• Boxscore & Play-by-Play
 
FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The weather outside was frightful Thursday night with temperatures dropping 27 degrees below zero.
 
But inside the Patty Center, the Falcons were anything but frigid.
 
Junior transfer Patrick Simon poured in 30 points and led a hot-shooting attack for 13th-ranked Seattle Pacific, which opened Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball play with a 72-60 road win at Alaska Fairbanks.
 
A transfer from Washington State, Simon made 13 of 17 shots from the field, including 4-for-6 accuracy from 3-point range.
 
The 6-foot-8 forward posted SPU's first 30-point performance of the season and the first by a Falcon since David Downs amassed 33 points at BYU-Hawaii on Dec. 10, 2011. Simon's previous high this year was 16 points.
 
“He's somebody that is extremely talented on offense,” said SPU coach Ryan Looney. “We knew a game like this would come at some point.”
 
Simon (Ephrata, Wash./Ephrata HS) helped the Falcons (6-1) convert 60 percent of their attempts as a team (29 of 48), a figure that featured 10 of 15 shooting on treys.
 
“We got good looks. We have a bunch of guys on our team who are capable of shooting a higher percentage,” Looney said. “The one thing that we were disturbed about is that we didn't get enough opportunities because we turned it over 16 times.”
 
Ten of those turnovers were forced from 10 steals by UAF, which converted them into 20 points.
 
The Nanooks (4-4) shot 48 percent (22 of 46), but were limited to just 3 of 17 from 3-point range.
 
Fairbanks scored the game's first four points while forcing two SPU misses.
 
The Falcons nailed their next four shots, capped by a Simon jumper, to take the lead for good at 10-4 with 15:40 left in the first half.
 
SPU led 38-29 at halftime. Simon scored 13 first-half points while hitting 6 of 7 shots from the field.
 
He opened the second half with a 3-pointer. Late in the game Simon drained back-to-back baskets, on a baseline jumper and a trey, to provide SPU its largest lead at 70-51 with 2:26 left to play.
 
Jobi Wall contributed 14 points for the Falcons and made all four of his 3-point tries. David Downs added 12 points.
 
Pat Voeut was the Nanooks lone double-digit scorer with 15 points.
 
“Any time you can come on this trip and get a win, it's big. When we look back at the end of this year this will be big and we're hoping we can get another one on Saturday,” Looney said.
 
The SPU men complete their road trip with a visit to No. 25 Alaska Anchorage on Saturday. Tip-off is 8:30 p.m. Pacific Time for the game between the ranked GNAC rivals.
 
The Falcons lost in their last six visits to Anchorage and haven't swept their annual two-game trip to Alaska in 11 years, since 2002.
 
“It is not easy to do,” Looney said of winning both games in Alaska.
 
“For whatever reason the UAA game has turned into a little bit of a rivalry. We think that they're going to test us in every way possible and that we're going to have as good, if not better, effort than we've had all year to get the Alaska sweep.”
 
Last season each team won on its homecourt before SPU beat the Seawolves 80-67 in a neutral-site matchup at Bellingham in the NCAA West Regional semifinals.
 
Anchorage (7-1) won its GNAC opener Thursday with a 79-65 decision over Montana State Billings. The Seawolves lone loss came against NCAA Division I Belmont (70-64) and they have victories over D-I opponents UC Riverside (66-65) and Loyola Marymount (83-77).
 
Saturday's game caps a six-game road trip for the Falcons, who return home to Brougham Pavilion for the first time in nearly a month when they host Evergreen State on Dec. 8 at 7 p.m.

 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012
Patty Center/Fairbanks, Ak.
 
(#13) Seattle Pacific 72, at Alaska Fairbanks 60
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (6-1, 1-0 GNAC)
Wall 5-8 0-0 14, Simon 13-17 0-0 30, Poling 4-8 1-1 9, Downs 5-7 0-0 12, Stockton 0-1-0-0 0, Hutsen 2-5 1-2 5, Todd 0-0 2-2 2, Penner 0-0 0-0 0, Morse 0-0 0-0 0, Weber-Brader 0-1 0-0 0, Carroll 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-48 4-5 72.
 
ALASKA FAIRBANKS (4-4, 0-1 GNAC)
Tica 2-8 0-0 5, Kelly 3-4 1-4 7, Brinson 1-7 4-4 7, Pucar 3-7 2-2 9, Voeut 5-10 5-7 15, Bills 3-3 0-0 6, Ngawaka 3-4 0-0 6, Baker 2-2 1-2 5, Robinson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-46 13-19 60.
 
Seattle Pacific........   38   34  -  72
Alaska Fairbanks......... 29   31  -  60
 
3-point goals--SPU 10-15 (Wall 4-4, Simon 4-6, Downs 2-4, Carroll 0-1), UAF 3-17 (Tica 1-5, Brinson 1-4, Pucar 1-3, Ngawaka 0-1, Robinson 0-1, Voeut 0-3). Fouled out--SPU-None, UAF-None. Rebounds--SPU 25 (Hutsen 5, Stockton 5), UAF 20 (Pucar 4, Kelly 4). Assists--SPU 20 (Downs 7), UAF 16 (Voeut 5). Total fouls--SPU 16, UAF 12. Technical fouls--SPU-Morse , UAF-None. A-253.
 
 
Next men's basketball game
(#13) Seattle Pacific at (#25) Alaska Anchorage
Saturday, Dec. 1, 8:30 p.m. PST
Wells Fargo Arena/Anchorge, Ak.