Box Score      • Final Stats
     • VIDEO: Coach Ryan Looney     |     • VIDEO: Senior Night Ceremony

SEATTLE – David Downs scored 31 of his 33 points during the second half Saturday to ignite a rally from 19 points down, but 13th-ranked Seattle Pacific eventually lost 72-70 in overtime to Montana State Billings on a buzzer-beating putback by Marc Matthews.
 
The loss prevented the Falcons (22-5) from clinching the Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season championship. They have a 13-3 league ledger with two games remaining.
 
SPU saw its 11-game winning streak stopped and suffered its first home setback in nine game against league opponents at Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Yellowjackets (12-12) leveled their GNAC record to 8-8. They drew a split of the season series, gaining revenge on the SPU squad that escaped Billings with a 92-87 double-overtime decision on Jan. 25.
 
Downs was scoreless for the opening 23 minutes of Saturday's game and then amassed 33 during the remaining 22 minutes. His short jumper with seven seconds left to play in regulation gave the Falcons their first lead of the game at 66-65.
 
MSUB's Chase Miller was fouled underneath the basket with 1.8 seconds showing on the clock and hit the second of two free throws to force overtime.
 
SPU missed all five of its shots and trailed the entire overtime before Patrick Simon converted the first of two free throws to even the score 70-70 with 15.2 seconds remaining.
 
The Yellowjackets' Jonathan Mesghna missed a jumper, but Matthews grabbed the rebound in the lane and immediately tossed in a five foot shot as time expired.
 


"I'm proud of our guys for being able to fight back, but Montana State Billings definitely deserved to win that game," said SPU coach Ryan Looney. "They played with a lot of passion tonight. They were a little more hungry than our team was.
 
"Without question. We didn't deserve to win the game. We kind of got away from everything we do both offensively and defensively for 32 of the (45) minutes tonight."
 
Downs hit 10 of 21 shots and 11 of 12 free throws en route to his third 30-point game of the season.
 
"He was very good" Looney said of his senior point guard. "Because of the deficit we had, we needed to force tempo and play a little bit differently than we normally do. Because of it, he probably got a little bit more opportunity in a short amount of time than he normally does."
 
Downs was the only Falcon in double figures as Matt Borton was the next-highest scorer with nine points.
 
Devon Wallace led MSUB with 17 points and Mesghna had 15 while Matthews and Austin Hudson each chipped in 13 points.
 
Billings shot 49 percent (28 of 57) and made 8 of 16 shots from 3-point range while frustrating SPU into its poorest shooting game of the season. The Falcons shot 34 percent (22 of 64) and made just 4 of 19 treys.
 
"We relaxed. We didn't move the ball offensively and share it like we normally do," Looney explained. "Because of it we weren't getting as good of shots as maybe we have on other nights in the past. When that's the case we're not going to shoot it as well."
 
MSUB made its first four shots after halftime, capped by a 3-pointer by Matthews that provided its largest lead at 42-23 with 17:01 left in the game.
 
Downs, who was scoreless up to that point, amassed 19 points during the next eight minutes. His layup with 8:55 remaining drew the hosts within 52-49. But Billings scored the next nine points, stretching the margin to 61-49.
 
The Falcons closed the second half with a 15-3 surge, with the final eight points coming from Downs.
 
In the first half, SPU trailed just 15-12 when Borton hit the team's lone 3-pointer of the half with 7:41 on the clock.
 
Billings responded with a 17-5 run, fueled by four 3-pointers, to claim a 32-17 lead with 8.3 seconds left in the first half.
 
A driving baseline layup and free throw by Borton after being fouled with 1.8 seconds left brought the Falcons within 32-20 at halftime. That was seven points fewer than they scored in any other half this season.
 
SPU was limited to 23-percent shooting (7 of 30) and made just 1 of 9 shots from 3-point range. Senior leading scorers Downs and Simon were scoreless in the opening period.
 
The Yellowjackets countered with 55-percent first-half shooting (12 of 22), including 7 of 11 accuracy on treys. Mesghna had 13 points before intermission and hit all four of his 3-point tries.
 
 
"Obviously we're disappointed tonight, but if you look at the culmination of what they've done for us during their careers it's been unbelievable," Looney said of his standout senior duo.
 
"They're winners. They compete in all areas of their life. They're great students, good citizens and great basketball players. As a coach I couldn't have asked for two better people."
 
The Falcons finish the regular season on the road next week. They visit Central Washington on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. game before closing out the slate on Saturday versus Northwest Nazarene at 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
 
"We're going to have to get ourselves reorganized, stick together and be able to win two in tough environments," Looney said of the Falcons pursuit of their fifth GNAC title.
 
Western Washington is in second place with a 12-4 league record, one game behind. Because SPU swept both games from the Vikings, any victory or WWU loss secures the No. 1 seed for the GNAC Tournament and at least a tie for the regular-season conference championship. Any combination of two Falcons wins and Western defeats clinches the GNAC crown outright.
 
The Vikings defeated Central Washington 94-91 at home Saturday night on a halfcourt shot by Richard Woodworth as the final horn sounded.



 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.

Montana State Billings 72, at #13 Seattle Pacific 70 (ot)

MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (12-12, 8-8 GNAC)
Mesghna 5-13 1-2 15, Hudson 6-10 1-1 13, Hatcher 2-5 0-0 4, Wallace 7-13 2-4 17, Matthews 5-9 2-3 13, Donaldson 2-3 0-0 5, Miller 1-3 0-0 3, Nelson 0-0 2-2 2, Desin 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-57 8-12 72.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (22-5, 13-3 GNAC)
Borton 3-9 2-3 9, Simon 1-7 1-2 4, Hutsen 2-7 1-2 5, Downs 10-21 11-12 33, Stockton 1-8 3-6 5, Carroll 3-7 2-2 8, Penner 1-3 2-5 4, Todd 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 22-64 22-32 70.

MSU Billings..................   32   34    6  -   72
Seattle Pacific...............   20   46    4  -   70

3-point goals--MSUB 8-16 (Mesghna 4-6, Matthews 1-2, Donaldson 1-1, Wallace 1-2, Miller 1-3, Desin 0-1, Hatcher 0-1), SPU 4-19 (Downs 2-7, Borton 1-4, Simon 1-5, Stockton 0-2, Carroll 0-1). Fouled out--MSUB-Hatcher, SPU-None. Rebounds--MSUB 40 (Hudson 9), SPU 36 (Stockton 9). Assists—MSUB 13 (Hatcher,Kalob 5), SPU 7 (Stockton,Riley 4). Total fouls—MSUB 24, SPU 10. Technical fouls--MSUB-Hatcher, SPU-None. Att.-654.


Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Seattle Pacific at Central Washington
Thursday, Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m. PST
Nicholson Pavilion / Ellensburg, Wash.