• Boxscore & Play-by-Play

ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Patrick Simon scored 20 points, including two pivotal baskets inside the final two minutes Saturday, to lead sixth-ranked Seattle Pacific to an 80-71 victory over Central Washington in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball game at Nicholson Pavilion.
 
“It was exactly like all of our games against Central are, extremely hard fought,” said Coach Ryan Looney, whose SPU squad won four of its last five meetings against the Wildcats.
 
The Falcons (13-2) improved to 6-1 in conference play and captured sole possession of second place in the league standings. They entered the game tied with Alaska Fairbanks, which dropped to third with a 65-60 defeat against Anchorage.
 
SPU's lone league loss was a 66-56 setback in Seattle against first-place Western Washington, which is undefeated in seven GNAC contests. The third-ranked Vikings host the rematch on Feb. 2 in Bellingham.
 
Central (10-6) had its conference record evened at 4-4.
 
Seattle Pacific gained its largest lead, at 61-50, on a layup by Andy Poling with 7:32 left to play Saturday.
 
CWU scored the next six points, all from the free throw line, to ignite a 16-5 run. Jordan Coby capped that surge on a 3-pointer with 3:02 remaining that tied the score 66-66.
 
Senior Scott Morse (Central Point, Ore.) responded with a trey with 2:28 showing on the clock that put the Falcons ahead for good with a 69-66 edge. That was just the third 3-pointer of the season for Morse.
 
“David Downs got into the paint. They gave great help, but he made a perfect play and pitched it out to a wide-open Scott Morse,” Looney described. “Scott hasn't scored a ton of points for us over his career, but somehow he always manages to hit the big ones.”
 
Central drew within 69-68 on two free throws from Coby, but Simon answered by converting a layup with 1:59 left.
 
The Wildcats final rally, that cut the deficit to 72-70, was repelled when Simon rebounded a teammate's miss and dropped it in with 46 seconds to play. SPU converted 6 of 8 free throws during the last 38 seconds to secure the win.
 
A Washington State transfer, Simon (Ephrata, Wash./Ephrata HS) scored 12 of his game-high 20 in the second half, including the Falcons' first eight points after halftime. He shot 3-for-4 from 3-point range.
 
In the first half, Simon hit a 3-pointer at 10:30 that pushed SPU ahead 16-15, erasing CWU's final lead. He netted seven of his team's nine points during that stretch.
 
“We joke around that with him on our roster we are always just one Patrick Simon little run away from being able to win a game,” said Looney. “In all reality, he gave us little spurts in both halves tonight.”
 
Poling (Portland, Ore.) contributed 14 points for SPU, which also got 12 points and nine assists from Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS). Jobi Wall (Arvada, Colo.) had 11 points.
 
GNAC scoring leader Mark McLaughlin tallied 18 points for the Wildcats, but made only 5 of 15 shots from the field. The Washington transfer entered the game scoring at a 23.7-point clip.
 
Coby finished with 12 points, Kevin Davis had 11 and Brandon Magee 10 for Central.
 
The Falcons hit 9 of 10 first-half free throws, but finished at just 65 percent (24 of 37) for the game. Second-half struggles from the line prevented them from putting the game away. They missed 11 of 21 free throws after intermission before draining 5 of their last 6 attempts.
 
In the first half, the Falcons broke a 22-22 tie with a 9-2 run. Wall nailed a 3-pointer to start the spree that red-shirt freshman Alex Weber-Brader (Olympia, Wash./Olympia HS) ended with a jumper at 3:44 that netted a 31-24 lead. They led 34-32 at halftime.
 
The SPU men return home for a pair of games next week. They entertain Western Oregon on Thursday at 7 p.m. before Saint Martin's visits Brougham Pavilion for the annual Homecoming game on Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
Those two games close out the first half of the conference schedule. It's a critical two-game homestand according to Looney, whose Falcons have a perfect 4-0 GNAC road record.
 
“We went up and were able to take care of both games up in Alaska. Central Washington is always a tough place to play and we were able to get this one as well.
 
“We need to take care of these two games at home this coming weekend and then we'll feel like we are in pretty good shape at the halfway point.”


NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013
Nicholson Pavilion/Ellensburg, Wash.

(#6) Seattle Pacific 80, at Central Washington 71

SEATTLE PACIFIC (13-2, 6-1 GNAC)
Wall 3-10 3-4 11, Simon 8-13 1-2 20, Poling 5-7 4-7 14, Downs 3-12 6-10 12, Stockton 0-1 2-2 2, Hutsen 4-9 1-4 9, Morse 1-2 3-4 6, Todd 0-1 4-4 4, Weber-Brader 1-1 0-0 2, Reid 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-56 24-37 80.

CENTRAL WASHINGTON (10-6, 4-4 GNAC)
Magee 3-9 4-4 10, McLaughlin 5-15 8-9 18, Davis 4-8 0-1 8, Holmes 1-2 0-0 3, Williams 1-4 0-0 3, Coby 3-10 5-6 12, K. Davis 4-6 3-3 11, D. Gross 1-1 0-0 3, Starr 0-3 2-2 2, Walker 0-5 1-4 1, Roppo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-63 23-29 71.

Seattle Pacific........  34   46  -  80
Central Washington.....  32   39  -  71

3-point goals--SPU 6-11 (Simon 3-4, Wall 2-4, Morse 1-1, Downs 0-2), CWU 4-16 (Gross 1-1, Coby 1-6, Williams 1-2, Holmes 1-2, Starr 0-1, Walker 0-2, McLaughlin 0-2). Fouled out--SPU-None, CWU-Magee, Starr. Rebounds--SPU 42 (Wall 8), CWU 38 (Magee 10). Assists--SPU 14 (Downs 9), CWU 11 (Starr 3). Total fouls--SPU 24, CWU 29. Technical fouls--SPU-None, CWU-None. Att-1,528.


Next Men's Basketball Game
Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Jan. 24, 7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.