SEATTLE -- Seattle Pacific was sour in the first half Thursday, but sweet in the second.
The 15th-ranked Falcons overcame an early nine-point deficit with a sensational second half from junior Ryan Sweet, who led the charge to an 89-69 Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball victory at Brougham Pavilion.
Sweet, a 6-foot-7 post player from South Kitsap High School in Port Orchard, Wash., tallied 17 of his career-high 20 points after halftime. He hit all six of his second-half shots, helping SPU outscore the Wolves 52-31 after intermission.
The first-place Falcons (18-3) improved to 9-1 in conference play. They have a two-game lead in the loss column over second-place Western Washington (8-3), which lost 68-53 at Alaska Anchorage on Thursday.
Western Oregon (11-10, 4-6 GNAC) reeled off 13 unanswered points midway through the first half to claim a 26-18 advantage. SPU chipped away at the deficit and drew within 38-37 at halftime on a jumper by senior Brandon Larrieu with 10 seconds remaining.
The Falcons shot just 38 percent (14 of 37) in the first half, while allowing WOU to hit 59 percent of its attempts (16 of 27).
“At halftime we talked about how to attack their zone. In the first half, anytime we got to the middle good things happened, so we did more of that in the second half,” explained first-year SPU coach Ryan Looney. “On defense, there were some things that they were doing to give us trouble that we made some minor adjustments on.”
Looney's adjustments worked. His Falcons warmed up to 61 percent (17 of 28) during the second half. Western Oregon went the opposite direction, cooling down to shoot just 39 percent (12 of 31). Both teams finished the game at 48 percent with SPU making 31 of 65 shots and WOU hitting 28 of 58.
Along with the career-high point total, Sweet had his best rebounding game with 12 boards. He surpassed his previous high marks of 18 points and 11 rebounds.
“Ryan was big for us again,” said Looney. “He's had a number of double-doubles since Rafael (Moreira) went down and that's been huge for us.”
Since SPU lost its 6-foot-9 starting center to a knee injury six games ago, Sweet responded with four double-doubles. He led all Falcon rebounders in each of the last four games, averaging 10.5 boards during that span.
Sparked by Sweet's dozen, the Falcons won the battle of the boards by a 38-33 margin, with 17 of those coming off the offensive glass. SPU picked up assists on 23 of its 31 baskets, led by six from Larrieu and five from senior Rob Diederichs (Shoreline, Wash./Shorewood HS).
Junior point guard Chris Banchero (Seattle/O'Dea HS) matched Sweet's team-leading 20-point total. Larrieu (Puyallup, Wash./Franklin Pierce HS) had 15 points, and junior wing Jeff Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) chipped in 12, all on 3-pointers.
Western Oregon was led by the 22 points of Rico Myles and Kyle Long had 15.
Thursday's game was vastly different than this season's first meeting between these teams. SPU needed a buzzer-beating layup from Banchero, off a length-of-the-court inbounds pass from Jake Anderson, to pull out a 79-77 victory against the Wolves in Monmouth, Ore., on Jan. 14.
Seattle Pacific went ahead for good at the outset of the second half Thursday when Sweet, after missing a pair of free throws, hit lay-in off a feed from Larrieu when the Falcons corralled the offensive rebound. SPU scored the first seven points of the half, keeping WOU off the scoreboard until the 16:34 mark.
Tarance Glynn's lay-in ended the Wolves' dry spell, bringing them within 44-40, but that was as close as they got for the rest of the night. SPU eventually stretched its lead to as many as 27 points late in the game.
The Falcons got 26 of their points on second-chance opportunities. WOU got just three second-chance points.
SPU, which is 12-1 at home, has won nine of its last 10 games, and has beaten Western Oregon 11 straight times. The Falcons slowed down a Wolves team that came in on a hot streak, having won four of their last five, including a 77-74 victory at home against Central Washington last Saturday.
Thursday's results will likely reverse the order at the top of the West Region rankings. Western Washington took the top spot away from SPU this week, but the Falcons should return the favor in next week's rankings. The region's top seed gets to serve as the West's host for the first three rounds of the NCAA Division II Tournament.
The two Northwest rivals meet on Thursday (Feb. 18), when the 17th-ranked Vikings invade Brougham Pavilion for a 7 p.m. clash. The Falcons beat Western 73-66 in Bellingham on Jan. 21 in this year's first meeting.
NCAA Men's Basketball
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.
(#15) Seattle Pacific 89, Western Oregon 69
WESTERN OREGON (11-10, 4-6 GNAC)
Myles 8-13 6-10 22; Long 6-12 2-3 15; Glynn 4-7 0-0 9; Wheadon 3-6 0-0 7;
Schmidt 2-8 2-2 6; Nelson 2-5 0-0 4; Johnson 2-5 0-0 4; Chippoletti 1-2 0-0
2. Totals 28-58 10-15 69.
SEATTLE PACIFIC (18-3, 9-1 GNAC)
Sweet 7-12 6-11 20; Banchero 8-16 3-4 20; Larrieu 5-12 2-2 15; Downs 4-6 0-0
12; Anderson 3-6 3-3 9; Wardell 1-5 3-4 6; Diederichs 2-5 0-0 5; Morse 1-3
0-0 2; Hope 0-0 0-0 0; Vranes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-65 17-24 89.
Western Oregon................ 38 31 - 69
Seattle Pacific.................... 37 52 - 89
3-point goals--WOU 3-12 (Long 1-2; Glynn 1-3; Wheadon 1-2; Johnson 0-2;
Chippoletti 0-1; Schmidt 0-2), SPU 10-24 (Downs 4-6; Larrieu 3-7; Wardell
1-2; Diederichs 1-4; Banchero 1-4; Sweet 0-1). Fouled out--WOU-None,
SPU-None. Rebounds--WOU 33 (Long 8), SPU 38 (Sweet 12). Assists--WOU 16
(Glynn 5; Wheadon 5), SPU 23 (Larrieu 6). Total fouls--WOU 16, SPU 15.
Technical fouls--WOU-None, SPU-None. Att.-301.
