• Final Stats
     • VIDEO: Post-Game Press Conference

LACEY, Wash. –- Patrick Simon tallied eight of his 17 points during the final 1:10 Friday, helping second-seeded Seattle Pacific defeat No. 6 seed Central Washington 85-78 in the in the semifinal round of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament at Marcus Pavilion.
 
The third-ranked Falcons (24-3) advance to the GNAC championship game and will meet top seed Western Washington (27-1). The second-ranked Vikings beat Alaska Fairbanks 61-43 in the other semifinal matchup.
 
Saturday's championship game will be televised live at 7:30 p.m. on ROOT SPORTS. The tournament champion receives the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Division II Tournament.
 


Central (15-13) tied the score 74-74 on a layup by Mark McLaughlin with 2:12 left to play. SPU quickly reclaimed the lead for good on a free throw by David Downs 18 seconds later.
 
On the Falcons next trip down the floor, after a CWU turnover, Simon rebounded a missed shot by teammate Alex Weber-Brader and tipped it in to increase the margin to 77-74 with 1:10 remaining.
 
“I was in the right spot,” said Simon, a 6-foot-8 junior forward who transferred from Washington State before this season. “I crashed the glass and my man kind of turned his head and left me open for the rebound to kind of turn the tide with a minute left.”


Simon entered the game shooting 45 percent from 3-point range, getting nearly half of his baskets on treys. On Friday he hit one trey in just two attempts, but made four big baskets nearer to the hoop.
 
“When people in basketball think about Patrick Simon, they think of him as a shooter. He does an unbelievable job shooting it from the 3-point line,” said SPU coach Ryan Looney. “In the first half Central's plan was to chase him off of the three. Pat showed a lot tonight in regards to the development of his game.
 
“In the second half he found a way to get himself some twos on the block or some offensive rebound put-backs. Tonight he became a more complete player on offense.”
 
Downs finished with 18 points and 11 assists to pace the Falcons, who also got 15 points from Jobi Wall and 10 apiece from centers Andy Poling and Cory Hutsen.
 
Wall did all of his scoring before halftime. He made 6 of 7 shots from the field in the first half, including 3 of 4 accuracy on 3-pointers. As a team, the Falcons made 6 of 9 shots from behind the arc in the opening 20 minutes.
 
SPU shot a sizzling 69 percent (18 of 26) in the first half and finished at 56 percent (29 of 52) for the game.
 
The Wildcats also shot well, becoming the first opponent to top the 50-percent plateau against SPU this season. They made 26 of 49 shots to finish at 53 percent.
 
“We anticipated that every game that we play from here down the stretch is going to be a lot like tonight,” Looney said. “Central Washington made us look a little bit silly on defense. We normally pride ourselves on what we can accomplish on that end of the floor and our rebounding too. We didn't do a very good job in either of those areas.”
 
The Falcons swept all three meetings this season, including an 80-71 decision in Ellensburg and a 113-75 rout on Feb. 14 in Seattle that was their widest margin of victory ever against Central.
 
Three consecutive layups staked SPU to an early 6-1 lead on Friday. The Wildcats rallied and tied the score on three occasions, the last at 29-29 on a high banking shot by Dom Williams with 5:02 left in the first half.
 
After two exchanges of points, Downs started a 10-2 surge with a 3-pointer. Another Downs trey capped the run that gave SPU a 44-35 lead with 1:11 left in the period.
 
Kevin Davis grabbed a rebound and layed the ball in to draw CWU within 44-37 at halftime.
 
Trailing 47-39 early in the second half, the Wildcats netted nine unanswered points to claim their first lead since 1-0. Brandon Magee got a three-point play on a layup and free throw followed by 3-pointers by Jordan Coby and Dom Williams to provide a 48-47 edge with 15:37 left to play.
 
Hutsen quickly put SPU back in front with a short shot that was goal-tended and the lead changed hands eight times in a three-minute span.
 
SPU led by as many as eight points before a 10-2 run, capped by McLaughlin's layup, evened the score at 74-74.
 
Coby scored 14 points for CWU while Williams added 12 and Davis 10.
 
The Falcons now turn their attention to Western Washington, which dealt two of their three losses. The Vikings won 66-56 on Jan. 3 in Seattle and then were 83-76 overtime victors on Feb. 2 in Bellingham. SPU held a late lead in that game, but missed seven straight free throws that enabled Western to rally.
 
Since that game, the Falcons have reeled off eight straight victories, the longest active winning streak among GNAC teams.
 
“We have hoped all year that we could get another crack at Western Washington,” Looney said of a highly anticipated rematch with the defending national champion.
 
“We did everything the way we needed to in that last game, except we didn't make free throws. If we made even one more free throw we would have come out of there with a win.”
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
GNAC Tournament -- Semifinal
Friday, Mar. 8, 2013
Marcus Pavilion/Lacey, Wash.
 
(#3) Seattle Pacific 85, Central Washington 78
 
CENTRAL WASHINGTON (15-13)
Walker 2-4 4-4 8, Magee 3-3 1-1 7, Coby 5-10 1-4 14, Williams 5-10 0-0 12, McLaughlin 6-15 12-12 25, Davis 4-5 2-4 10, Starr 1-2 0-0 2, Holmes 0-0 0-0 0, Roppo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-49 20-25 78.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (24-3)
Wall 6-9 0-0 15, Simon 5-9 6-6 17, Poling 4-6 2-6 10, Downs 6-13 3-4 18, Stockton 2-3 1-2 5, Hutsen 3-7 4-8 10, Weber-Brader 2-4 4-4 8, Todd 1-1 0-0 2, Morse 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-52 20-30 85.
 
Central Washington........  37   41   -  78
Seattle Pacific...........  44   41   -  85
 
3-point goals-CWU 6-13 (Coby 3-5, Williams 2-4, McLaughlin 1-3, Davis 0-1), SPU 7-15 (Downs 3-7, Wall 3-5, Simon 1-2, Stockton 0-1). Fouled out--CWU-Walker, SPU-None. Rebounds-CWU 24 (Davis 7), SPU 30 (Stockton 8). Assists-CWU 9 (Williams 4), SPU 18 (Downs 11). Total fouls-CWU 22, SPU 19. Att.-810.
 
 
NEXT GAME
GNAC Tournament Championship Game
Seattle Pacific vs. Western Washington
Saturday, March 9, 7:30 p.m. (ROOT Sports TV)
Marcus Pavilion/Lacey, Wash.