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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11 –
Western Oregon at (#15) Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion (2,650) • Seattle, Wash.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18 –
(#17) Western Washington at (#15) Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion (2,650) • Seattle, Wash.

The 15th-ranked and first-place Seattle Pacific men (17-3, 8-1 GNAC) play a single game this week as they continue the pursuit of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title under first-year coach Ryan Looney. The Falcons host Western Oregon (11-9, 4-5) on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion. SPU won the last 10 meetings with the Wolves, but barely escaped Monmouth, Ore. with a win in this season's first encounter on Jan. 14. It took a buzzer-beating layup by Chris Banchero, off a long inbounds pass from Jake Anderson, to seal the 79-77 victory. SPU's current stretch of six home contests in a seven-game span concludes next week. On Thursday, Feb. 18 the Falcons have a showdown with No. 17 Western Washington at 7 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion.

Quoting Coach Ryan Looney
“Western Oregon gave us some problems the first time that we played them. But we've gotten better against zone defense, which is what they did for 40 minutes the last time we played. With a few days practice going into it, hopefully we can keep our guys fresh and maybe be a little bit more prepared to play against their style than we were the first time around.”

Live Game Coverage
LiveStats and a free webcast will be available for all SPU men's basketball home games. Thursday's webcast can be accessed at: www.PennAtlantic.com and the LiveStats are available at: www.sidearmstats.com/spu/mbball

Notable
Senior Rob Diederichs has 110 assists. He had 104 last year and is the ninth player in SPU history to record back-to-back 100-assist seasons. Diederichs has 51 more assists than any of his teammates and is averaging 5.5 per game ... The Falcons boast a 15-0 record in games when they score more than 70 points ... Senior 6-foot-9 post Rafael Moreira is sidelined indefinitely with a knee injury. He missed the last five SPU games.

Recent Recap
Two days after suffering their first GNAC setback, SPU bounced back with an 87-68 home victory over Northwest Nazarene. Jeff Downs didn't play on Feb. 4 at Central Washington due to flu-like symptoms. He made his presence felt immediately on Feb. 6, netting 13 of his 16 points during the first half. Downs made 6 of 10 shots, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range. In Ellensburg, the Falcons roster was depleted by injury and illness in an 85-72 defeat. That was only the third loss for SPU, which opened the season with nine consecutive victories for its best start in 16 seasons. SPU's signature non-conference win was a 78-72 home triumph over then No. 1 BYU-Hawaii (Dec. 5).

GNAC Race
SPU, which is seeking to win the GNAC championship for the third time in five years, leads the league by one game in the loss column. The Falcons captured the 2006 title outright and shared the 2007 crown with Seattle University. They placed third last year, behind WWU and CWU. SPU was projected to win the league title by the annual coaches poll released Oct. 28. Despite having won three GNAC championships, this is the first time the Falcons have been selected atop the conference poll. SPU received four first-place votes en route to its 76-point total. Last year's GNAC champion Western Washington was picked second in the poll. The Vikings tallied 72 points and also had four votes for the top spot (see complete poll on page 3).

Scouting Western Oregon (11-9, 4-5 GNAC)
> The Wolves won four of their last five games, capped by a 77-74 home victory over Central Washington on Saturday (Feb. 6).

> WOU's Blair Wheadon ranks second among all GNAC players with 2.5 steals per game and Rico Myles is No. 3 in rebounding with 8.1 boards per outing.

> Seattle Pacific won the last 10 meetings en route to a 31-12 series advantage over the Wolves. SPU won this season's first meeting in dramatic fashion. Jake Anderson threw a length-of-the-court inbounds pass to Chris Banchero, who hit a layup at the buzzer for a 79-77 Falcons' win in Monmouth, Ore. on Jan. 14.

> First-year SPU coach Ryan Looney has a 1-0 record against WOU. He competed against the Wolves during his playing career at Eastern Oregon.

Marvelous Marksmen
Five players are shooting better than 50 percent for the Falcons, who combine to hit shots at a conference-leading 51.7-percent clip. SPU currently ranks No. 2 nationally after finishing the 2009 campaign as the nation's second-best shooting squad at 51.8 percent. The Falcons shot at or above 50 percent 13 times this year, topped by a 66-percent effort against Carroll College on Dec. 4. They won all 11 games when they surpassed the 50-percent plateau. The SPU men are undefeated in the 16 games in which their field goal percentage is superior to opponents. Rafael Moreira leads the Falcons, shooting at a 60.2-percent clip. Also at 50 percent for SPU are Adam Wardell (59.6%), Ryan Sweet (58.1%), Jake Anderson (54.3%) and Chris Banchero (53.0%).

Home Sweet Brougham
The Falcons are 11-1 this season at home in Brougham Pavilion where they were victorious in 28 of their last 32 games. SPU was 9-2 last year at home. Brougham Pavilion seats 2,650 spectators. It was built in 1953 and renovated in 1992.

Brilliant Banchero
Junior point guard Chris Banchero posted double-figure points in all but two games this season. He led all SPU scorers 11 times and reached the 20-point plateau on 10 occasions. Banchero poured in a career-high 33 points against Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 28. A two-time GNAC Player of the Week, Banchero is averaging 18.5 points per game, a figure that ranks No. 2 in the conference.

Ticket Talk
Tickets for SPU basketball games can be purchased at Brougham Pavilion (3414 Third Ave. W., Seattle 98119) on game day. Reserved seats are $8 for center court locations and $7 for other sideline areas. General admission tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens. Call (206) 281-2085 for group rates.

Downs Heats Up
Junior Jeff Downs has heated up from long range after spending extra time shooting in the gym the last few weeks. The 6-foot-5 wing had a 20-point outburst against Alaska Fairbanks (Jan. 30), tying his single-game best for 3-pointers by hitting 6 of 10 from behind the arc. Downs has shot 19 of 35 from 3-point range (54%) during the last five games he played. He made just 5 of 20 treys (25%) during the previous five outings. Downs leads the Falcons with 36 treys this season.

Ranking Report
Seattle Pacific dropped six spots, to No. 15 in this week's (Feb. 9) NCAA Division II men's basketball rankings compiled by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). The Falcons were included for the first time in two years with a No. 24 listing in the initial regular-season rankings on Nov. 24 after being overlooked in the preseason poll. SPU has been ranked ever since, climbing as high as No. 6 on Dec. 15.

2010 Preview
Four starters and 12 lettermen return for Seattle Pacific, which posted a 19-10 record last season and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Falcons were picked first in the GNAC coaches poll. Heading the list of returnees is a trio of conference all-stars. Junior point guard Chris Banchero was a second-team All-GNAC pick who led the team with 15.7 points per game. Senior post Rafael Moreira and senior wing Brandon Larrieu were honorable mention selections. Moreira averaged 11.8 points and 6.4 rebounds while Larrieu scored at a 14.6-point clip last year. The biggest task will be replacing starting forward Casey Reed, a second-team All-GNAC selection. The roster is bolstered by the addition of 6-7 junior post Ryan Sweet (Port Orchard, Wash.) and 6-7 freshman wing Scott Morse (Central Point, Ore).

2009 Review
First-year SPU coach Ryan Looney inherited a team that posted a 19-10 record in 2008-09 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division II tournament. The Falcons placed third in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with an 11-5 record. They were the league's last surviving team in the postseason after eliminating champion Western Washington in the first round. SPU advanced to the regional semifinal before losing 80-72 to eventual national runner-up Cal Poly Pomona. Just one letterman, senior forward Casey Reed, and coach Jeff Hironaka departed from last year's team.

Five-Year Run
The Falcons registered a 104-43 record over the previous five seasons, more victories than any Great Northwest Athletic Conference team during that span. SPU compiled a 20-9 record in 2005, 26-6 in 2006, 18-10 in 2007, 21-8 in 2008 and 19-10 last season. The 104 combined wins are the second-highest five-year total in school history, topped only by a 113-win run from 1998 to 2002. The Falcons have competed in five straight NCAA Tournaments (2005-09), advancing to the national semifinals in 2006.

Looney's Ledger
Ryan Looney, who led Eastern Oregon University to the quarterfinals of the 2009 NAIA Division II Tournament, was hired May 26, 2009 as the men's basketball coach at Seattle Pacific. He won his opening nine games on the SPU sidelines, the first coach to win more than his first three for the Falcons. Looney, 34, has a 112-58 career record and won his 100th game on Dec. 4 against Carroll College. He compiled a 95-55 record in five seasons with Eastern Oregon. Looney directed EOU to back-to-back NAIA Tournament appearances in 2008 and 2009, stopping the school's postseason drought that dated to the 1950s. His Mountaineers won the 2008 Cascade Collegiate Conference championship, their first title in 38 years, and shared the conference crown in 2009. The 2009 EOU squad had a 25-8 record, including 14 consecutive victories, before an 80-79 NAIA quarterfinal setback against No. 1-ranked and eventual national champion Oklahoma Wesleyan. Looney is the 11th head coach for the SPU program that began sponsoring intercollegiate men's basketball in 1946. He replaced Jeff Hironaka, who left after 18 years on the Falcons staff, the last seven as the head coach, to become an assistant coach at Washington State. Looney was hired as Eastern Oregon's head coach in May of 2004. He served the previous two years as the top assistant at NCAA Division II Minnesota State Moorhead, after coaching at North Idaho College, Wisconsin-LaCrosse and Cover High School. He played collegiately at Eastern Oregon from 1996-98, averaging 7.2 points in 53 career games. An NAIA All-America scholar athlete, Looney still holds the school's career free throw accuracy record at 89.5 percent.