• Final Stats
     • VIDEO: Post-Game Press Conference

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – A fantastic season ended in familiar fashion for the Falcons.
 
Richard Woodworth scored 15 points and hit both ends of a one-and-one with 7.7 seconds left on Tuesday night to help fourth-ranked Western Washington beat No. 2 Seattle Pacific 62-58 in the NCAA Division II West Regional men's basketball championship game.
 
Seattle Pacific (27-4) came up short of the host Vikings in the regional final for the second straight season. They were 56-50 victims a year ago on the same Carver Gymnasium court.
 
“It stings. In the format of the tournament it's tough,” fourth-year coach Ryan Looney said of his Falcons consecutive region final setbacks at WWU.
 
“I truly believe Western and ourselves are two of the top teams in the country. It was a great job by them and they get to advance. But I know what our guys have put into this year as well and we deserve to be playing longer than we are.”
 


Teams from the West have thrived recently on the national stage with the regional winner reaching the championship game in each of the last four seasons. The West Region produced the national champion in two of the last four seasons with Western Washington winning last year and Cal Poly Pomona in 2010.
 
The Vikings (30-2), top seeded in the West, head to the Elite Eight in Louisville, Ky., for a chance to collect their second straight national title. The have a quarterfinal meeting with eighth-ranked Florida Southern, the South Region winner.
 
Tuesday's loss ends the Falcons season and their 11-game winning streak.
 
This year's SPU team equaled the school's single-season win total of 27 established in 2000. They registered the highest winning percentage in the 70-year history of the program, an 87.1-percent figure that topped the previous standard of 84.4% by that 2000 team that was 27-5.
 
“These guys deserve everything that happened to them this year up to this point,” Looney said. “I think we talked about consistency and hard work and being able to bring it every single day and I can honestly say they did. We didn't have too many moments where we weren't giving our best effort every single day.
 
“During my time coaching at SPU, this will be the group that will always be remembered by me that got the culture of the program to where I would like it to be.”
 
The Falcons were down 60-58, but had the ball with 15.5 seconds left in the game. After they brought it into the front court, Western's Rico Wilkins poked it away from behind SPU guard Riley Stockton, and Woodworth recovered. He was fouled and drained both subsequent free throws for a 62-58 advantage.
 
Woodworth was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. The all-tournament team featured Falcons Jobi Wall and Patrick Simon.
 
SPU's David Downs got off a long 3-pointer as time was running out, but it missed, and the loose ball rolled on the floor under the hoop as the buzzer sounded.
 
Cameron Severson added 14 points for WWU, and Anye Turner had 10.
 
The game was tied 49-49 before Turner scored the next nine Vikings points. His dunk with 2:29 left to play put Western ahead for good at 58-57. It followed a 3-pointer by Simon at 2:56 that provided SPU's final lead of 57-56.
 
Simon led the Falcons with 14 points and also handed out five assists. Wall added 11, and Andy Poling and Cory Hutsen chipped in 10 apiece.
 
The game was tied seven times, and the lead changed hands 10 times.
 
In the opening 20 minutes, SPU capitalized on nine Vikings turnovers to lead 29-28 at halftime.
 
The Falcons used a 10-3 spurt, fueled by five points from Hutsen, to go ahead 18-10 with 10:37 left in the first half. That was their largest lead of the game.
 
Western set the halftime margin on a tip-in by Cameron Severson with 1:01 on the clock and had a chance to take the lead, but couldn't get a shot off before the 35-second clock expired. The Falcons had two attempts to extend their lead, but went into the locker room with that one-point advantage.
 
The first half was tied just once, and the lead changed hands three times – all in the first two minutes of the game.
 
Woodworth kept WWU close, hitting 5 of 6 shots before halftime, including all three of his 3-point attempts. He had 13 points by intermission.
 
The Falcons participated in the NCAA Tournament for the ninth consecutive season, the longest current streak among Division II men's basketball teams. They won their opening-round game for the 19th time in 24 all-time playoff appearances, defeating Grand Canyon 85-59 on Friday. SPU was a 67-54 victor over fifth-ranked Cal Poly Pomona in Monday's regional semifinal.
 
Seattle Pacific will return three starters next season, including leading scorer David Downs. The junior point guard is a two-time selection on the All-GNAC first team. He led the league with 170 assists.
 
Also returning in 2013-14 will be guard Riley Stockton, the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year. The 6-foot-4 guard led the conference with an average of 7.5 rebounds per game.
 
Three seniors played their final game in the maroon of SPU: Scott Morse, Andy Poling and Jobi Wall.
 
“They have done a great job for us,” Looney said. “Look at Andy Poling, who's over a 1,000 point scorer for us. He really provided us with a presence in the post the last three years. Scott Morse, the whole entire time he was on our team was one of our better defenders. Jobi Wall will always be remembered as a guy who helped change the culture in our locker room.”

NCAA DIVISION II MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
West Region Championship Game
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Carver Gymnasium/Bellingham, Wash.
 
Western Washington 62, Seattle Pacific 58
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (27-4)
Wall 4-11 2-4 3, Simon 5-10 2-2 14, Poling 4-7 2-9 10, Downs 2-8 0-0 6, Stockton 3-6 0-0 7, Todd 0-0 0-0 0, Morse 0-1 0-0 0, Hutsen 4-11 2-4 10. Totals 22-54 8-19 58.
 
WESTERN WASHINGTON (30-2)
Jones 3-5 0-0 6, Bragg 0-1 1-2 1, Mitchell 3-6 0-1 7, Woodworth 5-8 2-2 15, Allen 3-7 0-0 6, Wilkins 1-4 0-0 3, Turner 3-5 4-6 10, Severson 7-10 0-0 14. Totals 25-45 7-11 62.
 
Seattle Pacific..........   29   29  -  58
Western Washington.......   28   34  -  62
 
3-point goals – SPU 6-17 (Wall 1-4, Simon 2-5, Downs 2-5, Stockton 1-2, Morse 0-1), WWU 5-12 (Mitchell 1-3, Woodworth 3-5, Allen 0-1, Wilkins 0-1).  Fouled out –  None. Rebounds – SPU 32 (Stockton 8), WWU 26 (Mitchell 8). Assists – SPU 14 (Simon 5, Stockton 5), WWU 15 (Severson 4). Turnovers – SPU 10, WWU 13. Total fouls – SPU 14, WWU 17. Technical fouls – None. Attendance – 2,521.