• Box score, play-by-play
        • VIDEO: Coach Ryan Looney

SEATTLE – The rematch between the top-10 ranked Northwest rivals looked very similar to the last meeting.
 
Paul Jones scored 16 points, including Western Washington's final six of the game, as the No. 5-ranked and defending national champion Vikings beat No. 7 Seattle Pacific 66-56 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball showdown on Thursday night in front of 2,058 fans at Brougham Pavilion.
 
Western Washington (11-0, 2-0 GNAC) now has won 17 straight games, dating back to the start of last year's NCAA Division II Tournament. That is just one short of the all-time conference record of 18 straight, set by Alaska Anchorage from 2007-08.
 
Junior forward Patrick Simon (Ephrata, Wash. / Ephrata HS) led SPU (9-2, 2-1 GNAC) with 12 points, and senior forward Jobi Wall (Arvada, Colo.) added 11.
 


Cory Hutsen provided SPU with its last lead, at 22-21, on a layup with 6:43 left in the first half. The Falcons did not score again, missing their final eight shots before halftime.
 
WWU capitalized on the Falcons drought, closing the period with 10 unanswered points. Jones tallied six points during the run that gave a 31-22 halftime advantage to the Vikings, who stayed in front the rest of the night.
 
Western pushed its margin to as many as 13 on two occasions during the second half, the last time at 47-34 with 12:10 left in the game. SPU cut it to five at 60-55 when Wall drained the first of two free throws at the 2:36 mark.
 
But Jones scored the game's next six points to clinch it for the Vikings. He hit a shot off a spinning move in the lane, followed by a fade-away jumper, and then made a pair of free throws that pushed the WWU margin to 66-55 with 1:27 remaining.
 
Chris Mitchell and Richard Woodworth added 10 points apiece for Western, which shot 46 percent from the field (26 of 57).
 
“There was a lid on the basket all night,” Looney said of his Falcons, who were limited to a season-low 30 percent shooting (18 of 60).
 
“Tonight we learned how hard you have to play to be a champion. They played with more toughness. They got to some offensive rebounds we don't normally give up. It seemed like every loose ball they were coming up with it. When they needed a big basket, they got a second-chance opportunity.”
 
The Falcons had a 43-37 rebounding edge on the boards, led by the eight apiece of Simon and sophomore guard Riley Stockton (Spokane, Wash. / Ferris HS).
 
Western's Cameron Severson came off the bench for a game-high 10 boards, to go along with nine points.
 
The Vikings registered their fourth straight victory in the series, while stopping SPU's 12-game home winning streak.
 
“To be honest, the last four times we've played them now has basically been a carbon copy of this game. We need to find a way to fix it,” Looney said.
 
“At the end of the day I hope we can grow and learn how hard you have to play to win games like this.”
 
The much-anticipated game was the first between the GNAC rivals since they met in the NCAA West Regional championship game on March 12 in Bellingham. The Vikings held SPU to a season-low 28-percent shooting to win that one 56-50 on their way to the national title.
 
Thursday's rematch was tied just once, and had five lead changes. Western led for the final 27 minutes after SPU had not trailed at all in its last two outings.
 
Seattle Pacific kept the Vikings 26 points below their 92.8 average that ranks No. 4 in all of D-2. That included putting the brakes on senior guard John Allen, who came in averaging a team-high 18.4 points per game, but tallied just eight on 4-of-14 shooting.
 
However, the Falcons scored 18 points below their 74.7 per-game average.
 
About the only thing Looney was happy about was the home crowd that was the largest in his four seasons at SPU.
 
“Unbelievable atmosphere. It's great that so many people came out to see our team. I hope that we can continue to get them back in the building because I know our team will play better next time out.”
 
The Seattle Pacific men return to action Saturday night at home against Simon Fraser at 7 p.m.


NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.
 
(#5) Western Washington 66, (#7) Seattle Pacific 56
 
WESTERN WASHINGTON (11-0, 2-0 GNAC)
Jones 6-11 4-4 16, Bragg 3-6 1-2 8, Mitchell 4-7 1-2 10, Woodworth4-10 2-2 10, Allen 4-14 0-0 8, Severson 3-4 2-2 9, Wilkins 1-3 0-1 3, Turner 1-2 0-0 2, Thorpe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 10-13 66.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (9-2, 2-1 GNAC)
Wall 3-12 3-4 11, Simon 4-9 3-5 12, Poling 3-11 3-4 9, Downs 2-10 3-4 8, Stockton 1-5 4-6 6, Weber-Brader 2-5 0-0 4, Hutsen 2-6 0-0 4, Morse 1-2 0-0 2, Reid 0-0 0-0 0, Todd 0-0 0-0 0, Carroll 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-60 16-23 56.
 
Western Washington.....  31   35  -  66
Seattle Pacific........  22   34  -  56
 
3-point goals--WWU 4-18 (Mitchell 1-4, Bragg 1-3, Severson 1-1, Wilkins 1-2, Allen 0-4, Woodworth 0-2, Jones 0-2), SPU 4-19 (Wall 2-7, Downs 1-5, Simon 1-3, Weber-Brader 0-1, Stockton 0-3). Fouled out--WWU-None, SPU-None. Rebounds--WWU 37 (Severson 10), SPU 43 (Simon 8, Stockton 8). Assists--WWU 10 (Woodworth 5), SPU 12 (Stockton 5). Total fouls--WWU 16, SPU 16. Technical fouls--WWU-None, SPU-None. Att.--2,058.
 
Next Men's Basketball Game
Simon Fraser at (#7) Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Jan. 3, 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.