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SEATTLE – Seattle Pacific has an impressive history of men's basketball excellence. That makes the current stretch of success even more impressive.
 
Bryce Leavitt compiled a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double and sank two clinching free throws Thursday for Seattle Pacific, which surged ahead early and held off a late Western Washington rally for a 58-51 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory at Brougham Pavilion.


 

The Falcons (20-7) stretched to seven seasons their school-record streak of 20-win campaigns. They improved to 13-6 in league play and reside in fourth place, one game out of second.

Immediately prior to Ryan Looney's arrival at SPU for the 2009-10 season, the team was coming off a 19-10 record. The program's longest run of 20-win seasons to that point was four, constructed from 1999-2002.

Looney's first squad posted a 22-6 record and was followed by records of 20-10, 23-8 and a 27-4 figure in 2013 that tied the SPU victory record and produced the program's finest winning percentage at 87.1 percent. The Falcons were 26-6 in 2014 and 24-8 last year.
 
Despite accomplishing the feat in each of his seven seasons, Looney appreciates the difficulty that a 20-win season represents.

 

"A lot of things have to go right. You have to avoid injuries, can't have a class in recruiting where you miss on guys and you've got to find a way for chemistry to continue to be good year after year.
 
"Us winning consistently has everything to do with the kind of guys that we have in the program. They come to work every day and generally like being around each other. They play for more than just themselves."
 
Ultimately 20 wins put the team in position to achieve a greater goal.
 
"I shared with the team after the game that I make some goals for me personally, as a coach. The first one is that we always want to have great team chemistry.
 
"Another one of my goals is to get to 20 wins during the regular season, because if we can do that, it usually means that we will get into the NCAA Tournament."
 
That is another sign of the SPU men's success as they have participated in the playoffs in each of the last 11 years. That is the longest current postseason streak among Division II men's basketball programs.
 
Thursday's result dropped Western Washington (15-13) to 9-10 in GNAC games.
 
Kyle Impero nailed a 3-pointer with one minute to play, drawing the Vikings within 54-51.
 
 

On the ensuing possession, SPU's Brendan Carroll missed a 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock, but teammate Sam Simpson grabbed the offensive rebound and passed to Leavitt, who was fouled. The senior guard sank both free throws with 27.4 on the clock, pushing the lead out to 56-51.
 
Simpson picked up another rebound, this one on the defensive end after a missed layup by Impero, and converted two free throws with 10.3 seconds remaining to seal the win.
 
"We've been in some close games during the year and haven't found enough toughness, played with enough poise or made enough winning plays to win a lot of those games," Looney explained. "Tonight we did. When it was a one-possession game and we needed to get some stops, we got some stops.
 
"Late in the game on offense, in a one-possession game, we missed a couple shots and came up a couple offensive rebounds to keep possession alive for our team. Earlier in the year we weren't necessarily making a lot of those plays."
 
Mitch Penner joined Leavitt in double figures with 12 points.
 
Trey Drechsel was the lone Viking to produce double digits, scoring 15.
 
Western shot 46 percent after halftime (13 of 28) to offset a subpar first half and finish at 37 percent for the game (22 of 59).
 
SPU was just the opposite, following a fine first half with 27-percent shooting (8 of 30) in the second half that included just one successful 3-pointer in 12 tries. The poor long-range shooting enabled the Vikings to play a zone defense for much of the second half.
 
The Falcons never trailed, scoring the game's first six points, on a 3-pointer and three-point play by Carroll.
 
Drechsel tallied the first four baskets for Western, which forced the game's only tie, at 8-8, at the 14:22 mark. SPU then scored the next 10 points to take the lead for good.
 
Four different players scored baskets during the run that featured 3-pointers by Gabe Colosimo and Simpson. When Carroll nailed a jumper with 9:24 left in the first half, the Falcons owned an 18-8 advantage.
 
Drechsel closed the Vikings deficit to 25-21 on a layup with 4:09 on the clock. But that was their last basket of the half as they missed eight straight shots. SPU capitalized, closing with eight unanswered points for a 33-21 halftime margin.
 
The Falcons shot 42 percent (11 of 26) in the first half while holding Western at 29 percent (9 of 31) and just 2-for-12 accuracy on treys.
 
A sluggish start to the second half by SPU allowed the Vikings to get back into the game. The Falcons missed their first five shots. Western made 4 of its opening 5 attempts after intermission and moved within 35-29 with just over three minutes expired.
 
An eight point run, featuring back-to-back baskets by Jeffrey Parker, moved the visitors within 41-40 with 10:18 left to play and set up the tight finish.
  
The Falcons complete their regular-season schedule at home on Saturday against Simon Fraser. Tip-off is 7p.m. at Brougham Pavilion and five SPU seniors will be honored in a brief ceremony before the game.
 
Looney said the rest of the team is dedicating their efforts to that senior class that is comprised of Carroll, Leavitt, Penner, Garrett Swanson and Gilles Dierickx.
 
"Saturday is going to be about our five seniors. They'll obviously be excited to play their last game at home with family and friends here.
 
"But all of the rest of us in the program, we've already started talking about being our best for them. Our coaching staff is going to be as dialed in as we possibly can, making sure our seniors have a fantastic experience in that last home games. Our other players are going to be challenged to give as much effort as possible for those guys as well."


NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.

at Seattle Pacific 58, Western Washington 51

WESTERN WASHINGTON (15-13, 9-10 GNAC)
Parker 4-12 0-0 9, Johnson 4-6 0-0 8, Impero 2-11 0-0 5, Drechsel 7-14 0-0 15, Wallace 0-3 0-0 0, Kingma 3-7 0-0 9, Brown 1-1 1-2 3, Mitchell 1-1 0-0 2, Scholten 0-2 0-0 0, Javier 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-59 1-2 51.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (20-7, 13-6 GNAC)
Penner 6-16 0-0 12, Swanson 0-2 0-0 0, Rasmussen 0-3 5-6 5, Leavitt 4-10 6-6 15, Carroll 3-10 1-1 8, Simpson 2-4 4-4 9, Colosimo 2-4 0-0 5, Dierickx 2-7 0-0 4. Totals 19-56 16-17 58.

Western Washington............   21   30  -   51
Seattle Pacific...............   33   25  -   58

3-point goals--WWU 6-20 (Kingma 3-5, Parker 1-2, Drechsel 1-3, Impero 1-4, Wallace 0-2, Scholten 0-2, Javier 0-1, Johnson 0-1), SPU 4-20 (Colosimo 1-2, Carroll 1-8, Leavitt 1-3, Simpson 1-3, Swanson 0-2, Penner 0-2). Fouled out--WWU-Brown, SPU-None. Rebounds--WWU 35 (Drechsel 8), SPU 38 (Leavitt 10). Assists--WWU 11 (Drechsel, Harris 3), SPU 7 (Leavitt 2). Total fouls--WWU 17, SPU 12. Technical fouls--WWU-None, SPU-None. Att-1120.


Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Simon Fraser at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Feb. 27, 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.