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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28 --
GNAC Tournament First Round
(#6) Western Oregon at (#3) Seattle Pacific, 7:30 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
• Webcast: http://spu.nmtvsports.com
• LiveStats: www.sidearmstats.com/spu/mbball

(#8) Montana State Billings at (#1) Central Washington
(#7) Saint Martin's at (#2) Alaska Anchorage
(#5) Northwest Nazarene at (#4) Western Washington

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2 --
GNAC Tournament Semifinal, TBA
At home sites of two highest remaining seeds

FRIDAY, MARCH 4 --
GNAC Tournament Championship, 5:00 p.m. (FSN Northwest TV)
At home site of highest remaining seed

Seattle Pacific (18-8, 12-6 GNAC) enters the inaugural Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament as the No. 3 seed and will meet No. 6 Western Oregon (13-15, 8-10). The Falcons will host a combined men's and women's basketball doubleheader at Brougham Pavilion on Monday, Feb. 28 for the opening round of the conference tournament. Both teams will play Western Oregon with the women's game starting at 5:15 p.m. followed by the men's nightcap at 7:30 p.m. The SPU men won 12 of the last 13 meetings against WOU, but they split their two regular-season meetings with each winning on the other's home court. The other men's pairings include No. 8 Montana State Billings at GNAC regular-season champion Central Washington, No. 7 Saint Martin's at No. 2 Alaska Anchorage and No. 5 Northwest Nazarene at No. 4 Western Washington.

Tourney Tickets
Doubleheader tickets for the first-round games at Seattle Pacific will be available at Brougham Pavilion on game day. Tickets allow entry for both games Monday and are priced at $20 for reserved seats and $15 for general admission. Student and senior citizen tickets for the general admission area are priced at $6. SPU students will be admitted free. There will be no group or team discounts for the GNAC Tournament. For more information please contact the SPU Athletics Ticket Office at 206-281-2085.

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. 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.

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 1,006-677 (59.8%) since the program was founded in 1943-44.

Scouting Western Oregon (13-15, 8-10 GNAC)
> The Wolves lost their last three games, to finish sixth in the GNAC at 8-10.

> WOU's Blair Wheadon ranks fifth among all GNAC players with 18.4 points per game and leads the league with 60 steals (2.14 spg).

> Seattle Pacific leads the all-time series 33-13, winning 12 of the last 13 meetings.

> The teams split the regular-season meetings, both losing at home. The Wolves won 88-85 on Dec. 30 in Seattle and SPU won 77-59 on Jan. 29 in Monmouth, Ore.

> The Falcons 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 3-1 record against WOU. He competed against the Wolves during his playing career at Eastern Oregon.



Frosh of the Year
SPU point guard David Downs was voted the Freshman of the Year and his brother, senior Jeff Downs, was named to the All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference second team on Friday. SPU sophomore Andy Poling and senior Ryan Sweet received honorable mention recognition on the All-GNAC squad. David Downs is averaging 5.8 points and 4.2 assists per game. He increased those numbers to 7.9 points with 6.1 assists during the last 15 games after taking over the starting playmaker duties. David Downs, who shared the GNAC Freshman of the Year award with Paul Egwuonwu of Northwest Nazarene, produced the 38th 100-assist season in SPU history and his 110 assists rank No. 27 among the school's single-season leaders.

Downs Up the Charts
Senior Jeff Downs scored 18 points on Thursday at Simon Fraser to become SPU's 31st 1,000-point scorer. His 1,011 career points rank No. 28 among all-time Falcons. A second-team All-GNAC performer, Downs is SPU's top scorer among active players at 16.0 points per game. He has a league-leading 84 treys, giving him 209 for his career to rank No. 3 among all-time Falcon 3-pointer shooters.

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 16.0 points while leading the conference with 84 treys. Younger brother, David, is a freshman point guard. Jeff has started all 26 games this season and David assumed the starting point guard role for the last 15 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.

Home Sweet Brougham
The Falcons have a 10-3 record this season at Brougham Pavilion where they won 41 of their last 48 games. SPU was 14-1 last year at home. Brougham Pavilion seats 2,650 spectators. It was built in 1953 and renovated in 1992.

Notable
Sophomore Andy Poling, a 6-foot-11 transfer from Gonzaga, leads SPU with seven double-doubles. He erupted for 35 points at Northwest Nazarene (Feb. 12) ... The Falcons have had four 30-point scoring games by individuals and surrendered just one 30-point game to an opponent (Michael Duty, WWU) ... After having two returning starters (Chris Banchero & Jake Anderson) suffer season-ending knee injuries, the Falcons have implemented the same starting lineup for the last 15 games ... SPU leads all GNAC teams in rebounding margin (+7.2) and assists per game (16.9).

Region Rankings
The SPU men were listed eighth in last week's NCAA Division II West Region rankings. The conference champions from the California Collegiate Athletic Association, Pacific West Conference and GNAC earn automatic postseason berths with the next five highest seeds filling out the West Region playoff field. Here are the Feb. 23 West Region Rankings: 1-Central Washington, 2-Humboldt State, 3-Cal State Dominguez Hills, 4-Chaminade, 5-Dixie State, 6-BYU-Hawaii, 7-Alaska Anchorage, 8-Seattle Pacific, 9-San Francisco State, 10-Western Washington.

Recent Recap
The Falcons halted a three-game losing streak with wins in their last two games. A balanced attack led by the 20 points of Jeff Downs, offset the 32 points of Michael Duty in an 84-70 win at Western Washington (Feb. 22). That was SPU's 12 win in the last 13 games vs. WWU. The Falcons capped the regular season with a 77-58 win at Simon Fraser (Feb. 24). Andy Poling (22), Downs (18) and Ryan Sweet (18) combined to match the Clan's entire scoring output.

Sweet Senior
Stat sheet stuffer Ryan Sweet was honored as an All-GNAC honorable mention pick. The 6-foot-6 senior leads SPU in field goal percentage (57.2%). Included in that stellar shooting is 40-percent accuracy (17 of 43) from 3-point range. He ranks second on the team in rebounds (7.0 rpg), assists (67) and steals (22) and is fourth in blocked shots (8). A second-year Falcon who transferred from Whatcom (Wash.) Community College, Sweet has 11 career double-doubles, four of them coming this season.

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 135-69 (.662) career record, including a 40-14 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.