• Boxscore & Play-by-Play
SEATTLE -- Chris Banchero scored 24 points, and Rob Diederichs handed out a career-high 12 assists on Saturday afternoon as Seattle Pacific rolled to an 87-68 victory against Northwest Nazarene in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball game in Brougham Pavilion.
The ninth-ranked Falcons (17-3, 8-1 GNAC) bounced back from their first conference loss of the season, 85-72 at Central Washington on Thursday night.
Junior point guard Banchero (Seattle/O'Dea HS) was one of five SPU players in double figures. Junior forward Ryan Sweet (Port Orchard, Wash./South Kitsap HS) added 17, junior wing Jeff Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) chipped in 16, and sophomore post Jake Anderson (Burlington, Wash./Burlington-Edison HS), along with senior guard Brandon Larrieu (Puyallup, Wash./Franklin Pierce HS) had 10 each.
Sweet made it a double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds. That was his team-leading third double-double of the season.
Seattle Pacific scored a season-high 51 points in the first half and came within two points of its season-total of 89 for the game.
Banchero hit 7 of 10 from the floor and all 10 of his free throws. He also handed out two assists and came up with two steals.
Senior wing Diederichs (Shoreline, Wash./Shorewood HS) surpassed his previous career high of 11 assists, which he set on Nov. 25, 2008 against Division I Southern Utah. This season, he had a high of 10 against Montana State Billings on Jan. 23.
Anthony Golden led the Crusaders (12-8, 4-5 GNAC) with 16 points. He was the only NNU player in double figures.
Seattle Pacific has won nine of its last 10 games against Northwest Nazarene. That includes an 82-71 win at Nampa in this season's GNAC opener on Jan. 7. The Falcons have beaten the Crusaders 12 straight times in Brougham Pavilion.
The Falcons, the fourth-best shooting team in all of NCAA Division II, hit 56.9 percent for the game (29 of 51). Northwest Nazarene hit 41.7 percent (25 of 60).
SPU has just one game next week, playing host to Western Oregon on Thursday at 7 p.m.
NCAA Men's Basketball
Saturday, February 6, 2020
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.
(#9) Seattle Pacific 87, Northwest Nazarene 68
NORTHWEST NAZARENE (12-8, 4-5 GNAC)
Golden 5-8 2-2 16; Williams 4-11 0-0 9; Gielow 3-5 2-2 8; Beech 3-5 0-0 8;
J. Eisinger 2-5 2-2 6; Reeher 2-5 1-3 5; Shula 2-3 0-0 5; Barkdoll 2-5 1-2
5; Lippman 1-4 1-2 3; Parker 1-5 0-0 3; Blair 0-2 0-0 0; Kinman 0-1 0-0 0;
D. Eisinger 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-60 9-13 68.
SEATTLE PACIFIC (17-3, 8-1 GNAC)
Banchero 7-10 10-10 24; Sweet 5-6 6-6 17; Downs 6-10 0-0 16; Anderson 4-6
2-2 10; Larrieu 4-10 0-0 10; Wardell 2-2 0-0 4; Morse 1-3 1-2 3; Diederichs
0-2 2-2 2; Vranes 0-1 1-2 1; Hope 0-0 0-0 0; Campanaro 0-1 0-0 0. Totals
29-51 22-24 87.
Northwest Nazarene............ 33 35 - 68
Seattle Pacific....................... 51 36 - 87
3-point goals--NNU 9-20 (Golden 4-5; Beech 2-3; Williams 1-4; Parker 1-4;
Shula 1-1; Blair 0-2; Kinman 0-1), SPU 7-18 (Downs 4-8; Larrieu 2-4; Sweet
1-2; Morse 0-1; Diederichs 0-1; Vranes 0-1; Banchero 0-1). Fouled
out--NNU-None, SPU-None. Rebounds--NNU 30 (Reeher 6), SPU 31 (Sweet 10).
Assists--NNU 19 (Williams 4; Lippman 4), SPU 21 (Diederichs 12). Total
fouls--NNU 16, SPU 17. Technical fouls--NNU-None, SPU-None. Att.-711.
