• Boxscore & Play-by-Play

SEATTLE – Coach Ryan Looney alerted his Falcons early that he didn't want them to allow another hot shooting performance by Alaska Anchorage.

Jeff Downs pumped in 20 points, one of four starters in double figures, and Andy Poling added 19 – hitting 11 of 12 from the free throw line – as the Seattle Pacific men won their seventh straight game, defeating Alaska Anchorage 78-73 on Thursday at Brougham Pavilion.

The victory helped SPU (15-5) improve to 9-3 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play and leapfrog past Anchorage (16-6) into second place in the standings behind front-running Central Washington. The Seawolves fell to 8-3 in league games.



The Falcons evened the score with UAA after dropping a 78-61 decision at Anchorage on Jan. 8. In that game, the Seawolves converted 14 of 25 shots from 3-point range.

SPU's second-year coach was not about to allow a repeat performance. So when Drew Robinson started the scoring Thursday with a wide-open 3-pointer on the Seawolves first possession, Looney called a timeout with just 31 seconds having ticked off the clock.

"Our main focus today was to make sure we got out on shooters," explained SPU senior Ryan Sweet (Port Orchard, Wash./South Kitsap HS), who took the blame for the early timeout.

"That's all on me. We were in a zone and I decided I wanted to play man."

Looney obviously got his point across as the Falcons surrendered just two more 3-pointers during the remaining 19:29. UAA finished the game with just 3 treys on 15 attempts.

Sweet, the reigning GNAC Player of the Week, recorded his second straight double-double and the ninth of his career. He scored 11 points and grabbed 10 boards to lead the Falcons 38-28 rebounding advantage.

"We did a great job in regards to rebounding, blocking out defensively and we had some effort on the offensive glass," Looney said.

SPU won this one at the foul line, hitting 26 of 33 (78.8 percent). Poling -- who entered the game shooting just 48.6 percent from the line for the season (34 of 70) hit his first 10 in a row. Alaska Anchorage went to the line just 17 times, hitting 12.

The Seawolves buried seven more field goals than SPU, hitting 29 of 62 (46.8 percent). The Falcons dropped in 22 of 48 (45.8 percent), but were 8 of 21 from behind the 3-point arc.

Arizona State transfer Taylor Rohde led Alaska with 20 points, getting 13 of those during the second half. The Seawolves' leading scorer at 16.1 points per game coming in sat out the last nine minutes of the first half with two fouls.

The Falcons are a drastically different team than when they lost at Anchorage in early January. That was their first full game playing without All-America point guard Chris Banchero who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the previous game, Jan. 6 at Alaska Fairbanks. SPU lost its first two games without Banchero, but have since won seven straight.

The absence of their senior point guard has forced the Falcons to implement a more deliberate style of play. They are averaging six fewer points per game (80.0 vs. 74.1), but their patience is paying off with 50.3 percent shooting, compared with 48.6 percent with Banchero.

Since taking over the starting point guard role for the last nine games, freshman David Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) is averaging 9.3 points and 6.3 assists.

Banchero's injured left knee was not SPU's only hardship as part-time starter Jake Anderson injured his right knee on Jan. 29 at Western Oregon and will miss the remainder of the season. The junior wing from Burlington-Edison (Wash.) High School was averaging 5.8 points and 3.2 rebounds per contest.

"I couldn't be more proud of a group of guys than I am right now. Our team has faced a lot of adversity this year and our guys have made the right decision. We've come together and found a way to fight through every situation."

Although Thursday's game was close from start to finish, the Falcons kept the lead from the time senior wing Jeff Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) buried a 3-pointer from the left of the lane for a 13-12 advantage. The Seawolves managed one more tie after that at 22-22, but sophomore post player Poling (Portland, Ore.) put SPU in front for good on a pair of free throws with 6:01 left in the first half.

The Falcons had a 33-26 lead at the break. The margin remained in single digits until David Downs, who finished with 14 points, swished a 22-foot trey from the left of the lane. It came on a broken play that senior post player Sweet kept alive at the baseline when he reached out and saved the ball from going out of bounds.

Anchorage cut a 68-58 lead to 69-64 with 59 seconds left in the game. Then, in the next 45 seconds, Jeff Downs and David Downs each went 4 of 4 from the line to keep it a three-possession margin in SPU's favor.

SPU plays its regular-season home finale on Saturday night at 7 p.m. against Alaska Fairbanks. It will be Senior Night with a pre-game ceremony scheduled to honor Chris Banchero, Jeff Downs, Grant Hope and Ryan Sweet.

Fairbanks features NCAA Division II scoring leader Parrish West, who brings a streak of seven straight 30-point games to Brougham Pavilion. The 6-foot-6 forward is scoring at a 28.9-point clip for the season. He was limited to 16 points in this season's first meeting, an 84-61 SPU win on Feb. 6 in Fairbanks.

"Tonight was a big, emotional win for us," said Looney. "I hope that we can get our guys recharged and fired up ready to go again on Senior Night."



NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

Seattle Pacific 78, Alaska Anchorage 73

ALASKA ANCHORAGE (16-6, 8-3 GNAC)
Rohde 8-10 4-5 20, Gill 5-8 5-8 16, Walker 4-11 2-2 10, Ridgeway 4-7 0-0 8, Robinson 2-7 0-0 5, Thompson 1-3 1-2 4, White 2-3 0-0 4, Peterson 1-3 0-0 2, Gibcus 1-3 0-0 2, Robinson 1-7 0-0 2, Hearn 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-62 12-17 73.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (15-5, 9-3 GNAC)
J. Downs 5-13 7-9 20, Poling 4-12 11-12 19, D. Downs 4-8 4-5 14, Sweet 4-7 2-3 11, Niang 3-4 2-4 8, Dorman 1-2 0-0 3, Morse 1-2 0-0 3, Hope 0-0 0-0 0, Carel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-48 26-33 78.

Halftime -- Seattle Pacific 33, Alaska Anchorage 26.

3-point goals--Alaska Anchorage 3-15 (Robinson 1-1; Thompson1-3; Gill 1-2; Robinson 0-5; Walker 0-4), Seattle Pacific 8-21 (J. Downs 3-9; D. Downs 2-6; Sweet,1-3; Dorman 1-1; Morse 1-2). Fouled out--Alaska Anchorage-None, Seattle Pacific-None. Rebounds--Alaska Anchorage 29 (Gill 9), Seattle Pacific 38 (Sweet 10). Assists--Alaska Anchorage 14 (White 4), Seattle Pacific 16 (Morse,4; D. Downs 4). Total fouls--Alaska Anchorage 24, Seattle Pacific 15. Technical fouls--Alaska Anchorage-None, Seattle Pacific-None. A-384.