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2016 NCAA DIVISION II MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
West Regional / New PE Building / Monmouth, Oregon
• Webcasts & LiveStats: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/wou/
 
FRIDAY, MARCH 11 (First Round)
Game 1 – (#6) Cal Poly Pomona vs. (#3) California Baptist, 12:00 pm
Game 2 – (#7) Chico State vs. (#2) UC San Diego, 2:30 pm
Game 3 – (#5) Azusa Pacific vs. (#4) Seattle Pacific, 5:00 pm
Game 4 – (#8) Humboldt State vs. (#1) Western Oregon, 7:30 pm
 
SATURDAY, MARCH 12 (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 14 (Regional Championship)
Game 7 – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 7:00 pm
 
The longest playoff streak among Division II men's basketball teams continues as Seattle Pacific received an at-large invitation to the NCAA Tournament when the 64-team field was announced Sunday. The Falcons (22-8) will participate in their 12th straight postseason, every year since 2005, when the tournament begins on Friday in Monmouth, Ore. SPU earned the No. 4 seed in the West Region and will open with a first-round matchup against No. 5 seed Azusa Pacific (22-8) on March 11 at 5 p.m. in the New PE Building on the Western Oregon campus. Azusa is the defending West Region champion. The Cougars won the last two conference regular-season championships and advanced to the 2016 PacWest Tournament title game where they lost 101-64 to California Baptist. These two teams met earlier this season, on Dec. 12 in Seattle. The Falcons played one of their finest games en route to a 71-54 win over APU.
 
West Region Field
The winner between SPU and Azusa Pacific advances to Saturday's semifinals for a 7:30 p.m. matchup against the first-round victor between No. 1 seed Western Oregon (27-3) and No. 8 Humboldt State (21-8). The other half of the bracket has No. 3 California Baptist (27-6) squaring off with No. 6 Cal Poly Pomona (22-7) and No. 2 seed UC San Diego (22-7) playing No. 7 Chico State (22-6). The two survivors meet in the semifinals on Saturday at 5 p.m. The regional championship game is slated for Monday, Mar. 14 at 7 p.m. The first three rounds will be played in Monmouth, Ore.


 
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 Dr Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas. The national quarterfinals are set for Mar. 23 with the semifinals on Mar. 24. The NCAA Division II championship game will be televised live on CBS on Mar. 26 at noon Pacific Time. Florida Southern captured the 2015 Division II crown with a 77-62 win over Indiana (Pa.).
 
First-Round Feats
SPU has a stellar 17-9 record in opening-round playoff contests, including an 81-69 win over No. 2 seed BYU-Hawaii last year in Azusa, Calif. The Falcons won their opening-round contest in six of the last eight years.
 
Close Encounters
The Falcons' eight losses came by a combined 30 points, an average of 3.8 per setback. Four setbacks were by four points or less. Three defeats came in overtime, two of those were dealt by top-seeded Western Oregon. SPU's largest loss came by just eight points, 68-60 versus Concordia (Calif.) on Nov. 13.

 

20-Game Winners
The Falcons' win on Feb. 25 clinched their unprecedented seventh straight 20-win season and the 24th overall in school history. Their previous best was a run of four 20-victory seasons from 1999-2002. The current streak of 20-win campaigns started in Coach Ryan Looney's first year, a 22-6 campaign in 2009-10. That was followed by records of 20-10, 23-8 and a 27-4 mark in 2013 that tied the SPU victory record and marked the program's finest winning percentage ever (87.1%). SPU was 26-6 in 2014 and 24-8 last season.  
 
Dynamic Defense
The Falcons rank No. 2 nationally in 3-point field goal defense, limiting opponents to 28.9-percent shooting beyond the arc (166 of 574). They rank No. 16 among NCAA Division II teams in overall field goal defense at 40.4 percent and allowed just three foes to reach the 50-percent plateau (Western Oregon, 54.8% on Jan. 7, Central Washington 50.9% on Feb. 13 and CWU 50.0% on Mar. 3). SPU is the nation's fifth stingiest D-II team, yielding only 64.6 points per game.
 
Scouting Azusa Pacific (22-8, 15-5 PacWest)
> The Cougars are two-time PacWest Conference champions and the defending NCAA West Region winner.
 
> Azusa advanced to the PacWest Tournament title game last week before losing 101-64 to California Baptist.
 
> The Cougars average 80.3 points led by the double-digit scoring trio of Bruce English (11.6 ppg), Petar Kutlesic (11.1) and LyDel Cardwell (10.3).
 
> The Falcons own a 4-1 edge in the all-time series and all five games were played in Seattle. They were 71-54 victors over APU on Dec. 12 behind 19 points from Gilles Dierickx.
 
> In his seventh season at SPU, Ryan Looney has a 1-0 record against the Cougars.
 
Scouting Humboldt State (21-8, 12-8 CCAA)
> The Lumberjacks won their last four games, capped by an 80-68 win over UC San Diego in the CCAA title game.
 
> Humboldt's 6-foot-6 senior forward Rakim Brown leads the team with 19.1 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.
 
> The potential regional semifinal encounter would have a contrast in styles as the Lumberjacks average nearly 20 point more (83.4 ppg) than SPU allows (64.6).
 
> The Falcons own a 21-6 advantage in the series with Humboldt and won the last meeting, 97-92 on Feb. 2, 2006 in Seattle. HSU was a GNAC member from 2002-06.
 
Scouting Western Oregon (27-3, 18-2 GNAC)
> The third-ranked Wolves won both the GNAC Tournament and regular-season titles.
 
> An SPU-WOU matchup would be the fourth clash of the season between the GNAC rivals and the Wolves won all three so far. The first two were decided in overtime and the most recent came on March 4 in the semifinals of the league tournament with Western winning, 58-57.
 
> Senior forward Andy Avgi, the GNAC Player of the Year, scores at a 19.9-point clip to lead the Wolves. Avgi dropped 34 points on the Falcons in this season's first meeting (Jan. 7) and had 29 in Seattle (Feb. 6).
 
> SPU tops the GNAC by limiting foes to 64.6 points and WOU is second at 68.9.
 
> SPU leads the all-time series 40-19 despite losing the last four encounters, three of them in overtime and the other by a one-point margin. WOU swept the regular-season series with a 96-90 overtime home win on Jan. 7 and was an 84-82 overtime road victor on Feb. 6.  The Wolves won 58-57 on Mar. 4 in the GNAC semifinals.
 
> Seventh-year SPU coach Ryan Looney has a 10-7 record against WOU. He competed against the Wolves during his playing career at Eastern Oregon.
 
GNAC Awards
Seattle Pacific's Mitch Penner was named to the first team while senior classmate Gilles Dierickx was a second-team selection and Bryce Leavitt an honorable mention pick when 2016 GNAC men's basketball awards were announced Mar. 1. Penner leads the SPU offense with an 18.6-point figure that ranks fourth among GNAC scorers. He averages 5.8 rebounds and shoots 52 percent from the field, including 44 percent on 3-pointers. Dierickx tops SPU with 7.0 rebounds per game and is second in scoring with an 11.4-point average. He ranks fourth among GNAC players in both field goal percentage (55.9%) and blocked shots (37). Leavitt leads the Falcons in assists (4.2 apg) and steals (22), ranks second in rebounding (6.6 rpg) and fourth in scoring (9.5 ppg).

 

Prolific Penner
SPU senior Mitch Penner was named to the All-GNAC first team after being honorable mention in 2015. He received the GNAC Player of the Week award three times this season, most recently on Feb. 29. Penner netted his 1,000th career point on Jan. 28 at Fairbanks and currently ranks 13th among all-time SPU players with 1,277 points. The 6-foot-5 forward tops the current team with an 18.6-point average that includes thirteen 20-point performances and a career-high 37-point outburst against Concordia on Feb. 4. That was the highest scoring total for a Falcon since Chris Banchero had 41 on Dec. 18, 2010.
 
On the Rebound
The Falcons led the nation in rebound margin in 2014-15, averaging 12.5 more caroms per game than opponents. They are dominating the glass again this season, out-boarding foes by 11.9 rebounds per contest to rank No. 1 nationally.
 
Falcons Fast Facts
During his 30-point performance at Dixie State (Nov. 14), senior Brendan Carroll came within one of the school record for single-game 3-pointers, hitting nine of them in 12 attempts ... The Falcons have a 13-2 record when scoring the game's first point and are 20-2 in games they led at halftime ... Junior center Joe Rasmussen's father Blair had a eight-year NBA career in Denver and Atlanta.

 

Big Man on Campus
Gilles Dierickx stands out on campus as the first 7-footer in SPU history. He has stood tall on the court recently, posting double-doubles in four of his last 10 games with six of them overall. The senior center leads all Falcons with 7.0 rebounds per game and is second in scoring with an 11.4-point average. Dierickx boasts career highs of 25 points (at Western Oregon, Jan. 7) and 17 rebounds (vs. Northwest Nazarene, Jan. 16). He is a transfer from the University of Washington and a native of Ghent, Belgium.
 
Looney's Ledger
Two-time GNAC Coach of the Year Ryan Looney is in his seventh season as the head coach of Seattle Pacific men's basketball program. He directed the Falcons to three consecutive GNAC Tournament championships (2012-14), two conference regular-season crowns (2010, 2014) and playoff berths in each of his seven seasons. He has a 165-50 record at SPU, including a 24-8 mark last year. Looney, who led his alma mater Eastern Oregon to the quarterfinals of the 2009 NAIA Division II Tournament, was hired by SPU on May 26, 2009. He won his opening nine games on the SPU sidelines and reached the 100-win mark faster than any previous SPU coach (130 games). Looney, 40, has a 259-105 career record and was 95-55 in five years at EOU.
 
Quoting Coach Ryan Looney
"I'm excited for this group of guys to get in. Getting into a national tournament is a significant accomplishment and definitely something that should be celebrated. For our players, both current and past, it's been a huge sense of accomplishment to be able to say that they've had a piece in that streak. It's something that is extremely unique. As a coaching staff we take a lot of pride that the program has been in 12 consecutive years. It is a pretty substantial thing to be able to use during the recruiting process.
About this year's team: "The big message I wanted to send is that we are really proud of our current team because a lot of things had to go right. We needed some guys to step up and take on different roles than what they've had in previous years. We had to juggle our lineup a lot during the year. We don't have a guy who has started in every single game, which is unusual for our teams. We've had injuries that we've had to fight through. So for all of those reasons we're just trying to focus on what a significant accomplishment this is for the current team.
About the matchup with Azusa Pacific: "It's nice to have an opponent like Azusa Pacific that we have a little bit of knowledge about, having played them previously this year. But, at the end of the day, I don't think it necessarily matters. We know that if we're going to get out of the regional, we're going to have to play well on three nights and beat three good teams."
 
2015 Season Review
The Falcons forged a 24-8 overall record last year and captured their third straight GNAC Tournament championship with an 81-69 victory over Western Washington. SPU posted a 13-5 record to place second in the GNAC standings. The Falcons participated in the NCAA playoffs for the 11th consecutive year and advanced to the West Region semifinals before losing a 78-77 decision against California Baptist on a last-second shot. Senior guard Riley Stockton was honored as the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team all-league selection. Senior center Cory Hutsen was a second-team All-GNAC pick after leading the team with 15.8 points per game. Senior Matt Borton and returning forward Mitch Penner got honorable mention acclaim.