Box Score              • Final Stats     |     • VIDEO: Mitch Penner

SEATTLE – Ryan Looney's 100th coaching victory at Seattle Pacific came when his team started playing like they did in the other 99 wins.
 
Mitch Penner scored 13 of his 17 points during the second half Thursday as 16th-ranked Seattle Pacific rallied for a 73-54 win over Northwest Nazarene in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball opener for both teams at Brougham Pavilion.
 
Looney became the fourth coach in school history to reach the 100-win mark, improving his five-year Falcons record to 100-30. He hit the century mark faster than any of his predecessors, doing so in his 130th game.
 
To be honest I don't think it's something that I ever really think about. It's just a testament to consistency," said Looney, who directed the Falcons into the playoffs in each of his first five seasons. They advanced to the last two NCAA Division II West Regional championship games
 
"When you get into coaching, you don't fully understand what it's all about. The longer and longer you do it, you feel like the number one most important trait is stamina.
 
"So, to be able to weather all the storms you have to go through and get to coach and work with outstanding people, it allows you to get to a number like that quicker."
 
Previously the quickest to 100 wins on the SPU sidelines was current Washington State coach Ken Bone who took 146 games to reach that milestone in his sixth season with the Falcons.
 


Looney's 100th victory didn't come easy.
 
The Falcons (8-2) trailed by as many as 10 points late in the first half before sandwiching a 15-2 run around halftime. They registered the final six points of the first half and then outscored NNU 9-2 to start the second.
 
"At halftime, we challenged our players to play with a little more effort and toughness," Looney described. "In the second half, for the first time all year we found out who we are. We held NNU to 32 percent from the floor, nine percent from three and we outrebounded them by nine.
 
"That's who we are and what we've been every year since I've been here. We have been struggling to find that until tonight."
 
Penner nailed a 3-pointer 1:51 into the second half that put SPU ahead for good at 34-33. After the Crusaders slowed the Falcons run with a jumper by Michael Loomis, Penner made back-to-back layups to extend the lead to 40-35.
 
The 6-foot-5 sophomore forward tallied the final five of a nine-point run that provided a 55-45 Falcons advantage with 6:13 remaining.
 
A product of Seattle's Kennedy High School, Penner has posted some productive outings. He scored a career-high 22 points a week ago, but also has seven single-digit scoring games.
 
"He's young and has been extremely up-and-down to this point," Looney said. "In all reality, for us to be great we need the Mitch Penner that we got tonight. For him, the challenge is being able to string consecutive games together."
 
SPU compiled its final 18 points on six 3-pointers during the final 5:24, increasing the margin to 19 at the end.
 
Patrick Simon, who hit four consecutive treys during that late spree, led the Falcons with 19 points. The senior forward made 6 of 10 attempts from beyond the arc one week after draining a school-record 10 treys in a win against San Francisco State.
 
Loomis scored 21 points to pace the Crusaders (1-6), who also got 10 from Derek Isaak.
 
The Falcons shot 59 percent (16 of 27) after halftime while limiting NNU to 32 percent (9 of 28) from the field and just 1 of 11 from 3-point range.
 
The opening 12 minutes saw four ties and four lead changes with neither team going ahead by more than three points.
 
The Crusaders trailed by two before a run of 11 unanswered points put them ahead 28-19 with 4:39 left in the first half. Loomis started the surge with a jumper and capped it with consecutive 3-pointers.
 
That lead grew to 10 points before SPU scored the final six points of the half. David Downs drove the length of the floor and made a layup at the buzzer to bring the Falcons within 31-27.
 
Each team shot 39 percent (12 of 31) in the first half, but the Crusaders made seven 3-pointers to just three for SPU.
 
The Falcons remain at home to host Northwest rival Central Washington on Saturday at 7 p.m. The game features a matchup of two of the league's premier players.
 
CWU's Mark McLaughlin leads the GNAC with a 28.0-point scoring average and SPU's David Downs was voted the Preseason Player of the Year by the conference coaches.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
at (#16) Seattle Pacific 73, Northwest Nazarene 54
 
NORTHWEST NAZARENE (1-6, 0-1)
Rima 4-8 0-0 8, Moore 1-9 0-0 3, Amey 1-7 0-0 2, Hering 2-5 1-2 7, Loomis 8-17 2-2 21, Isaak 4-8 0-0 10, Olivier 1-2 1-1 3, Van Beuren 0-0 0-0 0, Damon 0-1 0-0 0, Perryman 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-59 4-5 54.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (8-2, 1-0)
Borton 3-7 1-2 8, Simon 6-12 1-2 19, Hutsen 4-11 0-1 8, Downs 3-6 0-0 7, Stockton 3-9 0-0 6, Penner 6-9 5-5 17, Parker 1-1 0-0 3, Carroll 1-2 0-0 3, Rasmussen 1-1 0-0 2, Ehlers 0-0 0-0 0, Hamlin 0-0 0-0 0, Todd 0-0 0-0 0, Morse 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-58 7-10 73.
 
Northwest Nazarene............   31   23  -   54
Seattle Pacific...............   27   46  -   73

3-point goals--NNU 8-30 (Loomis 3-10, Hering 2-5, Isaak 2-5, Moore 1-6, Damon 0-1, Perryman 0-2, Amey 0-1), SPU 10-24 (Simon 6-10, Borton 1-3, Carroll 1-1, Downs 1-4, Parker 1-1, Stockton 0-4, Penner 0-1). Fouled out--NNU-None, SPU-None. Rebounds--NNU 31 (Rima 9), SPU 40 (Simon 6). Assists--NNU 10 (Amey 4), SPU 18 (Downs, Stockton 5). Total fouls--NNU 10, SPU 10. Technical fouls--NNU-None, SPU-None. Att-394.

 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Central Washington at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Dec. 7, 7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.