Box score, play-by-play

SEATTLE – In the absence of their go-to player, the Seattle Pacific men are scoring by committee.

Senior wing Jeff Downs tallied 21 points, and freshman brother David Downs added 13 points and a career-high seven rebounds on Thursday, leading SPU to an 81-57 Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball rout of Simon Fraser at Brougham Pavilion.

The Falcons (10-5, 4-3 GNAC) won their second straight game and their fourth in the past six.

The Downs brothers combined for their team's first 10 points, helping the Falcons sprint to a 14-3 lead. They stretched it to 22-8 as five players got into the scoring column early in the game.



The Falcons were playing their fourth full game without Chris Banchero, an All-America point guard whose collegiate career was ended by a knee injury suffered Jan. 6 at Alaska Fairbanks. The 2010 GNAC Player of the Year, Banchero (Seattle, Wash./O'Dea HS) was averaging 24.0 points and 5.6 assists per game.

"We had extreme balance on offense," praised Coach Ryan Looney of SPU's performance Thursday. "Here in the last couple weeks, since Banchero went down with the knee injury, we've tried to adjust what do. A large part of that has been balance, moving the ball and getting it to our bigs when they're available around the basket. We've done a nice job with that."

Three different players have claimed team-high scoring honors in SPU's last three outings.

David Downs replaced Banchero in the point guard role. He averaged 11.8 points and 6.3 assists since taking over as SPU's playmaker.

Senior post player Ryan Sweet (Port Orchard, Wash./South Kitsap HS) added 14 points for the Falcons, and junior post Modou Niang (Richard-Toll, Senegal), who transferred to SPU from Utah State, added 11 to tie his career high that he set in last Saturday's 84-67 homecourt victory against Northwest Nazarene.

Niang also had four blocked shots, as did sophomore post player Andy Poling (Portland, Ore.) Both were career highs. The Falcons blocked nine shots, just two shy of the school single-game record.

David Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) more than doubled his previous career best of three rebounds, which he set twice. His point total came with one of his career high of 14, which he set last Thursday against Central Washington.

Sweet, Poling and junior wing Jake Anderson (Burlington, Wash./Burlington-Edison HS) also had seven boards apiece. Sweet handed out a team-leading six assists.

Ricky Berry led Simon Fraser (2-12, 1-7 GNAC) with 29 points, over half of the team's total. He scored the Clan's first 18 of the second half. Berry hit 10 of 27 for the game; his SFU teammates shot a combined 7 of 31. Berry's total included 5 of 9 from behind the 3-point arc.

Seattle Pacific built a 39-21 lead by halftime, stretched it to 20 on Poling's turnaround lay-in at the outset of the second half, and never let Simon Fraser get closer than 16 the rest of the way.

The Clan implemented a deliberate pace in the second half, limiting SPU to just 26 shots. The Falcons converted 16 of those attempts to shoot 61.5 percent after halftime.

"Tonight was kind of a little bit more of an unorthodox game than we are used to playing. They kind of slowed it down a little bit in the second half even though they were down," described Sweet. "It was kind of frustrating at times, but I think our team really locked in and made sure that we kept our focus.

"It was a big win for us. They played some really right games. We pretty much took it to them and it was kind of a big motivational booster for us."

The 24-point margin was the most lopsided GNAC loss for Simon Fraser, a Canadian school in its first year as an NCAA member.

The Falcons shot 52 percent (29 of 56) for the game with David Downs hitting 8 of 14 and Sweet draining 6 of 9. Downs was 5 of 11 from downtown. They limited Simon Fraser to just 30 percent (17 of 58). The Clan hit just 17 percent (5 of 30) during the first half.

The victory was Seattle Pacific's 998th in program history.

The Falcons go for win No. 999 on Saturday in their annual Homecoming doubleheader. The 20th-ranked Falcon women meet Western Oregon in the opening game at 1:30 p.m. followed by the SPU men's clash with Montana State Billings at 3:30 p.m.

"Billings is an extremely scary team. Their record doesn't reflect how good they are," said Looney.

"They haven't been on the top side of a lot of games, but they beat Cal Poly Pomona, who's the defending Division II national champion. They've played a number of people close, so we're definitely going to have to be prepared."



NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

Seattle Pacific 81, Simon Fraser 57

SIMON FRASER (2-12, 1-7 GNAC)
Berry 10-27 4-6 29; Frehlick 1-5 5-6 8; Lewis 2-3 0-0 6; Brown 2-12 0-0 4; Boateng 1-5 2-2 4; Appiah 0-4 4-4 4; Ricketts 1-1 0-0 2; Paredes 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-58 15-18 57.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (10-5, 4-3 GNAC)
J. Downs 8-14 0-0 21; Sweet 6-9 2-2 14; D. Downs 4-9 3-4 13; Niang 4-4 3-4 11; Poling 3-6 3-6 9; Dorman 2-7 0-0 6;  Anderson 1-4 2-2 4; Morse 1-3 0-0 2; Carel 0-0 1-3 1; Hope 0-0 0-0 0; Moll 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-56 14-21 81.

Simon Fraser.................. 21 36 - 57
Seattle Pacific................ 39 42 - 81

3-point goals--Simon Fraser 8-20 (Berry 5-9; Lewis 2-2; Frehlick 1-3; Appiah 0-1; Paredes 0-1; Brown 0-4), Seattle Pacific 9-28 (J. Downs 5-11; D. Downs 2-6; Dorman,2-7; Anderson, Jake 0-2; Morse, Scott 0-1; Sweet, Ryan 0-1). Fouled out—Simon Fraser-None, Seattle Pacific-None. Rebounds--Simon Fraser 29 (Appiah 9), Seattle Pacific 41 (Anderson 7; D. Downs 7; Sweet 7; Poling 7). Assists--Simon Fraser 8 (Appiah 3), Seattle Pacific 21 (Sweet 6). Total fouls--Simon Fraser 15, Seattle Pacific 14. Technical fouls--Simon Fraser-TEAM, Seattle Pacific-None. A-321.


Next Game:
Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific (HOMECOMING)
Saturday, Jan. 22, 3:30 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.