percent of their shots (36-of-66), increasing their conference-leading team field goal mark to 52.6 percent. SPU, which ranks No. 3 nationally in field goal accuracy, topped the 50-percent plateau for the 15th time in 19 games this season.
Diederichs converted 5-of-7 shots beyond the arc, leading SPU to an 11-for-20 performance on 3-pointers.
The Falcons conclude their current two-game road trip on Saturday night at Alaska Anchorage.
