• Final Stats
      • VIDEO: Cory Hutsen

SEATTLE – Jeff Dorman equaled his career-high game total with 10 first-half points and finished with a team-high 12 on Thursday, leading the Seattle Pacific men to a 66-54 basketball victory over Saint Martin's at Brougham Pavilion.

The Falcons (15-4) moved into a third-place tie in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings with a 7-3 record. They posted their sixth straight win over SMU (8-11), which dropped to 4-6 in league play.

The Saints missed six of their first seven shots, enabling SPU to build a 13-3 lead four minutes into the contest. The Falcons hit five of their first six shots.

That lead increased to as many as 13 points before settling on a 39-28 halftime margin in favor of SPU.

A senior wing, Dorman (Vancouver, Wash./Prairie HS) made 4 of 5 shots in the period, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range.

Dorman, who previous high this season was nine points, surpassed the career-best 10-point output he produced on Dec. 3, 2010 against Chaminade.

"Jeff Dorman gave us a good lift in the first half," said SPU coach Ryan Looney. "We've needed a little of a punch on offense from some different people this year and it was nice to get it from another place."

The hosts shot 56 percent (15 of 27) from the field in the opening half while holding SMU at 32-percent (10 of 31).

Jobi Wall (Arvada, Colo.) and Cory Hutsen (Sammamish, Wash./Skyline HS) each scored 11 points for SPU and David Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) added 10. Wall and Andy Poling (Portland, Ore.) grabbed 10 rebounds apiece to lead a 43-37 edge on the boards.

Jeremy Green registered a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds for the visitors, who also got 10 points from Roger O'Neill.

Matt Dodson tallied five straight points to start a seven-point surge that trimmed the Saints deficit to 50-45 with 9:12 left to play.

Wall stopped the run, and SPU's 5-minute, 16-second scoreless drought, with a pair of free throws at 6:30. That ignited a decisive 11-2 spree for the Falcons, who had missed seven consecutive free throws before Wall's successful stint at the line.

The Falcons won despite shooting just 50 percent (13 of 26) from the free throw line, including 9 of 19 after halftime.

"We let them back in the game on missed free throws. They did a nice job making it hard us, but we were still able to get ourselves to the free throw line," Looney said. "There was a stretch where we missed seven straight. If those go in it's probably a different game at that point."

SPU finished at 41-percent shooting for the game (23 of 56) after dipping to 28 percent (8 of 29) in the second half. They were typically stingy on the other end, limiting the Saints to 35-percent (20 of 58) accuracy.

"Our defensive performance carried us. That's kind of consistent with the whole year, especially the second half tonight when we didn't shoot it all that well," Looney concluded.

The Falcons held their 12th opponent under 60 points and they have been victorious in all of those games. Their dynamic defense is surrendering just 57.4 points per game, a figure that ranks No. 5 among NCAA Division II teams. SPU's school single-season record average of 61.8 points allowed was established in 1962-63.

The SPU men host their annual Homecoming game on Saturday with a 4 p.m. GNAC clash against Western Oregon at Brougham Pavilion. Those two teams are tied for third in the GNAC with matching 7-3 records. Western Washington (8-1) sits atop the conference standings and Alaska Anchorage (8-2) is second.


NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

at Seattle Pacific 66, Saint Martin's 54

SAINT MARTIN'S (8-11, 4-6 GNAC)
O'Neill 3-12 2-2 10, Pendleton  2-9 2-2 6, Green 5-13 3-3 14, Bomber 1-5 0-0 2, Votaw 3-8 0-0 9, Dodson 4-4 1-1 9, Bond 1-6 0-0 2, Norman 1-1 0-0 2, Stoney 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-58 8-8 54.

SEATTLE PACIFIC  (15-4, 7-3 GNAC)
Wall 3-9 2-2 11, Hutsen 5-11 1-4 11, Poling 2-9 3-8 7, Downs 3-10 2-3 10, Dorman 5-8 0-0 12, Stockton 1-3 3-6 5, Niang 2-4 0-1 4, Morse 1-1 2-2 4, Anderson 1-1 0-0 2, Moll 0-0 0-0 0, Carel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-56 13-26 66.

Saint Martin's...........   28   26  -  54
Seattle Pacific..........   39   27  -  66

3-point goals--SMU 6-22 (Votaw 3-8, O'Neill 2-5, Green 1-1, Bond 0-4, Bomber 0-4), SPU 7-16 (Wall 3-6, Downs 2-5, Dorman 2-5). Fouled out--SMU-None, SPU-None. Rebounds--SMU 37 (Green 11), SPU 43 (Wall, Poling 10). Assists--SMU 11 (Bomber 5), SPU 15 (Downs 5). Total fouls--SMU 19, SPU 8. Technical fouls--SMU-None, SPU-None. A-437.


Next game
Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific (Homecoming)
Saturday, Jan. 28, 4:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.