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2014 NCAA DIVISION II MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
West Regional • Cousoullis Arena • San Bernardino, Calif.
• Webcasts & Livestats:
http://csusbathletics.com/sports/2014/3/10/MBB_0310142635.aspx?id=100
 
Friday, March 14 (First Round)
Game 1 – (#6) Dixie State vs. (#3) Cal Poly Pomona, 12:00 pm
Game 2 – (#7) Cal State Stanislaus vs. (#2) Seattle Pacific, 2:30 pm
Game 3 – (#5) California Baptist vs. (#4) Chico State, 5:00 pm
Game 4 – (#8) Chaminade vs. (#1) Cal State San Bernardino, 7:30 pm
 
Saturday, March 15 (Regional Semifinals)
Game 5 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 5:00 pm
Game 6 – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 7:30 pm
 
Monday, March 17 (Regional Championship)
Game 7 – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 7:00 pm
 
For the first time in 12 years, Seattle Pacific begins its playoff journey in Southern California. The newly crowned Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament champion Falcons (26-5), winners in 15 of their last 16 outings, drew the West Region's No. 2 seed for their 10th consecutive foray into NCAA Tournament. That is the longest current streak among Division II men's basketball programs. The 11th-ranked SPU men have a first-round matchup against No. 7 seed Cal State Stanislaus on Friday, Mar. 14 at 2:30 p.m. in Coussoulis Arena on the Cal State San Bernardino campus. The Warriors (21-8) won their last seven games. They finished fourth in the regular-season standings before storming through the CCAA Tournament with three consecutive victories, capped by an 82-70 title-game triumph over Chico State. SPU owns a 3-1 series edge against Stanislaus and the two schools have not met in men's basketball since 1993.
 
West Region Field
The SPU-Cal State Stanislaus victor advances to Saturday's semifinals for a 5 p.m. matchup against the first-round winner between third-seeded Cal Poly Pomona (21-6) and No. 6 Dixie State (21-6). The other half of the bracket has No. 4 seed Chico State (22-7) squaring off with No. 5 California Baptist (24-3). The winner of that game will meet the survivor of the No. 1 San Bernardino (23-4) vs. No. 8 Chaminade (19-12) clash. The regional championship game is Monday, Mar. 17 at 7 p.m. in San Bernardino.
 
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Lone League Entry
Conference regular-season and tournament winner SPU is the lone representative from the GNAC, the first time the league has been limited to one NCAA berth. The GNAC provided both West Region finalists in each of the last two years.
 
NCAA Format
The NCAA Division II Tournament features a 64-team field broken into eight regionals comprised of eight teams from that geographic area. Each of the region champions earn a trip to the Elite Eight at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. The national quarterfinals are set for Mar. 26 with the semifinals on Mar. 27. The NCAA Division II championship game will be televised live on CBS on Mar. 29 at noon Pacific Time. Drury captured the 2013 Division II crown with a 74-73 victory over Metro State.
 
GNAC Title
SPU became the second team to win both the GNAC regular-season and tournament championships, joining Central Washington (2011). The Falcons finished with a 15-3 record to secure their fifth GNAC regular-season championship since the league was formed in 2002. SPU won its second straight GNAC Tournament title with a 65-62 win over Western Washington.
 
Scouting Cal State Stanislaus (21-8)
> The seventh-seeded Warriors, from Turlock, Calif., won their last seven games. They are making their inaugural NCAA Division II Tournament appearance.
 
> Stanislaus was a surprise winner of the California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament, beating Cal State L.A., Cal State San Bernardino and Chico State after finishing fourth in the regular-season standings with a 14-8 league ledger.
 
> The Warriors feature 6-foot-9 senior Marcus Bell, a first-team All-CCAA center who averages 17.7 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. Bell is a transfer from Idaho where he was a teammate with Seattle Pacific's Matt Borton.
 
> The Falcons own a 3-1 edge in series that resumes for the first time since Dec. 14, 1992 when they beat Stanislaus 85-65 in Seattle. SPU also won 87-78 at home on Jan 27, 1991. The Warriors were 88-80 home winners Dec. 4, 1989 and lost the first meeting 71-58 on Jan 30, 1976 in Seattle.
 
> In his fifth year at SPU, Ryan Looney has never coach against Stanislaus.
 
Junior guard Riley Stockton is the nephew of NBA Hall of Fame point guard John Stockton, who distributed a record 15,806 assists during his 19-season career with the Utah Jazz (1984-2003). The 2013 GNAC Defensive Player of the Year, Riley Stockton prepped at Ferris High School in Spokane, Wash. The 6-foot-4 guard last year became the shortest player to lead the GNAC in rebounding at 7.5 boards per game.
 
Straight Shooters
The Falcons rank No. 8 nationally in field goal accuracy at 50.4 percent. That figure includes a 42.4-percent mark on 3-pointers that is the nation's second best. Among the finest NCAA Division II 3-point shooters, the Falcons' Patrick Simon ranks No. 1 (51.0%) and David Downs is No. 5 (47.3%). SPU reached the 50-percent field goal mark on 15 occasions and outshot opponents 24 times. The Falcons fantastic shooting was dynamically on display in a Nov. 29 win over San Francisco State. Led by Simon's single-game school-record 10 makes (on 12 attempts) behind the arc, they combined to hit a remarkable 19 of 24 treys.
 
SPU senior David Downs is a preseason All-American and was voted the GNAC Player of the Year. The 6-foot-2 point guard is averaging a team-high 20.2 points and 4.7 assists. A three-time, first-team all-conference selection, Downs was the MVP of the last two GNAC Tournaments after leading the Falcons to back-to-back championships. He is shooting 47.3 percent (79 of 167) from 3-point range to rank No. 5 nationally. Downs poured in a career-high 36 points against 24th-ranked Western Washington on Feb. 15 and tallied 31 of his 33 in the second half versus MSU Billings on Feb. 22. Downs distributed 144 dimes this season to become just the second player in school history to compile four 100-assist seasons (Robin Marshall, 1980-83).
 
Falcons Fast Fact
SPU is within one victory of the school single-season record of 27 wins established in 2000 and tied last year.
 
Bernardino Bound
For the first time since 2008, SPU will leave the state of Washington to start the playoffs. The West Regional was conducted four times in Bellingham during that span and in Ellensburg in 2011. The 2008 West playoffs were held in Anchorage, Alaska. The last time the West Regional was contested in California was 2007 when Humboldt State hosted in Arcata. The Falcons last trip to San Bernardino for the playoffs came in 2002 and they advanced to the regional semifinal.
 
SPU in the NCAAs
The Falcons are participating in the NCAA Tournament for the school-record 10th straight season, the longest current streak among Division II teams. Seattle Pacific will participate in the postseason for the 18th time in the last 21 seasons. The Falcons won at least one game in 19 of its 24 previous NCAA playoff appearances. SPU compiled a 29-24 all-time record in the NCAA playoffs and advanced to the national semifinals in 2000 and again in 2006. Last year, the second-seeded Falcons beat Grand Canyon (85-59) and Cal Poly Pomona (67-54) before losing 62-58 to host and top seed Western Washington in the West Region title game.
 
Fine in First Round
SPU won its opening-round playoff game in five of the last six seasons, including an 85-59 rout of Grand Canyon last year, a 70-68 win over Dixie State in 2012 and a 76-63 upset of No. 1 seed Central Washington in 2011.
 
SPU vs. the Field
SPU has a 1-2 record against teams from this year's 64-team NCAA Tournament field. The Falcons won a neutral-site contest against Texas A&M International 66-55 (Nov. 10), lost 90-88 at home to Dixie State (Nov. 16) and lost 73-70 at Chico State (Nov. 30).
 
Ryan Looney, the 2014 GNAC Coach of the Year, directed Seattle Pacific into the playoffs in each of his five seasons. He has a 118-33 record at SPU, including a 26-5 mark this year. The Falcons registered a 27-4 record last year, equaling the school standard for single-season victories while establishing the best winning percentage (87.1%) in the 70-year history of the program. They won the 2013 GNAC Tournament title after placing second in the standings with a 16-2 conference record. SPU won two playoff games before losing 62-58 at Western Washington in the West Region championship game. In 2012, the Falcons compiled a 23-8 record and lost 56-50 to eventual national champion WWU in the regional final. In 2011, SPU was 20-10 and upset fifth-ranked Central Washington in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Looney led SPU to a 22-6 record in 2010 and became the first coach to direct the Falcons to a conference championship in his inaugural season. He was voted the 2010 GNAC Coach of the Year. Looney, who led his alma mater Eastern Oregon University to the quarterfinals of the 2009 NAIA Division II Tournament, was hired May 26, 2009 as the coach at SPU. He won his opening nine games on the SPU sidelines, the first coach to win more than his first three for the Falcons. Looney, 38, has a 213-88 career record, including a 95-55 ledger in five seasons with Eastern Oregon.
 
Quoting Coach Ryan Looney
"I don't know too much about (Cal State Stanislaus). That's one team in my five years at SPU that we have not played in the past. If you look at statistics, they would appear to be a team that defends well and have one guy that really, really rebounds. At this point in the year you know that you are going to have your hands full regardless of who you are playing. If you would look at our schedule, we are the most well traveled team in Division II. So I don't think we're scared to go on the road at all."