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THURSDAY, JANUARY 20 --
Simon Fraser at Seattle Pacific, 7:30 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion • Seattle, Wash.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 22 --
Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific, 3:30 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion • Seattle, Wash. (Homecoming)

Webcast for both games: http://spu.nmtvsports.com
LiveStats: www.sidearmstats.com/spu/mbball

It's Homecoming week at Seattle Pacific. The Falcons men's basketball team (9-5, 3-3 GNAC) is in the middle of a five-game homestand that resumes on Thursday, Jan. 20 against newest Great Northwest Athletic Conference member Simon Fraser (2-10, 1-5). Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion where the annual Homecoming doubleheader takes place on Saturday, Jan. 22. The SPU women play first, at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday followed by the 3:30 p.m. men's game against Montana State Billings (4-11, 2-6). The SPU men won their last eight meetings against the Yellowjackets.

Ticket Talk
SPU basketball tickets can be purchased at Brougham Pavilion on game day. Reserved center court seats are $8 and other sideline seats are $7. General admission tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students & senior citizens. Groups or teams of 10 or more may qualify for special general admission rates by calling (206) 281-2085 in advance.

Homecoming Tickets
Seattle Pacific's annual Homecoming basketball doubleheader is set for Saturday, Jan. 22 at Brougham Pavilion. The women host Western Oregon at 1:30 p.m. and the men meet Montana State Billings at 3:30 p.m. Large crowds are expected and advanced tickets are recommended. Tickets can be securely purchased online at: https://quikpayasp.com/spu/commerce_manager/payer.do?orderType=ATH-Homecoming   The basketball doubleheader is just one of numerous Homecoming events on campus from Thursday, Jan. 20 through Saturday, Jan. 22. For a complete schedule of activities, please visit the official SPU Homecoming website at: www.spu.edu/events/homecoming/



Recent Recap
The SPU men opened their homestand last week with a split. They were edged 72-68 by 17th-ranked Central Washington (Jan. 13) despite the 15 points of Ryan Sweet. Against Northwest Nazarene (Jan. 15), the tall tandem of Andy Poling and Modou Niang combined for 30 points and 14 rebounds in an 84-67 SPU victory. Poling had 19 points to pace the Falcons, who shot 61 percent from the field. SPU completed the non-conference portion of its schedule with a 6-2 record that included a 79-65 home victory over 23rd-ranked Chaminade (Dec. 3), which had beaten NCAA Division I Oklahoma.

Fast Fact
Freshman point guard David Downs is averaging 11.3 points and 7.3 assists with only three turnovers during the last three games since replacing the injured Chris Banchero in the starting lineup ... The Falcons maintained eight of their nine halftime leads this season, but have a 1-4 record when trailing at the break ... Transfers Andy Poling (6-11, Gonzaga) and Modou Niang (6-10, Utah State) are the tallest tandem in Falcons history.

TV Time
The SPU men will appear on live television at least twice this season on FSN Northwest. Their Wednesday, Jan. 26 home game against Western Washington airs at 7 p.m. Pacific Time. The Falcons' Feb. 9 contest at Central Washington will be broadcast at 7 p.m. The March 4 GNAC Tournament championship game airs at 5 p.m. on FSN.

Scouting Simon Fraser (2-10, 1-5 GNAC)
> Located in Burnaby, B.C., Simon Fraser is the first college from outside the United States to become a member of the NCAA and the GNAC.

> SFU's Ricky Berry is the league's second-leading scorer at 24.3 points per game.

> SPU won all four previous meetings vs. Simon Fraser, three of them at home.

> The most recent meeting resulted in an 82-59 SPU exhibition win on Nov. 6, 2009 in Seattle. The Falcons were 79-58 exhibition victors on Nov. 18, 2000 in Seattle, they won 94-82 in Burnaby and 60-51 in Seattle during the 1998-99 season.

> In his second season at SPU, Ryan Looney has a 1-0 record against the Clan.

Scouting Montana State Billings (4-11, 2-6 GNAC)
> DeAndre Chambers leads a balanced Yellowjackets attack with 12.6 points per game. Emery Henning shoots 62.5 percent from the field.

> SPU won the last eight encounters to claim a 29-26 edge in the all-time series.

> Third-year Yellowjackets coach George Pfeifer came from Idaho. He has a 1-8 record against the Falcons, including 1-4 as the head coach at Lewis-Clark State.

> Second-year SPU coach Ryan Looney has a 2-0 record against MSU Billings.

My Three Sons
The Downs family has a legacy with the SPU men's basketball program that began with father Mike who was a four-year Falcons letterman from 1974-77. He is the head boy's basketball coach at Bellevue (Wash.) Christian High School. His three sons are part of the current SPU squad. Jeff is a senior starter in the backcourt who averaged 8.9 points last season while leading the team with 50 treys. Younger brother, David, is a freshman point guard. Oldest brother, Dan, joined the staff this season as an assistant coach. All three Downs brothers hail from Kirkland, Wash. and played for their father at Bellevue Christian.

Exhibition Recap
Senior Chris Banchero reached the 30-point plateau in all three games, leading SPU to a 3-0 exhibition record. The Falcons registered a pair of victories over NCAA Division I opponents. They won 87-82 at Eastern Washington (Nov. 2) led by Banchero's 38 points and nine assists. He led SPU to an 84-81 win with 33 points at Nevada (Nov. 6). Banchero scored 30 and Andy Poling added 20 points and 16 rebounds in an 88-76 home win over Northwest University (Nov. 9).

Home Sweet Home
The Falcons have a 5-3 record this season in Brougham Pavilion where they were victorious in 36 of their last 43 games. SPU was 14-1 last year at home. Brougham Pavilion seats 2,650 spectators. It was built in 1953 and renovated in 1992.

Banchero Sidelined
All-American Chris Banchero's brilliant collegiate career was cut short by a knee injury suffered with 12:52 left in the first half of an 84-61 win at Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 6. The senior point guard sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee. The 2010 GNAC and West Region Player of the Year, Banchero garnered All-America accolades after his 19.6 points per game led the Falcons to a 22-6 record. SPU won the GNAC title and made its sixth straight NCAA Division II playoff appearance. Banchero was scoring at a 24.0-point clip this season, including a 42-point performance at Dominican (Dec. 18).

2010 Preview
The Seattle Pacific men return three starters from last year's team that posted a 22-6 record and made its sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Heading the list of returnees is senior point guard Chris Banchero (Seattle, Wash.), the reigning GNAC and West Region Player of the Year. Banchero averaged 19.6 points and 2.9 assists while converting 52 percent of his shots from the field. A pair of front-line starters are back; senior Ryan Sweet (Port Orchard, Wash.) and junior Jake Anderson (Burlington, Wash.). Sweet tallied 10.3 points and a team-high 7.8 rebounds per game in 2010. Anderson averaged 6.7 points and 4.9 rebounds. The Falcons front line will be bolstered by the addition of two towering transfers from Division I schools. SPU added 6-foot-11 sophomore Andy Poling (Portland, Ore.) from Gonzaga and 6-10 junior Modou Niang (Richard Toll, Senegal) from Utah State.

Looney's Ledger
Ryan Looney led Seattle Pacific to a 22-6 record in 2010 and became the first coach to direct the Falcons to a conference championship in his inaugural season. Looney, who led his alma mater Eastern Oregon University to the quarterfinals of the 2009 NAIA Division II Tournament, was hired May 26, 2009 as the coach at SPU. He won his opening nine games on the SPU sidelines, the first coach to win more than his first three for the Falcons. Looney, 35, has a 126-66 (.656) career record, including a 31-11 mark at SPU. He was voted the 2010 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. Looney compiled a 95-55 record in five seasons with Eastern Oregon and directed EOU to back-to-back NAIA Tournament appearances in 2008 and 2009.

GNAC Race
SPU is seeking to win the GNAC championship for the fourth time in six years. The Falcons captured the 2010 and 2006 league titles outright and shared the 2007 crown with Seattle University. SPU was predicted to win the conference title by the annual coaches poll, receiving eight of 10 first-place votes en route to a 98-point total. Projected to place second, Central Washington collected one first-place vote and 88 points. Montana State Billings was selected third (72 points) followed by Alaska Anchorage (71), which picked up the remaining first-place vote. SPU, which is the poll favorite for the second year in a row, will be bidding for its fifth GNAC title.

Six-Year Run
The Falcons posted a 126-49 record over the previous six 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, 19-10 in 2009 and 22-6 last season. The 126 combined wins are the second-highest six-year total in school history, topped only by a 131-win run from 1997 to 2002. The Falcons competed in six straight NCAA Division II Tournaments (2005-10), advancing to the national semifinals in 2006.

2010 Review
Coach Ryan Looney directed SPU to a 22-6 record, its sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance and a No. 18 final ranking during his first season. He was named the 2010 GNAC Coach of the Year and Chris Banchero was the conference and West Region Player of the Year. The Falcons posted a first-place mark of 13-3 in league play. They lost 76-72 to BYU-Hawaii in the first round of the playoffs in Bellingham, Wash. One of SPU's signature victories was a 78-72 home win on Dec. 5 over that same BYU-Hawaii squad that was ranked No. 1 at the time. The Falcons will look to replace two starters, All-GNAC honorable mention guard Brandon Larrieu and forward Rob Diederichs, who set a new conference single-game record with 19 assists on Feb. 25.