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2012 NCAA DIVISION II MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
West Regional • Carver Gymnasium • Bellingham, Wash.
 
Webcast: www.PennAtlantic.com 
LiveStats: www.wwuvikings.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/wwu-m-baskbl-sched.html
 
Purchase Tickets:
call (360) 650-2583
 
Friday, March 9 (First Round)
Game 1 – (#3) Seattle Pacific 70, (#6) Dixie State 68
Game 2 – (#2) Alaska Anchorage 80, (#7) Montana State Billings 68
Game 3 – (#5) Chico State 75, (#4) Humboldt State 68
Game 4 – (#1) Western Washington 79, (#8) Grand Canyon 73
 
Saturday, March 10 (Regional Semifinals)
Game 5 – (#3) Seattle Pacific 80, (#2) Alaska Anchorage 67
Game 6 – (#1) Western Washington 74, (#5) Chico State 65
 
Monday, March 12 (Regional Championship)
Game 7 – (#3) Seattle Pacific at (#1) Western Washington, 7:00 pm
 
The longtime Northwest rivals have met 123 times on a basketball court, but just once before with this much at stake. Only 12th-ranked Western Washington stands in the way of Seattle Pacific advancing to the Elite Eight of the NCAA  Division II Men's Basketball Tournament. The third-seeded Falcons (23-7) clash with top seed WWU (27-5) on Monday, Mar. 12 in the West Regional championship game. Tip-off is 7 p.m. at Carver Gymnasium in Bellingham where SPU beat Alaska Anchorage 80-67 in the region semifinal. The only other time these two Great Northwest Athletic Conference rivals met in the regional championship was 2006 when the Falcons parlayed an 81-77 home victory in Seattle into a third-place national finish. Monday's winner earns a trip to Highland Heights, Ky. for the Elite Eight on Mar. 21, 22 and 24.
 
Ticket Talk
Tickets for Monday's West Regional championship game can be purchased by calling 360-650-2583. Reserved tickets are $12, general admission $8, and students, youth and seniors with ID are $5. 

SPU and the Elite Eight
The Seattle Pacific men seek their third all-time berth in the NCAA quarterfinals. They advanced to the Elite Eight in 2000 and 2006. Both years the Falcons won their quarterfinal contest before falling in the national semifinals.
 
Third Time's a Charm?
Western Washington won both regular-season meetings against the Falcons, including a 79-71 decision on Dec. 3 in Seattle. The Vikings were 72-70 victors on Feb. 23 in Bellingham, a win that snapped SPU's six-game winning streak over WWU at Carver Gymnasium. The Falcons won 12 of the last 15 meetings and won both postseason encounters: 81-77 in 2006 (Seattle) and 82-77 in 2009 (Bellingham).
 


SPU Playoff History
The Falcons are participating in the NCAA Tournament for the 23rd time and their eight consecutive appearances form the nation's longest current streak among Division II teams. SPU won its NCAA opener for the fifth time in the last seven seasons and reached the regional final for the first time since its 2006 Final Four run.
 
Dynamic Defense
SPU's defense ranks No. 10 nationally by surrendering 60.9 points per game, nearly one point fewer than the school-record figure of 61.8 points opponents were limited to in 1962-63. Academy of Art lost 63-33 to SPU (Nov. 26), the lowest opponent point total yielded since 1951. The Falcons have a 14-0 record when keeping foes under 60 points. SPU is holding opponents to 38.9-percent shooting (No. 8 nationally). BYU-Hawaii (Dec. 10) and Alaska Anchorage (Feb. 2) are the only teams to shoot 50 percent against SPU. The Falcons held five foes under 50 points. Along with scoring and field goal defense, SPU also leads the league in rebound margin at plus-10.0 (No. 5 NCAA).
 
Scouting Western Washington (27-5)
> Something's gotta give Monday when the GNAC's second-best scoring squad (WWU, 81.7 ppg) clashes against the team with the best scoring defense (SPU, 60.9).
 
> The 12th-ranked Vikings advanced to the regional final by virtue of a 74-65 win over Chico State. WWU is led by the 16.3-point average of Rory Blanche and 14.7 points per game from John Allen.
 
> The Falcons own a 76-47 series advantage, including wins in 12 of the last 15 meetings with WWU. The Vikings halted a five-game series losing skid with a 79-71 win on Dec. 3 in Seattle and won again 72-70 on Feb. 23 in Bellingham.
 
> Prior to the Feb. 23 loss, SPU was victorious in six straight visits to Bellingham.
 
> Western is coached for the 27th season by Brad Jackson, who served as an assistant on the SPU staff for five years under Keith Swagerty from 1976-80. Jackson is married to the former Debbie Halle, an SPU All-America gymnast from 1974-77.
 
> In his third season at SPU, Ryan Looney has a 4-2 record against the Vikings.
 
Second-Round Recap
David Downs and Andy Poling combined for 40 points for third-seeded Seattle Pacific, which never trailed Saturday en route to an 80-67 win over 16th-ranked Alaska Anchorage in the West Region semifinals at Carver Gymnasium. Downs tallied seven of his game-high 21 points on free throws inside the final 2:17. Poling scored 11 of his 19 points during the first half. Five points from Poling sparked a nine-point run that put the Falcons ahead 13-3 with 16:11 left in the first half. UAA forged the game's only tie, at 25-25, with 3:34 left in the half. The Falcons answered with a hook shot from Poling and never looked back, leading by as many as 15 points in the second half.
 
First-Round Recap
Senior reserve Jake Anderson tallied 15 of his career-high 24 points inside the final 12 minutes Friday, lifting Seattle Pacific to a 70-68 victory over No. 6 seed Dixie State in the opening round. The Red Storm erased an 18-point, first-half deficit and led 40-39 at halftime. Anderson scored seven straight points, capped by a 3-pointer with 8:15 left to play that gave SPU its initial second-half lead at 56-52. That started a streak during which Anderson accounted for 15 of 18 Falcons points during a span of 10:22, the last coming on a 3-pointer with 1:20 remaining that extended their lead to 67-59. Dixie cut the lead to 67-65 before free throws from SPU's David Downs and Andy Poling sealed the win.
 
Remarkable Rebounders
SPU out-rebounded each of its last 20 opponents by a combined 801-522 margin, including a 35-board advantage at Central Washington (54-19) on Jan. 12. The last team to out-rebound the Falcons was BYU-Hawaii (30-23) on Dec. 10. SPU ranks No. 5 nationally in rebound differential at plus-10.0 boards per game.
 
Close to Home
For the fourth straight season SPU remains in the state of Washington for the playoffs. The venue for this year's tournament is WWU's Carver Gymnasium in Bellingham, the site of the 2009 and 2010 West Regionals. The 2011 regional was contested in Ellensburg last year.
 
SPU vs. the Field
SPU has a 5-5 record against teams from this year's 64-team NCAA Tournament field, having played five of them: Alaska Anchorage (2-1), Dixie State (2-0), Grand Canyon (0-1), Montana State Billings (1-1) and Western Washington (0-2).
 
SPU in the NCAAs
The Falcons are participating in the NCAA Tournament for the school-record eighth straight season, the longest current streak among Division II teams. Seattle Pacific is appearing in the playoffs for the 16th time in the last 19 seasons. The Falcons won at least one game in 18 of its 23 NCAA playoff appearances. SPU compiled a 27-22 all-time record in the NCAA playoffs and advanced to the national semifinals in 2000 and again in 2006. Last year, the eighth-seeded Falcons upset No. 1 seed and fifth-ranked Central Washington 76-63 in the opening round before losing 75-73 to Dixie State in the West Region semifinal in Ellensburg, Wash.
 
Famous Uncle
SPU freshman Riley Stockton is the nephew of NBA Hall of Fame point guard John Stockton, who distributed a record 15,806 assists during his 19-season career with the Utah Jazz (1984-2003). Riley Stockton prepped at Ferris High School in Spokane, Wash.
 
Terrific Transfer
The Falcons frontline is bolstered by the addition of transfer Jobi Wall, a 6-foot-6 junior who led all scorers with 24 points in the win at Arizona (Oct. 27). He averaged 16.6 points and 7.7 rebounds and shot 44 percent on 3-pointers in 2010 at Colorado Christian. Wall used an injury red-shirt season last year at CCU. SPU got a first-hand look at Wall on Dec. 30, 2009 at Brougham Pavilion. He amassed 28 points and 13 rebounds, hitting 5 of 9 treys in a 73-69 Colorado Christian win over the Falcons. As a prep pitcher at Faith Christian High School, Wall tossed a perfect game and hit for the cycle in a five-inning contest during the 2008 Colorado state Class 3A playoffs.
 
Exhibition Recap
Jobi Wall scored 24 points, including the go-ahead basket on a layup with 2:20 left in SPU's 69-68 upset at No. 16 Arizona on Oct. 27 in Tucson. The Falcons led 37-29 at halftime. The Wildcats staged an 18-6 run and led by two before SPU scored six straight to take the lead for good. A potential game-winning trey by UA's Nick Johnson missed at the buzzer. On Nov. 4, C.J. Wilcox led four double-figure scorers for Washington with 19 points in a 77-60 win over SPU. Andy Poling's 12 points and seven rebounds paced the Falcons, who made just 10 of 23 free throws.
 
Looney's Ledger
Ryan Looney is in his third season and has directed Seattle Pacific to postseason berths in each of three campaigns. His SPU record is 66-22 (.750). The Falcons were 20-10 last year and upset fifth-ranked Central Washington in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Looney led SPU to a 22-6 record in 2010 and became the first coach to direct the Falcons to a league title in his inaugural season. He was voted the 2010 GNAC Coach of the Year. Looney, who led alma mater Eastern Oregon University to the quarterfinals of the 2009 NAIA Division II Tournament, was hired May 26, 2009 as the coach at SPU. He won his opening nine games on the SPU sidelines, the first coach to win more than his first three for the Falcons. Looney, 36, has a 161-77 (.676) career record, including a 95-55 record in five seasons with Eastern Oregon. He directed EOU to back-to-back NAIA Tournament appearances in 2008 and 2009.
 
20 for 20
The Falcons reached the 20-win plateau for the sixth time in the last eight years. SPU registered 20 victories in a season for the 20th time in school history.
 
Big Men on Campus: In their second season at SPU, Division I transfers Andy Poling (6-11, Gonzaga) and Modou Niang (6-10, Utah State) are the tallest tandem in SPU history. Poling is a Sporting News honorable mention preseason All-American.
 
Tropical Tour
The Seattle Pacific men got an early jump on the basketball season with a six-day trip to Nassau, Bahamas from Sept. 10-16. The Falcons swept three professional teams from the New Providence Basketball Association (NPBA). They won 96-63 over the two-time defending league champion Commonwealth Giants, defeated the league runner-up Real Deal Shockers 75-52 and beat the Mailboat Cybots 93-51. Andy Poling averaged a double-double on the trip, with 19.3 points and 11.3 rebounds.
 
Giant Killers
Seattle Pacific is an NCAA Division II competitor that won three of its last four games against Division I opponents, all of them road exhibitions. The Falcons, who were 69-68 victors at Arizona on Oct. 27, defeated Eastern Washington (87-82) and Nevada (84-81) on the road in last season's exhibition contests. SPU lost 77-60 at Washington on Nov. 4. This year's two encounters increase to 18 the number of Division I foes the Falcons have faced during the last eight seasons.