Box score, play-by-play

SEATTLE – The Homecoming crowd of 1,106 got an extra five minutes to reminisce about Seattle Pacific University. A victorious overtime performance Saturday afternoon at Brougham Pavilion gave them a new memory to cherish.

Senior wing Jeff Downs tied his career high with 25 points and senior post Ryan Sweet added 19 points, including six in overtime, leading the Falcons men to a 72-65 triumph over Montana State Billings.

Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) matched the 25-point output he put into the books at Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 6.

Sweet (Port Orchard, Wash./South Kitsap HS) came within one point of his career scoring high. Sweet came up big late in the game, with five of SPU's final seven points in regulation, then tallying an additional six points in overtime.

"Our guys, especially Ryan Sweet, were able to make some hustle-type plays and do some of the little things that it takes to win in games like tonight," said SPU coach Ryan Looney.

SPU (11-5) improved to 5-3 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. The Yellowjackets (4-12) fell to 2-7 in league games.

The Falcons appeared in control when Sweet converted a free throw for a 53-49 lead with 15 seconds remaining in regulation. But MSUB's Raason Young, who scored 12 of his 15 points during the second half, hit a 3-pointer with 6.7 seconds left to play.

Downs was quickly fouled and gave Seattle Pacific a 55-52 lead with 6.3 seconds left in regulation by draining a pair of free throws.

Billings brought the ball down and got it to DeAndre Chambers deep in the right corner. Downs went up to block the shot, but bumped into Chambers instead. That gave the Yellowjackets three free throws with three-tenths of a second on the clock.

A 67-percent free throw shooter, Chambers swished all three shots to forge a 55-55 tie and force overtime.

"I was mad at myself because that was pretty dumb," Downs said of his only foul of the game. "We had to focus and I thought we could definitely win the overtime and we shouldn't panic at all."

The Falcons didn't panic, scoring the first seven points of the extra session. Of their 16 points during the five-minute overtime, 10 came on free throws. They went 10 of 11 in overtime and 21 of 24 for the game from the line.

Just 31 seconds into overtime, sophomore post Andy Poling put SPU on top 57-55 with two free throws. Downs followed with a long 3-pointer from the left of the lane for a 60-55 lead, and Sweet made it 62-55 when, on a broken play, he recovered the ball on the baseline and put in from 12 feet away to the right of the hoop.

Montana State Billings never got closer than four after that.

"We had some different things that we were able to come up with offensively and got ourselves probably better looks in that five minutes than we did earlier in the game," Looney said of the Falcons overtime performance.

Poling (Portland, Ore.) tallied 17 points for SPU, which logged the 999th victory in program history. The Falcons will go for No. 1,000 when they play host to rival Western Washington on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in a game that will be televised live regionally on FSN Northwest.

Chambers finished with 11 points for Billings, which also got 10 from Tyler Barnes.

The Falcons led the almost the entire game. The only lead for the Yellowjackets was 12-11 while Seattle Pacific was the middle of a 5½-minute scoring drought during the first half. Downs ended that in dramatic fashion when he buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key, was fouled, and completed a four-point play to make it 15-12.

Aside from two more ties – including the regulation-ending 55-55 deadlock – SPU was in front the rest of the way.

Sweet pulled down eight of Seattle Pacific's 35 rebounds. Billings had 30 boards, led by the seven of Robert Mayes.

"Offensive rebounding and made free throws were the difference for us tonight," Looney concluded.


NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

SEATTLE PACIFIC 72, MSU BILLINGS 65  (OT)

Montana State Billings (4-12, 2-7 GNAC)
Young 6-12 0-0 15; Chambers 4-6 3-3 11; Barnes 5-9 0-0 10; Mayes 4-11 1-2 9; Myaer 3-10 1-2 8; Hickman 3-3 0-0 6; Henning 3-6 0-2 6; Trabing 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-57 5-9 65.

Seattle Pacific (11-5, 5-3 GNAC)
J. Downs 6-12 9-9 25; Sweet 7-16 5-8 19; Poling 7-13 3-3 17; Morse 1-2 2-2 5; D. Downs 1-3 2-2 4; Niang 1-4 0-0 2; Anderson 0-1 0-0 0; Moll 0-0 0-0 0; Dorman 0-6 0-0 0.
Totals 23-57 21-24 72.

MSU Billings................... 20  35 10  - 65
Seattle Pacific................ 24  31  17  - 72

3-point goals--MSU Billings 4-11 (Young 3-5; Myaer 1-4; Barnes 0-1; Chambers 0-1), Seattle Pacific 5-18 (J. Downs 4-9; Morse, 1-2; D. Downs 0-2; Dorman, 0-3; Sweet, 0-2). Fouled out--MSU Billings-None, Seattle Pacific-None. Rebounds--MSU Billings 30 (Mayes 7), Seattle Pacific 35 (Sweet 8). Assists--MSU Billings 14 (Myaer 5), Seattle Pacific 15 (D. Downs 4). Total fouls--MSU Billings 22, Seattle Pacific 13. Technical fouls--MSU Billings-None, Seattle Pacific-None. A-1,106.

 

Records –

Seattle Pacific 11-5, 5-3 GNAC

Montana State Billings 4-12, 2-7 GNAC

 

Next game –

Western Washington at Seattle Pacific (FSN Northwest TV)

Wednesday, Jan. 26, 7:00 p.m.

Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.