• Final Stats
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SEATTLE – In 118 all-time men's basketball meetings against Northwest rival Central Washington, Seattle Pacific has never been more convincing in victory.
 
David Downs scored 18 of his game-high 21 points during the first half Thursday, helping the fifth-ranked Falcons build a big early lead en route to their largest win in the all-time series with Central, a 113-75 Great Northwest Athletic Conference triumph at Brougham Pavilion.
 
Second-place SPU (18-3) improved to 11-2 in conference play. Both league losses came against GNAC leader Western Washington, the nation's second-ranked team.
 


Fourth-year coach Ryan Looney attributed his team's success to execution.
 
“Our guys were disciplined. We talked a lot about some specific things with our game plan and right from the start we were able to go out and execute them.”
 
Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) tallied eight points inside the opening five minutes as SPU built a 16-4 advantage. The junior point guard hit 6 of 9 first-half shots, including 2-for-4 accuracy from 3-point range. He played just nine minutes in the second half, making 1 of 2 attempts.
 
A run of 12 unanswered points stretched SPU's margin to 29-12 and it grew to 49-25 by halftime.
 
The Falcons lead increased to as many as 47 points before settling on the final 38-point margin. That was their most lopsided victory over the Wildcats, eclipsing the previous high of 31 points when SPU beat Central 97-66 on Jan. 18, 1964.
 
As they hit the home stretch with five regular-season games remaining, the Falcons are focusing on fine-tuning their own game.
 
“Overall for us we've been trying to fight complacency. We want to be rock solid every time we play from here until the end of the year,” Looney explained. “For us that's what it is about. It's not necessarily competing against Central Washington, but to some degree competing against ourselves too.”
 
SPU's 113-point outburst was its highest scoring output in seven seasons, since a 124-107 home win over Northwest Nazarene on Dec. 31, 2005.
 
Five Falcons reached double figures, including Andy Poling with 13, Jobi Wall and Patrick Simon with 11 apiece and Riley Stockton with 10.
 
All 13 eligible SPU players saw action. And all of them scored, including Shawn Reid (9), Brendan Carroll (9) and Josh Jordan (2) who tied or surpassed their respective career scoring highs.
 
“The way our staff has recruited we're now to the point where we feel like we have a ton of depth,” Looney said.
 
“Early in the second half Ryan Todd went down with an injury and we just went to Brendan Carroll who got more minutes tonight than he has in quite a while. He scored nine points and got three rebounds and did a good job for a freshman handling pressure. That's just one example of the balance and depth that we have.”
 
Mark McLaughlin scored 20 points to lead CWU, which also got 17 from Jordan Coby and 10 from Nate Walker.
 
Looney respects the ability of the Wildcats to score in bunches and was pleased that his team restricted their runs.
 
“We didn't want to, at any point in the game, give them momentum. Those are the situations in games where they can be really dangerous.”
 
McLaughlin was held under his league-leading 23.5-point scoring average, a figure ranked No. 7 nationally entering the game.
 
CWU (13-9) had its GNAC record evened at 7-7.
 
The Falcons shot a stellar 59 percent (40 of 68) from the field while limiting Central to 31-percent accuracy (23 of 75).
 
The Seattle Pacific men remain at home to host Northwest Nazarene on Saturday. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion as the nightcap of a doubleheader with the SPU women.
 
Looney expects an entirely different style of game Saturday.
 
“The challenge is playing NNU, which is the exact opposite type of team that we saw tonight. They are going to be slower, more methodical and they will try to execute in the half court. We're going to have to play a totally different team two days from now.”
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.
 
at (#5) Seattle Pacific 113, Central Washington 75
 
CENTRAL WASHINGTON (13-9, 7-7 GNAC)
Magee 1-4 3-4 5, D. Davis 2-7 3-3 7, Gross 0-4 3-4 3, Coby 6-11 0-0 17, McLaughlin 7-16 5-5 20, Walker 2-7 6-7 10, K. Davis 3-9 0-0 6, Roppo 1-3 0-0 3, Williams 1-10 0-0 3, Starr 0-5 1-2 1, Holmes 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-77 21-25 75.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (18-3, 11-2 GNAC)
Wall 5-9 0-1 11, Simon 4-8 1-2 11, Poling 5-10 3-9 13, Downs 7-11 4-4 21, Stockton 4-4 2-4 10, Hutsen 5-8 1-2 11, Carroll 2-2 5-6 9, Reid 4-5 0-0 9, Morse 1-4 4-4 6, Penner 0-2 6-6 6, Todd 1-2 0-0 2, Jordan 1-1 0-0 2, Weber-Brader 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 40-68 26-38 113.
 
Central Washington........  25   50   -  75
Seattle Pacific...........  49   64   - 113

3-point goals--CWU 8-25 (Coby 5-8, Roppo 1-2, Williams 1-8, McLaughlin 1-4, Magee 0-1, Gross 0-1, Walker 0-1), SPU 7-17 (Downs 3-5, Simon 2-5, Wall 1-3, Reid 1-2, Penner 0-1, Weber-Brader 0-1). Fouled out--CWU-D. Davis, SPU-None. Rebounds--CWU 39 (Walker 8), SPU 49 (Stockton 8). Assists--CWU 4 (McLaughlin 2), SPU 19 (Downs 4). Total fouls--CWU 28, SPU 22. Technical fouls--CWU-Starr 2, SPU-None. Att.-416.

 
Next Men's Basketball Game
Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Feb. 16, 7:30 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.