• Final Statistics

FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Jobi Wall and David Downs combined for 46 points Saturday with 33 of them coming via the 3-pointer as the Seattle Pacific men shot down Alaska Fairbanks 79-53 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference basketball game at the Patty Center.

That Falcons duo teamed up to make 15 of 19 shots from the field, including 11 of 15 from beyond the 3-point arc. Wall (Ardada, Colo.) registered his high-scoring game in an SPU uniform with 25 points on 8 of 11 shooting. The junior wing, who transferred from Colorado Christian University, made 6 of 9 trey attempts.

Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) missed only one of his eight shots from the field, hitting 5 of 6 treys. The sophomore point guard finished with 21 points.

Sparked by those two, the Falcons shot 51 percent as a team (25-49) and 12 of 23 on 3-pointers.

SPU (17-5) improved to 9-4 in league play to maintain its third-place standing.

Andy Poling scored 11 points for the Falcons and Cory Hutsen added 10.

The Nanooks (4-19) lost their 10th consecutive game and saw their GNAC record drop to 1-12.

The Falcons broke the game open early in the second half. They extended a nine-point lead by starting the second half with an 11-3 surge that was fueled by three treys from Wall. That 47-32 margin later grew to 66-40 with 7:58 left to play after a 17-3 SPU run.

"We talked at halftime about making a few adjustments on offense based on how they were playing," explained SPU coach Ryan Looney. "First, when we were throwing it in they were doubling the post. So our bigs needed to do a good job of immediately getting it back out.

"Then we did a nice job moving the ball, making them have to rotate defensively and we were able to get some open shots because of it."

The visitors drained six of their first eight 3-point shots in the second half. They ended up making 61-percent (14 of 23) of their second-half shots, including 7 of 11 treys.

"Jobi was the benefactor of the improved passing. We were intentionally trying to throw it in, trying to draw that double and our bigs did a nice job that last 20 minutes getting it out. He just happened to be the one getting the extra pass."

Dominique Brinson was the lone double-figure scorer for Alaska with 17 points.

In the first half, back-to-back baskets by Sergej Pucar and Daniel Shaw gave UAF its final lead at 21-18 with 7:44 left in the first half.

The Falcons responded with nine consecutive points, five of them from Downs, to take a 27-21 lead en route to a 36-29 halftime advantage.

Despite the offensive fireworks, Looney credited defense with swinging the game in SPU's favor.

"From the second part of the first half and the whole second half our energy defensively was good. We got off to a little bit of a slow start on that end. In the last 30 minutes of the game we got back to what has carried us all year."

Fairbanks became the 14th opponent to score fewer than 60 points against the Falcons, who have been victorious in all of those games. Their dynamic defense is surrendering just 58.2 points per game, a figure that ranks No. 6 among NCAA Division II teams. SPU's school single-season record average of 61.8 points allowed was established in 1962-63.

Saturday's win was the ninth in the last 10 games against UAF for the Falcons, who drew a split on their Alaska road trip. They lost 78-69 at Anchorage on Thursday.

The SPU men play their next three games at home, beginning on Thursday against Northwest Nazarene. Tip-off is 7 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion. They host Central Washington next Saturday and Montana State Billings on Feb. 18.

"It's a big homestand," Looney said. "We're to a point in the season where people are starting to get a little bit tired and fatigued. So to be able to play at home for two straight weeks and not have to travel is huge for us."


NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Patty Center/Fairbanks, Alaska

Seattle Pacific 79, at Alaska Fairbanks 53

SEATTLE PACIFIC  (17-5, 9-4 GNAC)
Wall 8-11 3-3 25, Hutsen 2-7 6-7 10, Poling 4-9 3-3 11, Downs 7-8 2-2 21, Dorman 1-4 0-0 2, Morse 2-5 2-2 7, Carel 1-1 1-2 3, Niang 0-1 0-0 0, Anderson 0-2 0-0 0, Moll 0-0 0-0 0, Todd 0-0 0-0 0, Stockton 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-49 17-19 79.

ALASKA FAIRBANKS (4-19, 1-12 GNAC)
McDonald 1-6 0-1 3, Pucar 3-9 3-3 9, Brinson 5-14 4-5 17, Burkhead 4-4 0-0 8, Matthews 2-2 2-2 6, Teer 1-2 0-0 3, Stathopoulos 1-2 0-0 3, Ward 0-4 2-2 2, Shaw 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 18-47 11-13 53.

Seattle Pacific..........   36   43  -  79
Western Oregon...........   29   24  -  53

3-point goals--SPU 12-23 (Wall 6-9, Downs 5-6, Morse 1-4, Dorman 0-2, Anderson 0-1, Stockton 0-1), UAF 6-20 (Brinson 3-7, Stathopoulos 1-2, McDonald 1-5, Teer 1-2, Ward 0-1, Pucar 0-3). Fouled out--SPU-Stockton, UAF-None. Rebounds--SPU 37 (Wall 7), UAF 20 (McDonald 4). Assists--SPU 15 (Downs 4), UAF 10 (Brinson, Matthews 3). Total fouls--SPU 19, UAF 19. Technical fouls--SPU-None, UAF-None. A-178.



Next Game
Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Feb. 9, 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.