• Boxscore & Play-by-Play

MONMOUTH, Ore. -- Overtime seemed inevitable. But instead of playing an extra five minutes, the Falcons made effective use of the final 1.9 seconds of regulation.

Chris Banchero converted a layup at the final buzzer off a length-of-the court inbounds pass, lifting 15th-ranked Seattle Pacific to a 79-77 victory over Western Oregon in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball game Thursday at the NPE Building.

Tarance Glynn had capped a furious late rally for the Wolves, tying the score 77-77 on a pair of free throws with 1.9 seconds left to play.

SPU sophomore Jake Anderson grabbed the second free throw as it dropped through the net, quickly stepped out of bounds and heaved a pass over the top of the WOU defense to the streaking Banchero. The Falcons' junior point guard caught the ball in stride, just inside the free throw line, and took one dribble before banking in the game winner as time expired.

“At that point in the game we had no timeouts left. We thought there would be a great chance that if he made the free throws we'd be playing in overtime,” first-year SPU coach Ryan Looney described. “All we said to Chris was to go long. Chris then relayed the message to Jake to throw it deep, and fortunately it connected.”

The thrilling victory will make the Falcons' 200-mile bus trip back home seem shorter. Nobody will be happier to return to Seattle than Looney, whose wife Julianna's due date is imminent for the birth their second baby.

“My wife called me immediately after and said to tell the guys 'Nice play at the end of the game, it almost put me into labor.'”

The first-place Falcons (12-2) labored for the full 40 minutes before sealing their third GNAC win in as many outings. Western Oregon (7-7) dropped to 0-3 in league play.

Banchero, a product of Seattle's O'Dea High School, tallied 13 of his team-high 17 points during the second half. Brandon Larrieu chipped in 16 for the Falcons and Rafael Moreira added 14.

The Wolves were led by the 24 points of Blair Wheadon, who hit 5 of 6 shots from 3-point range. Glynn finished with 14 points and Kolton Nelson had 11.

SPU shot 52 percent for the game (32 of 62), but just 4 of 19 on 3-pointers. They made treys when it mattered most though, converting their last two. Larrieu and Rob Diederichs hit back-to-back 3-pointers around the three-minute mark to turn away a surge that had brought WOU within 66-63.

“Those were two real big ones for us because we went a long stretch without making a perimeter shot before that,” said Looney.

SPU hit just two of its first 17 trey attempts, including six straight errant 3-pointers before Larrieu and Diederichs finally connected from long range.

The Wolves answered the SPU treys with 14-3 run over the final 2:19, punctuated by Glynn's game-tying free throws.

“We let it get away from us almost,” said Looney. “When we look back at it at the end of the year we will be thankful that we got the win, most importantly a win on the road.

“We didn't play to the best of our abilities by any means, but we can say that at the end of the day that we won a road game and sometimes that's not easy to do.”

WOU shot 49 percent for the game (30 of 61), including 8 of 17 on 3-pointers.

Junior Ryan Sweet grabbed nine rebounds to lead a 38-27 SPU advantage on the boards.

After falling behind 5-2 early, the Wolves scored nine unanswered points to claim an 11-5 lead with 13:27 left in the first half. SPU immediately answered with an 8-2 run to forge a 13-13 tie.

WOU took its final lead, at 22-21, on a three-point play by Nelson with 8:03 left until halftime. Moreira netted a three-point play of his own to ignite a 12-point run that put SPU ahead 33-22.

The Falcons' lead grew to as many as 15 points in the opening half before Wheadon hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to draw WOU within 45-34 at halftime.

SPU shot a torrid 56 percent in the first half, a figure that was held down by a 2-for-11 effort from 3-point range. The Falcons hit 17 of 23 first-half shots from inside the arc.

The SPU men do not play again until next Thursday when they travel to Bellingham for a clash against 19th-ranked Western Washington. The defending GNAC champion Vikings were ousted from last year's NCAA Division II Tournament by an 82-77 first-round home playoff loss to Seattle Pacific.

“I don't think that we're going to have to do anything special to motivate our guys. This is without question the biggest game of the year for us,” Looney projected. “We'll spend some time watching tape, figuring out a game plan that's best for us. But in regards to our guys playing hard, there won't be any issues with that.”

The next home game for the Falcons is Saturday, Jan. 23 when they host Montana State Billings. Tip-off is 7 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion.


NCAA Men's Basketball
Thursday, January 15, 2010
NPE Building/Monmouth, Ore.

(#15) Seattle Pacific 79, at Western Oregon 77

SEATTLE PACIFIC (12-2, 3-0 GNAC)
Banchero 7-13 3-4 17; Larrieu 6-13 2-4 16; Moreira 6-10 2-2 14; Sweet 4-7 0-0 8; Anderson 3-4 1-2 7; Wardell 3-5 1-2 7; Downs 1-5 2-3 5; Diederichs 1-4 0-1 3; Morse 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 32-62 11-18 79.

WESTERN OREGON (7-7, 0-3 GNAC)
Wheadon 9-10 1-1 24; Glynn 4-5 4-4 14; Nelson 4-5 3-3 11; Schmidt 4-10 1-2 9; Long 3-9 0-0 7; Myles 3-11 0-2 6; McLaughlin 2-8 0-0 4; Johnson 1-2 0-0 2; Thrash 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-61 9-12 77.

Seattle Pacific.................... 45   34 -   79
Western Oregon................ 34    43 -   77

3-point goals--Seattle Pacific 4-19 (Larrieu 2-6; Diederichs 1-4; Downs 1-5; Sweet 0-1; Banchero 0-3), Western Oregon 8-17 (Wheadon 5-6; Glynn, 2-3; Long 1-4; McLaughlin 0-1; Schmidt 0-3). Fouled out--Seattle Pacific-Sweet, Western Oregon-None. Rebounds--Seattle Pacific 38 (Sweet 9), Western Oregon 27 (Schmidt 6). Assists--Seattle Pacific 19 (Wardell 5), Western Oregon 12 (McLaughlin 5). Total fouls--Seattle Pacific 15, Western Oregon 18. Technical fouls--Seattle Pacific-None, Western Oregon-None. Att.-420.

Next Game
Thursday, Jan. 21 --
(#15) Seattle Pacific at (#19) Western Washington, 7:00 p.m.
Carver Gymnasium/Bellingham, Wash.