• Final Stats

SEATTLE – A remarkable rally in the second half by the visitors spoiled a prolific performance from Seattle Pacific's Andy Poling.

Rory Blanche scored 15 points and capped the decisive run midway through the second half Saturday, helping Western Washington rally for a 79-71 men's basketball win over the 19th-ranked Falcons at Brougham Pavilion.

The Vikings (9-1) won their seventh straight game, improving to 2-0 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. SPU (6-2) saw its league ledger drop to 1-1.

"Obviously we just need to stick together after this tough loss. We still have an opportunity to have a great year," said Falcons coach Ryan Looney. "It's a long season and it's still relatively early. I just hope that this is something that we can learn from."

SPU lost despite a season-high 31-points from Poling, who made 13 of 17 shots from the field.

Two nights after a cold 1-of-10 shooting effort from the floor in a 68-57 home win over Simon Fraser, Poling hit his first three shots against WWU.

"We challenged him and he got it going early," Looney said. "The thing that is negative about it is that our other players didn't make very smart decisions down the stretch because they should have continued to give him the ball. He probably should have had more than 40 tonight."

Poling surpassed his previous season high of 22 points, posted on Nov. 19 against BYU-Hawaii. He came within four of the career-best 35 points he compiled at Northwest Nazarene on Feb. 12, 2011.

David Downs contributed 14 points and Jobi Wall had 10 for the Falcons.

Trailing 48-44, Western tallied 12 unanswered points to take its first lead of the game. Five different Vikings scored during the surge, capped by a Blanche tip-in of a John Allen miss that provided a 56-48 margin with 8:39 left to play.

The Falcons netted the next seven points, drawing within 56-55 with 6:26 on the clock, but they would get no closer. The teams traded baskets before WWU got 3-pointers by Paul Jones and Richard Woodworth and a tip-in by Zach Henefin to extend the lead to 70-62.

Western stretched its lead to 11 points and converted 9 of 10 free throws inside the final minute, six of them from Woodworth, to seal the victory. WWU stopped a five-game losing skid against the Falcons who have won 12 of the last 14 meetings.

Both teams shot 61 percent in the second half, but it was long-range accuracy that proved to be the difference. WWU drained 6 of 11 treys after halftime after making just 1 of 8 in the first half.

The Falcons went the opposite direction, making only 1 of 7 in the second half and 3 of 7 first-half 3-pointers.

The Vikings outrebounded the hosts 16-11 during the second half, nearly overcoming SPU's 23-17 first-half advantage.

"Western played hard in the second half, but it wasn't completely what they did," Looney explained. "We had some defensive lapses that we haven't had to this point this year."

Jones shared team-high honors with 15 points for the Vikings, who also got 13 from Woodworth and 11 apiece from Allen and Chris Mitchell.

In the first half, Poling scored six quick points to help SPU start with an 11-2 lead.

The Vikings went without a basket for the opening 4:22. But when Mitchell got the first field goal on a putback and Jones followed with a 3-pointer, they trailed only 11-8.

The Falcons forged their largest lead at 33-22 on a 3-pointer by Downs with 2:55 left in the period. WWU closed with an 8-2 run, including a tip-dunk at the buzzer by Blanche, to draw within 35-30 at halftime.

Seattle Pacific travels to Hawaii next weekend for a pair of games, against Chaminade on Friday and BYU-Hawaii on Saturday.


NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

Western Washington 79, at (#19) Seattle Pacific 71

WESTERN WASHINGTON (9-1, 2-0 GNAC)
Blanche 7-12 1-5 15, Henifin 3-7 1-1 7, Mitchell 4-5 2-2 11, Woodworth 3-8 6-6 13, Allen 3-10 3-4 11, Thorpe 0-0 0-0 0, Wilkins 2-7 2-2 7, Joines 4-8 5-5 15, Young 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 20-25 79.

SEATTLE PACIFIC  (6-2, 1-1 GNAC)
Wall 4-9 0-1 10, Anderson 2-4 2-2 6, Poling 13-17 5-12, Downs 5-11 3-4 14, Dorman 0-1 0-0 0, Stockton 1-3 1-2 3, Moll 0-1 0-0 0, Morse 1-3 0-0 3, Hutsen 0-1 2-2 2, Niang 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 27-52 13-23 71.

Western Washington......   30   49  -  79
Seattle Pacific.........   35   36  -  71

3-point goals-- 3-point goals--WWU 7-19 (Jones 2-2, Allen 2-6, Mitchell 1-1, Wilkins 1-6, Woodworth 1-2, Henifin 0-2), SPU 4-14 (Wall 2-5, Morse 1-1, Downs 1-5, Dorman 0-1, Stockton 0-1, Anderson 0-1). Fouled out--WWU-None, SPU-Stockton. Rebounds--WWU 33 (Blanche 9), SPU 34 (Poling 9). Assists--WWU 11 (Wilkins 4), SPU 19 (Stockton 6). Total fouls--WWU 21, SPU 22. Technical fouls--WWU-None, SPU-None. A-776.


Next game
Seattle Pacific at Chaminade
Friday, Dec. 9, 9:30 p.m. PST
Honolulu, Hawaii