• Final Stats

SEATTLE -- Jeff Downs felt right at home in Brougham Pavilion on Saturday.

The 6-foot-5 wing thrilled a Homecoming crowd of 1,517 with a season-high 20-point outburst. He tied his career-best mark of six 3-pointers to power the 11th-ranked Seattle Pacific men to an 88-68 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory over Alaska Fairbanks.

“The big difference in the game was the two stretches where Jeff Downs made shots,” said first-year SPU coach Ryan Looney. “We had one in the first half where he hit a bunch in a row and the same thing in the second. For our team, playing again without Rafael (Moreira), we got a big boost from Jeff.”

SPU played its third game without the inside presence of Moreira, a 6-foot-9 post player who is sidelined with a knee injury. The Falcons got it done from the outside against UAF, hitting 12 treys.

Downs connected on back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the opening half, extending SPU's lead to 27-8. When Fairbanks battled back to draw within 51-45 early in the second half, Downs again nailed consecutive treys.

For the game Downs hit 6 of 10 shots from 3-point range, including a 4-of-5 performance in the second half. He also hit six treys in a game on Nov. 22, 2008 at home against Cal State San Bernardino.

“It was a fun game and a good atmosphere. It's always fun to have a crowd like that, it makes us a little bit more pumped up,” said Downs, a product of Bellevue (Wash.) Christian High School.

Brougham Pavilion has recently served as a second home for Downs, who has spent a lot more time in the gym working on his shooting touch.

“I felt like I've shot the ball a little bit better lately. I've started working with some of the coaches a little bit extra in the last couple weeks. I've kind of slowed my shot down and try not to rush it.”

The extra work has paid off. He has shot 15 of 27 from 3-point range (56%) during the last four games. Downs made just 5 of 20 treys (25%) during the previous five outings.

“I don't think he's doing anything differently, he's just made a concerted effort to get in the gym more,” Looney said. “Shooting is something that gets better with repetition and the last couple weeks that's what he's done.”

The Falcons (16-2) remained undefeated in conference play with their seventh straight win. SPU owns a two-game lead in the loss column over its GNAC foes.

Junior Ryan Sweet (Port Orchard, Wash./South Kitsap HS) amassed 16 points and 10 rebounds for SPU. The double-double was his second of the season.

Downs sparked a game-clinching scoring run for the Falcons, who were up by just eight at 70-62 with 6:38 left. He hit a 3-pointer from the left of the lane to make it 73-62, starting an 8-0 surge. Sweet added a pair of free throws, and senior Brandon Larrieu (Puyallup, Wash./Franklin Pierce HS) buried a 3-pointer from 24 feet away on the right side, pushing the lead to 78-62.

After Joe Powell of the Nanooks put in a short shot from right in front of the hoop, Downs drained a trey from the left of the lane, then hit a pair of free throws, effectively putting the game out of reach at 83-64 with just 2:23 remaining.

The Falcons built a quick 19-point lead in the first half, up 27-8 less than eight minutes into the game. But Fairbanks (6-10, 1-6 GNAC) went on a 16-3 run to get back into it, and twice got within five early in the second half.

“We came out with a good start and everyone was finding each other open. Then, we kind of had a little struggle and their defense slowed us down,” Downs said. “In the second half we made some adjustment and put Rob (Diederichs) at the high post. He just found people open all day. It's pretty fun to play with him.”

Diederichs, a senior from Shorewood High School in Shoreline, Wash., had his typical well-rounded game. He contributed 12 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Larrieu finished with 13 points for SPU. Junior point guard Chris Banchero (Seattle, Wash./O'Dea HS), coming off a career-high 33 points in Thursday's 80-71 victory against Alaska Anchorage, also had six assists.

Alaska was led by the 19 points and 10 rebounds of Nashorn Maynard. Emmanuel Jenkins added 16.

The Falcons shot an even 50 percent for the game (30 of 60), including 40 percent (12 of 30) from behind the arc. That was their most attempts of the season from 3-point range, and one shy of their season high for successful treys.

Fairbanks hit 46.8 percent (29 of 62) as the SPU defense kept the Nanooks 12 points below their season scoring average of 80.7.

FALCONS FACE NEMESIS CWU ON THURSDAY
Seattle Pacific completes its first swing through the nine-team conference's schedule with a pair of games this week. The Falcons visit Ellensburg on Thursday, Feb. 4 for a 7:30 p.m. game against Central Washington.

The Wildcats swept the season series last year and have won six of the last seven meetings with SPU.

“We're going to challenge our guys next week in practice,” Looney said. “If you look at the recent results, Central has had SPU's number a little bit. So I don't think we'll have any issue motivating them, especially playing on the road at their place.”

The Falcons have won their opening seven conference games for the first time since 2001-02. On Thursday at Central Washington, they attempt to become the first team in SPU history to win it first eight league games.

The next home game for the SPU men is Saturday, Feb. 6 at 4 p.m. against Northwest Nazarene.


NCAA Men's Basketball
Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

(#11) Seattle Pacific 88, Alaska Fairbanks 68

ALASKA FAIRBANKS (6-10, 1-6 GNAC)
Maynard 8-16 3-3 19; Jenkins 7-16 0-0 16; Smith 3-4 0-0 8; Powell 3-5 1-2 7; Moe 2-8 0-0 6; King 3-5 0-0 6; Edwards 3-5 0-2 6; Jones 0-2 0-0 0; Daniel 0-1 0-0 0;
Conn-Baird 0-0 0-0 0; Edwin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-62 4-7 68.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (16-2, 7-0 GNAC)
Downs 6-12 2-2 20; Sweet 5-8 6-7 16; Larrieu 5-10 0-1 13; Diederichs 4-8 3-4 12; Banchero 2-9 4-4 8; Wardell 3-5 1-1 8; Anderson 3-4 0-0 6; Vranes 1-2 0-0 3; Campanaro 1-1 0-0 2; Morse 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-60 16-19 88.

Alaska Fairbanks.............. 33  35 - 68
Seattle Pacific................... 43  45 - 88

3-point goals--UAF 6-13 (Moe 2-5; Smith 2-2; Jenkins 2-4; Daniel 0-1; King 0-1), SPU 12-30 (Downs 6-10; Larrieu 3-6; Vranes 1-2; Wardell 1-3; Diederichs 1-4; Morse 0-1; Banchero 0-4). Fouled out--UAF-None, SPU-None. Rebounds--UAF 32 (Maynard 10), SPU 34 (Sweet 10). Assists--UAF 12 (Jenkins 8), SPU 23 (Banchero 6; Diederichs 6). Total fouls--UAF 18, SPU 7. Technical fouls--UAF-None, SPU-None. Att.-1517.