Box Score • Final Stats |
• VIDEO: Patrick Simon
LACEY, Wash. –- Here we go again!
For the 10th time in three seasons Seattle Pacific will play rival Western Washington. And as in three of those previous encounters, a championship will be on the line.
Patrick Simon collected 16 of his 20 points during first half Thursday, leading the 18th-ranked SPU men to a 73-57 victory over Western Oregon in the semifinal round of Great Northwest Athletic Conference basketball tournament at Marcus Pavilion.
The top-seeded Falcons (25-5) advance to Saturday's GNAC championship game and will meet No. 2 seed Western Washington (20-7). The Vikings defeated Alaska Fairbanks 73-52 in the other semifinal matchup.
"I told our team after the game that we gave the people what they want," SPU coach
Ryan Looney said of the tournament championship matchup. He received the GNAC Coach of the Year award after directing the Falcons to the regular-season title.
"It seems like we've played Western Washington a ton over the last three years, so why not?"
Saturday's championship game tips off at 5:15 p.m. in Marcus Pavilion on the Saint Martin's campus. That will be the 10th meeting since 2012 between the Northwest rivals, who clashed in the last two NCAA Division II West Regional finals.
In last year's GNAC Tournament championship game, the Falcons upset regular-season winner WWU 72-70 on a last-second 3-pointer by
Jobi Wall.
Looney was pleased that his players focused on their semifinal opponent and avoided looking ahead to Saturday.
"We have some older mature guys that play a lot of minutes for us. They understand that whether we are playing Western Oregon tonight or Western Washington on Saturday, every win we can get here late in the year will help us in that final regional poll."
Simon nailed 4 of 5 shots from 3-point range during the opening period on Thursday. He did not make a second-half trey and finished the game shooting 6 of 12 from the field.
"They were trapping ball screens and getting out and pressuring," Looney described. "So we tried to do some things to get Pat open at the 3-point line. And he delivered."
Devon Alexander tallied 15 points to pace the Wolves, who ended their season with an 18-12 record. Lewis Thomas added 10 points.
SPU held the Wolves' Rodney Webster six points below his team-leading 15.3-point average.
"It was good to see our guys that motivated to play in a postseason game," said Looney. "I'm proud of how hard our guys played and how dialed in they were to our plan defensively.
"We felt like Rodney Webster is the guy that kind of makes them go and we wanted to make him have to be a passer and not a scorer. So we collectively guarded him with everybody and he had to take tough shots all night. He was 3-of-11 with nine points."
The Falcons made five straight shots to fuel an 11-point run midway through the first half and forge a 22-11 lead. Simon started the surge with a 3-pointer at 11:13 and
Matt Borton's driving layup capped it at 8:13.
WOU's Alexander halted the run with a shot in the lane with 7:05 left in the half. But SPU answered with a 10-2 spree to extend its margin to 32-15 with 4:33 on the clock.
The Wolves hit their final five shots of the half, but were unable to gain ground as they traded points with SPU, which owned a 42-27 advantage at halftime.
A stellar 63-percent shooting first half from the Falcons (15 of 24) offset WOU's fine 46-percent effort (12 of 26).
SPU started the second half with a 12-3 run to claim a commanding 54-30 lead five minutes after halftime.
The Falcons shooting cooled considerably, enabling WOU to register nine unanswered points and draw within 58-45 with 7:56 remaining. But that is as close as WOU would come.
SPU shot just 33 percent in the second half (10 of 30) to finish at 46 percent for the game (25 of 54). WOU made 38-percent of its shots during the game (19 of 50).
The SPU men now turn their attention to Western Washington, a team they swept in two regular-season meetings this year. They won 76-60 on Jan. 15 in Bellingham and 91-88 on Feb. 15 in Seattle.
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
GNAC Tournament – Semifinals
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.
(#18) Seattle Pacific 73, Western Oregon 57
WESTERN OREGON (18-12)
Devon Alexander 5-12 4-4 15, Lewis Thomas 4-9 0-0 10, Rodney Webster 3-11 2-6 9, Marwan Sarhan 2-5 4-4 8, Jordan Wiley 0-5 4-4 4, Andy Avgi 2-3 0-0 4, Jordan Schriber 2-3 0-0 4, Drew Johnson 1-2 0-0 3, Eric Holbrook 0-0 0-0 0, Dezmond Dupree Turner 0-0 0-0 0, Adam Hastings 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-50 14-18 57..
SEATTLE PACIFIC (25-5)
Patrick Simon 6-12 4-4 20,
David Downs 6-13 6-6 18,
Mitch Penner 5-7 1-2 11,
Riley Stockton 4-6 1-2 10,
Brendan Carroll 2-6 2-2 6, Matt BOrton 1-4 4-6 6,
Cory Hutsen 1-5 0-0 2,
Joe Rasmussen 0-0 0-0 0,
Ryan Todd 0-0 0-0 0,
Josh Jordan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-54 18-22 73.
Western Oregon 27 30 -- 57
Seattle Pacific 42 31 -- 73
3-point goals – WOU 5-17 (Thomas 2-4, Webster 1-3, Alexander 1-4, Johnson 1-2, Wiley 0-4), SPU 5-19 (Simon 4-8, Stockton 1-2, Penner 0-1, Carroll 0-2, Borton 0-3, Downs 0-3).
Fouled out – None.
Rebounds – WOU 26 (Avgi 8), SPU 35 (Borton 7).
Assists – WOU 6 (Webster 3), SPU 12 (Downs 5).
Turnovers – WOU 12, SPU 9.
Total fouls – WOU 20, SPU 16.
Technical fouls – None.
Att – 529.
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
GNAC Tournament championship
(2) Western Washington vs. (1) Seattle Pacific
Saturday, March 8, 5:15 p.m. PST
Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.
