• Boxscore & Play-by-Play
     • VIDEO: Alex Weber-Brader

SEATTLE – The Falcons have been in the giving spirit during the month of December.
 
David Downs tallied 12 of his 14 points during the first half Saturday as eighth-ranked Seattle Pacific raced out to an early lead en route to an 80-45 non-conference men's basketball win over Evergreen State at Brougham Pavilion.
 
SPU (8-1) posted its most convincing victory on the strength of a remarkably unselfish style of play.
 
Of the Falcons' 28 baskets, 24 were directly set up by passes. That follows last Saturday's 85-79 win at 25th-ranked Alaska Anchorage during which 24 of 26 field goals were assisted.
 
Sophomore Ryan Todd (Mill Creek, Wash./Jackson HS) came off the bench to distribute a game-high six assists in just 13 minutes against Evergreen. Riley Stockton (Spokane, Wash./Ferris HS) added five assists while Downs and Jobi Wall each had four.
 
“Our ability to share the ball on offense was great tonight. We assisted on a lot of baskets, which is something that has kind of become a trend for us so far,” described SPU coach Ryan Looney.
 
During the two December outings, the Falcons have been credited with assists on 48 of 54 baskets, an impressive 89-percent ratio. For the season, SPU's rate of assisted field goals is 75 percent, a mark that is significantly higher than last year's final figure of 64 percent.
 


Seattle Pacific scored the game's first nine points, including back-to-back baskets by Andy Poling (Portland, Ore.). Downs capped the run 3:35 into the game with a 3-pointer.
 
Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) nailed consecutive treys to ignite another SPU surge, this one of 10 unanswered points. Stockton finished that flurry on a 3-pointer with 8:45 left in the first half that provided a 26-9 advantage.
 
The Falcons led by as many as 22 points before settling on a 40-20 halftime margin.
 
After shooting 40 percent (14 of 35) in the first period, SPU heated up to 54 percent (14 of 26) after halftime to extend the lead to the final 35-point differential.
 
The Geoducks (1-7) were limited to 33-percent shooting (16 of 48) and made just three of 20 treys.
 
Poling (Portland, Ore.) scored 12 points to push his career total to 1,010.  He is the 32nd member of SPU's 1,000-point club.
 
Also in double-figures for SPU were Wall with 13 points and Alex Weber-Brader (Olympia, Wash./Olympia HS) with a career-high 10.
 
All 12 available players saw action for the Falcons and five of them posted season-high totals for minutes.
 
“I'm excited that everybody got an opportunity to contribute tonight,” said Looney. “That's not something that we've been able to do to the extent we did. All of our guys that got in there were able to do some productive things.”
 
Elzie Dickens was the Geoducks top point producer with 15 on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor.
 
Located in Olympia, Wash., The Evergreen State College is an NAIA competitor and member of the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
 
The NCAA Division II SPU men remain at home for their final pre-Christmas game, on Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. against Warner Pacific.
 
That is the last non-league game for the Falcons, who resume Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on Jan. 3 against defending national champion Western Washington. That clash of top-10 ranked rivals tips off at 7 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion.
 
“We're excited about the next game that we have. We always want to schedule as many Division II opponents as we can, but it didn't work out that way this year,” Looney said.
 
“Warner Pacific is a really good NAIA team. They are ranked in the top 25 in the country in the NAIA right now. We scheduled them because we want to test ourselves right before our guys take a little bit of a break and before we play Western Washington, the defending national champion.”
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.
 
at (#8) Seattle Pacific 80, Evergreen State 45
 
EVERGREEN STATE (1-7)
Wagner 1-4 0-0 3, Taylor 2-2 1-2 5, Peters 2-10 5-5 9, Hong 0-4 0-0 0, Johnson 2-5 0-0 5, Dickens 6-8 3-3 15, Herron 2-4 0-0 4, Lagerberg 1-5 0-0 3, Weatherspoon 0-1 1-2 1, Potter 0-1 0-0 0, Howard 0-2 0-0 0, Jordan 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 16-48 10-12 45.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (8-1)
Wall 5-10 0-0 13, Simon 4-8 0-0 9, Poling 5-10 2-4 12, Downs 5-11 0-0 14, Stockton 2-3 1-2 7, Weber-Brader 3-5 3-4 10, Hutsen 2-4 4-7 8, Penner 2-4 2-4 7, Morse 0-2 0-0 0, Todd 0-2 0-0 0, Carroll 0-2 0-0 0, Jordan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-61 12-21 80.
 
Evergreen State........   20   25  -  45
Seattle Pacific........   40   40  -  80
 
3-point goals--TESC 3-20 (Johnson 1-3, Lagerberg 1-3, Wagner 1-4, Potter 0-1, Howard 0-1, Jordan 0-2, Hong 0-3, Peters 0-3), SPU 12-27 (Downs 4-9, Wall 3-6, Stockton 2-3, Simon 1-2, Weber-Brader 1-1, Penner 1-2, Todd 0-2, Carroll 0-2). Fouled out--TESC-None, SPU-Simon. Rebounds--TESC 26 (Herron 4), SPU 42 (Wall, Poling 6). Assists--TESC 8 (Herron 4), SPU 24 (Todd 6). Total fouls--TESC 16, SPU 13. Technical fouls--TESC-None, SPU-None. A-291.