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SATURDAY, JANUARY 29 --
Seattle Pacific at Western Oregon, 7:30 p.m. PST
New PE Building (2,473) • Monmouth, Ore.
• Webcast: http://wou.nmtvsports.com
• LiveStats: http://athletics.wou.edu/live/xlive.htm

MONDAY, JANUARY 31 --
Seattle Pacific at Saint Martin's, 7:00 p.m. PST
Marcus Pavilion (4,300) • Lacey, Wash.
• Webcast:  www.pennatlantic.com

On the road again! That will be a consistent theme for the Seattle Pacific men's basketball team (12-5, 6-3) during the second half of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule that begins on Saturday, Jan. 29 at Western Oregon (11-9, 6-4). Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. at the New PE Building in Monmouth, Ore. from where the Falcons escaped last season with last-second win on Jan. 14. It took a buzzer-beating layup by Chris Banchero off a long inbounds pass to seal the 79-77 victory. The fourth-place Wolves won this season's first meeting, an 88-85 decision on Dec. 30 in Seattle. Saturday is the first road game of seven that third-place SPU plays during its final nine regular-season outings. The Falcons visit Marcus Pavilion in Lacey, Wash. on Monday, Jan. 1 at 7 p.m. to clash with Saint Martin's (11-8, 4-5). SPU won 22 of the last 24 meetings with the Saints.

1,000 & Counting
Seattle Pacific registered the 1,000th victory in the 68-year history of the program with Wednesday's 69-61 home win over Western Washington that was televised on FSN Northwest. The Falcons compiled a 1,000-674 all-time record since the program was founded in 1943-44.

Recent Recap
The SPU men won their last four games, all of them at home in Brougham Pavilion. The most recent was a 69-61 triumph over Western Washington on Wednesday (Jan. 26) that was the program's 1,000 victory. Andy Poling paced the Falcons with 20 points and Ryan Sweet added 14, including four free throws during the final 16 seconds. 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.

Notable
Senior Jeff Downs has 865 career points. He needs 135 more to become the 31st 1,000-point scorer in SPU history ... Downs has more than three times as many 3-pointers as any other Falcon. He leads the GNAC with 56 treys, averaging 3.3 per game ... The Jan. 6 injury to Chris Banchero forced the Falcons to be more efficient collectively. Assists have set up 75 percent of their baskets since he was sidelined, compared to 62 percent beforehand. SPU was credited with assists on 27 of 33 field goals in the Jan. 15 win over Northwest Nazarene ... Freshman point guard David Downs is averaging 9.7 points and 6.3 assists with only 12 turnovers during the last six games since replacing the injured Banchero in the starting lineup ... 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. In addition to the Jan. 26 broadcast from Brougham, the Falcons' Feb. 9 contest at Central Washington will be broadcast at 7 p.m. SPU hopes for a third TV game as FSN will air the March 4 GNAC Tournament championship game at 5 p.m. Pacific Time.

Scouting Western Oregon (11-9, 6-4 GNAC)
> The Wolves won their last two games, giving them one more GNAC win (6) than they had all last season. They finished seventh in the 2010 standings at 5-11.

> WOU's Blair Wheadon ranks fifth among all GNAC players with 17.8 points per game and Tarance Glynn is the league's second-leading rebounder at 8.4 rpg.

> Seattle Pacific leads the all-time series 32-13 despite losing 88-85 to the Wolves on Dec. 30 in Seattle. The Falcons had won the previous 11 encounters.

> SPU won last season at Western Oregon 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, 2010.

> Second-year SPU coach Ryan Looney has a 2-1 record against WOU. He competed against the Wolves during his playing career at Eastern Oregon.

Scouting Saint Martin's (11-8, 4-5 GNAC)
> Saints senior forward Blake Poole grabs 11.7 rebounds per game, nearly three more than any other GNAC player. He averages a double-double as his 17.9-point scoring clip ranks No. 4 in the conference. Poole led the league in both categories last year with 21.0 points and 12.2 rebounds per game.

> The Falcons boast an 88-33 lead in all-time matchups, including three straight wins. SPU was victorious in 22 of the last 24 meetings with both losses coming on the road in Lacey, Wash. (2008 & 2009).

> Seventh-year Saints coach Keith Cooper served as an assistant on the SPU staff in 2002-03. He has a 2-14 record against the Falcons. Cooper is married to the former Linda Johnson, a basketball standout who is an SPU Hall of Fame inductee.

> Second-year SPU coach Ryan Looney has a 3-0 record against the Saints.

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. Jeff has started all 17 games this season and David assumed the starting point guard role for the last six outings. 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.

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. Entering the game in which he was injured, Banchero was scoring at a 24.0-point clip, including a career-high 42-point performance at Dominican (Dec. 18).

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).

Sweet Senior
Ryan Sweet delivers an outstanding all-around performance every night for SPU. The 6-foot-6 senior leads the Falcons in rebounds (6.8 rpg) and field goal percentage (57.9%). Included in that stellar shooting is 43-percent accuracy (12 of 28) from 3-point range. He ranks second on the team in steals (14) and third in both assists (47) and blocks shots (6). A second-year Falcon after transferring from Whatcom (Wash.) Community College, Sweet has eight career double-doubles.

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 129-66 (.662) career record, including a 34-11 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 2011 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.