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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19 --
Seattle Pacific at Montana State Billings, 6:00 p.m. PST (7 pm MST)
Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.
•Webcast: http://msub.nmtvsports.com
•LiveStats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/msubillings/mbball/xlive.htm

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22 --
Seattle Pacific at Western Washington, 7:00 p.m. PST
Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.
•Webcast: http://wwu.nmtvsports.com
•LiveStats: www.WWUvikings.com

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24 --
Seattle Pacific at Simon Fraser, 7:00 p.m.
West Gym / Burnaby, B.C.
•Webcast: http://cgi.sfu.ca/%7Eathlwww/livestats/bball/xlive.htm 
•LiveStats: http://athletics.sfu.ca/clantv/

The homestretch happens on the road for the Seattle Pacific men's basketball team (16-7, 10-5 GNAC), which concludes the regular season with three away games during a six-day span. The Falcons visit Montana State Billings (5-17, 3-12) on Saturday, Feb. 19 for a 6 p.m. Pacific Time game (7 p.m. MST). SPU won its last nine meetings against the Yellowjackets. The Falcons travel to Bellingham to clash with Western Washington (15-7, 10-4) on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. SPU won 11 of the last 12 encounters with the Vikings. The regular-season finalé is Thursday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. in Burnaby, B.C. Simon Fraser (3-17, 2-12) is a first-year Great Northwest Athletic Conference member.



GNAC Tournament
For the first time, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference is sponsoring a postseason tournament with the winner receiving the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Tournament. Eight teams compete in the conference tournament with the top-four from the final standings hosting single games. Any combination of SPU wins and/or Western Oregon losses totaling two will guarantee a first-round GNAC Tournament game at Brougham Pavilion on Monday, Feb. 28. The bracket will be re-seeded before the second round with the two highest surviving seeds hosting semifinal contests on Mar. 2. The highest seed remaining hosts the GNAC Championship on Mar. 4 at 5 p.m. in a game that will be televised live throughout the region on FSN Northwest.

Region Rankings
The SPU men were listed fifth in last week's (Feb. 9) NCAA Division II West Region rankings. The conference champions from the CCAA, Pac-West and GNAC earn automatic postseason berths with the next five highest seeds filling out the West Region playoff field. Here are the Feb. 9 West Region Rankings: 1-Central Washington, 2-Cal State Dominguez Hills, 3-Humboldt State, 4-Alaska Anchorage, 5-Seattle Pacific, 6-Dixie State, 7-BYU-Hawaii, 8-Chaminade, 9-Grand Canyon, 10-San Francisco State.

Recent Recap
The Falcons had a season-best eight-game winning streak stopped by a 63-53 loss at 10th-ranked Central Washington (Feb. 9). On Feb. 12, they lost 81-70 at Northwest Nazarene despite the career-high 35 points of Andy Poling. 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.

1,000 & Counting
Seattle Pacific registered the 1,000th victory in its 68-year history with a 69-61 home win over Western Washington on Jan. 26 that was televised on FSN Northwest. SPU's all-time record is 1,004-676 (59.8%) since the program was founded in 1943-44.

Scouting Montana State Billings (5-17, 3-12 GNAC)
> The Yellowjackets lost eight of their last nine games.

> DeAndre Chambers leads a balanced Billings attack with 12.4 points per game. Emery Henning shoots 64.3 percent from the field.

> SPU won the last nine encounters, including a 72-65 overtime decision on Jan. 22 in Seattle, to claim a 30-26 edge in the all-time series.

> Third-year Yellowjackets coach George Pfeifer came from Idaho. He has a 1-9 record against the Falcons, including 1-4 as the head coach at Lewis-Clark State.

> Second-year SPU coach Ryan Looney has a 3-0 record against MSU Billings.

Scouting Western Washington (15-7, 10-4 GNAC)
> Tuesday's game is a clash of the last two GNAC champions. SPU won the 2010 crown with a 13-3 league ledger and the Vikings were 2009 titlists, also 13-3.

> Western, which won its last five games, is led by the 15.8 points of 6-foot-6 senior forward Michael Duty, a product of Seattle's O'Dea High School.

> The Vikings lead the GNAC in scoring at 86.5 points per game, while SPU surrenders just 68.9 points per game to rank No. 3 in the league.

> The Falcons own a 75-45 series advantage, including wins in 11 of the last 12 meetings with WWU. SPU's current series winning streak is four games, including a 69-61 victory on Jan. 26 in Seattle during the most recent meeting.

> Western is coached for the 26th season by Brad Jackson, who served as an assistant on the SPU staff for five years under Keith Swagerty from 1976-80. Jackson is married to the former Debbie Halle, an SPU All-America gymnast from 1974-77.

> In his second season at SPU, Ryan Looney has a 3-0 record against the Vikings.

Scouting Simon Fraser (3-17, 2-12 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 24.4 points per game.

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

> The most recent meeting, on Jan. 20 in Seattle, resulted in an 81-57 SPU win. Ricky Berry scored 22 of his 29 points during the second half of that game.

> In his second season at SPU, Ryan Looney has a 2-0 record against the Clan.

Notable
The Falcons have had fourh 30-point scoring games by individuals and have not surrendered a 30-point game to an opponent ... Senior Jeff Downs has 957 career points and needs 43 more to become the 31st 1,000-point scorer in SPU history ... After having two returning starters (Chris Banchero & Jake Anderson) suffer season-ending knee injuries, the Falcons have settled into the same starting lineup for the last 12 games ... Freshman point guard David Downs is averaging 6.6 assists during the last 12 games since replacing Banchero as a starter ... David Downs has 97 assists, needing just three more to record the 39th 100-assist season in SPU history.

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 averages 15.8 points while leading the conference with 72 treys. Younger brother, David, is a freshman point guard. Jeff has started all 23 games this season and David assumed the starting point guard role for the last 12 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.

Sweet Senior
Ryan Sweet delivers an outstanding all-around performance every night for SPU. The 6-foot-6 senior leads the Falcons in rebounds (7.0 rpg) and field goal percentage (59.4%). Included in that stellar shooting is 42-percent accuracy (16 of 38) from 3-point range. He ranks second on the team in both assists (62) and steals (17) and is third in blocked shots (8). A second-year Falcon who transferred from Whatcom (Wash.) Community College, Sweet has 10 career double-doubles.

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).

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 133-68 (.662) career record, including a 38-13 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.

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.