• Boxscore & Play-by-Play
 
CHICO, Calif. – A day after falling flat, the Falcons soared with their finest performance.
 
David Downs tallied five of his 16 points during a game-opening 16-0 surge Saturday for seventh-ranked Seattle Pacific, which routed No. 16 Chico State 79-47 in the final game of the Mac Martin Invitational men's basketball tournament at Acker Gymnasium.
 
The Falcons (5-1) rebounded from their first loss, Friday's 60-55 setback against San Francisco State.
 
SPU made seven of its first nine shots Saturday and got baskets from five different players to fuel the game-opening run. When freshman Brendan Carroll (Brisbane, Australia) made a shot in the lane with 12:56 left in the first half, the Falcons led 16-0.
 
“Our guys responded the right way after a tough loss yesterday,” said fourth-year SPU coach Ryan Looney. “Obviously we shot a high percentage, we rebounded extremely well and got ourselves off to a fast start, which we didn't the night before.”
 
The Wildcats (2-1) lost for the first time. They came up empty on their first 10 possessions, missing seven straight shots and committing three turnovers.
 
James Staniland halted the drought with a 3-pointer, providing Chico's first scoring 7:22 into the contest. But the Wildcats never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way as SPU continued its stellar shooting.
 
The Falcons forged a 46-25 halftime advantage on the strength of 73-percent (19 of 26) shooting from the field, including 6-for-9 accuracy from 3-point range.
 
The lead grew to as many as 33 points in the second half.
 
A junior point guard, Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) was one of four double-figure scorers for SPU, which got 10 points apiece from Andy Poling, Jobi Wall and Cory Hutsen. Wall, who led the team with 20 points on Friday, joined Downs on the all-tournament team.
 
Sophomore Riley Stockton (Spokane, Wash./Ferris HS) had an outstanding all-around game with a 5-point, 8-rebound, 6-assist performance. He helped the Falcons outboard their hosts by a lopsided 40-18 margin.
 
SPU finished the game shooting 65 percent (33 of 51) with 7-for-13 efficiency on treys.
 
Staniland paced Chico with eight points and Sean Park chipped in seven.
 
The Wildcats were limited to 28-percent shooting from the floor (15 of 54) and made only 5 of 23 shots from 3-point range.
 
Looney was particularly proud of his team's play on the defensive end.
 
“For us it starts with concentration and effort. But we also had a plan that we thought would be pretty good against what they do.”
 
The Wildcats may not invite SPU back. The 47 points were the second-fewest they've scored since the last time the Falcons visited Acker Gymnasium, on Nov. 28, 2009, and held Chico to 44.
 
The Falcons staged a complete turnaround from the night before when they shot just 38 percent versus San Francisco State and were outscored 32-16 inside the lane. Saturday SPU dominated the points-in-the-paint category by a 46-14 count.
 
“It's always a big emphasis for us to play with an inside-out philosophy,” Looney said. “A night ago our guys weren't very focused in a lot of areas, including that. Tonight we were.”
 
The SPU men begin Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on the road with a visit to Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday. Tip-off is 8 p.m. Pacific Time.
 
Looney hopes his players will apply the lesson they learned this weekend in league games.
 
“Through six games now we definitely found an area that we need to work on. Our focus and our preparation during the week was not good enough, which probably led to our loss Friday night.
 
“In all reality, in conference play another day like that probably is the difference between competing for a conference title and finishing in second or third place.”
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Mac Martin Invitational
Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012
Acker Gymnasium/Chico, Calif.
 
(#7) Seattle Pacific 79, (#16) Chico State 47
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (5-1)
Wall 3-6 3-4 10, Simon 4-4 0-0 9, Poling 5-8 0-0 10, Downs 7-10 0-0 16, Stockton 2-3 0-0 5, Jordan 0-1 0-0 0, Carroll 3-3 2-3 9, Todd 0-0 0-0 0, Weber-Brader 1-3 1-2 4, Penner 1-2 0-0 2, Morse 2-3 0-0 4, Hutsen 5-8 0-2 10. Totals 33-51 6-11 79.
 
CHICO STATE (2-1)
Park 2-9 2-2 7, Carraway 0-4 2-2 2, Conrad 2-2 0-0 4, Moyer 2-7 0-0 5, Sims 2-9 2-2 6, Staniland 3-4 0-0 8, Appel 1-3 3-3 5, Parker 1-5 2-4 5, Semple 2-7 0-0 4, McGrath 0-1 1-2 1, Kitchens 0-2 0-0 0, Hicks 0-1 0-0 0, Rosaroso 0-0 0-0 0, Magalotti 0-0 0-0 0, Lovisolo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-54 12-15 47.
 
Seattle Pacific........   46   33  -  79
Chico State............   25   22  -  47

3-point goals--SPU 7-13 (Downs 2-5, Carroll 1-1, Simon 1-1, Weber-Brader 1-1, Wall 1-4, Stockton 1-1), CSU 5-23 (Staniland 2-3, Park 1-2, Moyer 1-4, Parker 1-2, Semple 0-1, Carraway 0-3, McGrath 0-1, Kitchens 0-2, Sims 0-5). Fouled out--SPU-None, CSU-None. Rebounds--SPU 40 (Stockton 8), CSU 18 (Parker 3). Assists--SPU 24 (Stockton 6), CSU 8 (Carraway 2). Total fouls--SPU 15, CSU 15. Technical fouls--SPU-None, CSU-None. A-555.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
MVP - James Albright, San Francisco State
Robbie Herndon, San Francisco State
Calvin Otiono, San Francisco State
David Downs, Seattle Pacific
Jobi Wall, Seattle Pacific
Damario Sims, Chico State
Darius Pardner, UC-Colorado Springs

 
Next Men's Basketball Game
(#7) Seattle Pacific at Alaska Fairbanks
Thursday, Nov. 29, 8:00 p.m. PST
Patty Center/Fairbanks, Ak.