• Boxscore & Play-by-Play

BILLINGS, Mont. – Junior Chris Banchero poured in 24 points, including a three-pointer with 1.3 seconds remaining Saturday that lifted 11th-ranked Seattle Pacific to a 78-75 Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball victory over Montana State Billings at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

Banchero played a part in over half (44) of the Falcons' points as he also distributed a career-high 10 assists.

SPU improved to 20-3, reaching the 20-win plateau for the 16th time in school history. The first-place Falcons maintained their two-game lead in the loss column of the standings with an 11-1 GNAC record. They have four games left to play.

The Falcons led the entire second half before MSUB's Mike McCrary nailed a 3-pointer from the wing with 8.1 seconds left to play, evening the score at 75-75.

On the ensuing possession, Banchero dribbled the ball out top and nearly tripped before righting himself and drilling a contested trey from the top of the key for the game winner. That was the only 3-pointer of the night in two tries for the product of Seattle's O'Dea High School.

That was not Banchero's only buzzer-beater on Saturday. He gave the Falcons a 40-36 halftime margin with a breakaway layup as the first-half clock expired.

Banchero hit 9 of 15 shots from the field and 5 of 9 free throws.

Junior Ryan Sweet (Port Orchard, Wash./South Kitsap HS) and senior Brandon Larrieu (Puyallup, Wash./Franklin Pierce HS) each chipped in 18 points for SPU.

Sweet completed his fifth double-double with a career-best 14 rebounds. He reached double-figure rebounds for the sixth straight game, leading the Falcons' 34-29 edge on the boards.

The Yellowjackets (12-9) dropped to 6-6 in conference games.

Derrick Wright scored 19 points to lead Billings, which also got 14 apiece from McCrary and DeAndre Chambers.

The Falcons shot 58 percent from the field (29 of 50), including a 61-percent second-half performance (14 of 23). SPU is the nation's fourth most accurate NCAA Division II team, shooting a collective 51.6 percent for the season.

MSU Billings had a good shooting second-half as well, hitting 56 percent of its field goals (15 of 27) to finish at 50 percent for the game (31 of 62).

The hard-fought win by the Falcons, who never led by more than seven points, gave them their eighth straight victory over Billings and a 29-26 series advantage.

Seattle Pacific led for the majority of the first half on the strength of 57-percent shooting (15 of 27). Rob Diederichs hit a 3-pointer with 4:45 left in the half to give the Falcons a 31-25 advantage.

The Yellowjackets staged an 11-5 run to tie the score 36-36 on a layup by Wright at 1:13. SPU responded with the final four points of the half, including Banchero's last-second layup.

The Falcons return to Seattle for their final regular-season home game on Thursday, Feb. 25 against Central Washington. The Wildcats beat SPU 85-72 on Feb. 4 in Ellensburg.

Thursday's 7 p.m. tip-off at Brougham Pavilion will be preceded by a ceremony to honor SPU's five seniors. Diederichs, Larrieu, Rafael Moreira, Colby Vranes and Adam Wardell will be honored in the pre-game festivities.


NCAA Men's Basketball
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Alterowitz Gymnasium/Billings, Mont.

(#11) Seattle Pacific 78, Montana State Billings 75

SEATTLE PACIFIC (20-3, 11-1 GNAC)
Banchero 9-15 5-9 24; Sweet 8-12 2-4 18; Larrieu 6-11 6-6 18; Anderson 3-5 0-3 7; Wardell 1-1 3-4 5; Downs 1-3 0-0 3; Diederichs 1-2 0-1 3; Vranes 0-0 0-0 0; Morse 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-50 16-27 78.

MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (12-9, 6-6 GNAC)
Wright 8-12 3-3 19; Chambers 6-13 0-1 14; McCrary 5-10 2-2 14; Hodge 5-9 3-4 13; Jackson 3-9 0-0 6; Hickman 3-4 0-0 6; Taylor 1-3 0-0 3; Hentzen 0-1 0-0 0; Blaine 0-0 0-0 0; Parghalava 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-62 8-10 75.

Seattle Pacific.................... 40 38 - 78
Montana State Billings........ 36 39 - 75

3-point goals--SPU 4-10 (Anderson 1-2; Diederichs 1-1; Banchero 1-2; Downs 1-2; Morse 0-1; Larrieu 0-1; Sweet 0-1), MSUB 5-18 (McCrary 2-6; Chambers 2-7; Taylor 1-3; Wright 0-2). Fouled out--SPU-None, MSUB-Wright. Rebounds--SPU 34 (Sweet 14), MSUB 29 (Chambers 6; Wright 6). Assists--SPU 22 (Banchero 10), MSUB 18 (Wright 8). Total fouls--SPU 14, MSUB 19. Technical fouls--SPU-None, MSUB-None.