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SODEXO TIP-OFF CLASSIC
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20 --
Cal State Monterey Bay vs. Western Washington, 3:00 p.m. PST
Dominican University (Calif.) vs. Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m. PST

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21 --
Dominican University (Calif.) vs. Western Washington, 3:00 p.m. PST
Cal State Monterey Bay vs. Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m. PST

The Ryan Looney Era officially begins this weekend for the Seattle Pacific men's basketball team, which hosts the four-team Sodexo Tip-Off Classic at Brougham Pavilion.  Men's basketball doubleheaders take place both days, Friday, Nov. 20 and Saturday, Nov. 21. SPU plays the 7 p.m. nightcap each day, playing Dominican University of California on Friday and Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday. Western Washington plays the 3 p.m. opener both days against those same two opponents in reverse order of SPU. The SPU women's team is hosting a tournament the same days with games at 1:00 and 5:00 p.m. This is the first of four tournaments for the Falcons men, three of them in Seattle.

Live Game Coverage
LiveStats and a free webcast will be available for all SPU men's basketball home games. The webcast can be accessed at:  www.PennAtlantic.com  and the LiveStats are available at:  www.sidearmstats.com/spu/mbball

Canned Food Drive
In conjunction with the Tip-Off Classic, tournament sponsor Sodexo annually conducts a canned food drive. Fans attending the game are encouraged to bring canned food items and place them in the collection barrels located inside Brougham Pavilion. Sodexo USA (www.sodexoUSA.com) is the leading provider of food and facilities management in the United States. The Sodexo Foundation (www.helpstophunger.org) is an independent charitable organization that is leading the fight against hunger by supporting initiatives that focus on eliminating the root causes of hunger in the U.S.

Ticket Talk
Season tickets for SPU men's basketball games are currently available. They are a tremendous value and assure a seat in the best location for every home game. Season tickets can be obtained by calling 206-281-2085. Individual game tickets for SPU men's basketball games can be purchased at Brougham Pavilion (3414 Third Ave. W., Seattle 98119) on game day. Ticket windows open one hour prior to the listed start time. Reserved seats for Falcon men's basketball are $8 for center court locations and $7 for other sideline areas. General admission tickets are priced at $6 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens. Groups or teams of 10 or more may qualify for special general admission rates by calling (206) 281-2085 in advance. SPU students and staff are admitted free with i.d.

Exhibition Recap
The SPU men won both of their exhibition games, defeating Simon Fraser 82-59 on Nov. 6 before routing the Blue Angels 116-79 on Nov. 14. Jeff Downs was perfect from 3-point range, scoring all 18 of his points on treys in the Blue Angels game. The Falcons hit 15-of-24 treys, including 12-of-16 after halftime. Chris Banchero and Brandon Larrieu each had 13 points to lead SPU over Simon Fraser.

Scouting Dominican (0-1)
> Located in San Rafael, Calif., Dominican is in its first season as an NCAA Division II member after competing last year in the NAIA. The Penguins are first-year members of the Pacific West Conference.

> Dominican lost its NCAA debut 92-66 at NCAA Division I San Francisco on Nov. 16 despite the game-high 33 points of Bryan Austin.

> Friday marks the first ever meeting between SPU and the Penguins.

> First-year SPU coach Ryan Looney has never coached against Dominican.

Scouting Cal State Monterey Bay (1-0)
> The Otters opened the season Nov. 15 with a 66-52 home win vs. Academy of Art.

> Seattle Pacific leads the series 2-1 with wins in the first two encounters, both at home. The Falcons won 95-79 on Nov. 18, 2005 and 81-68 on Nov. 16, 2007.

> The Otters won the most recent meeting 68-65 on Nov. 28, 2008 in Seaside, Calif.

> CSUMB was 16-14 last year, capped by a run to the CCAA championship game.

> First-year SPU coach Ryan Looney has never coached against the Otters.

Five-Year Run
The Falcons registered a 104-43 record over the last five seasons, more victories than any Great Northwest Athletic Conference team during that span. SPU compiled a 20-9 record in 2005, 26-6 in 2006, 18-10 in 2007, 21-8 in 2008 and 19-10 last season. The 104 combined wins are the second-highest five-year total in school history, topped only by a 113-win run from 1998 to 2002. The Falcons have competed in five straight NCAA Tournaments (2005-09), advancing to the national semifinals in 2006.

2010 Preview
Four starters and 12 lettermen return for Seattle Pacific, which posted a 19-10 record last season and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Falcons were picked first in the GNAC coaches poll. Heading the list of returnees is a trio of conference all-stars. Junior point guard Chris Banchero was a second-team All-GNAC pick who led the team with 15.7 points per game. Senior post Rafael Moreira and senior wing Brandon Larrieu were honorable mention selections. Moreira averaged 11.8 points and 6.4 rebounds while Larrieu scored at a 14.6-point clip last year. The biggest task will be replacing starting forward Casey Reed, a second-team All-GNAC selection. The roster is bolstered by the addition of 6-7 junior post Ryan Sweet (Port Orchard, Wash.) and 6-7 freshman wing Scott Morse (Central Point, Ore).

2009 Review
First-year Seattle Pacific coach Ryan Looney inherits a team that posted a 19-10 record in 2008-09 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division II tournament. The Falcons placed third in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with an 11-5 record. They were the league's last surviving team in the postseason after eliminating champion Western Washington in the first round. SPU advanced to the regional semifinal before losing 80-72 to eventual national runner-up Cal Poly Pomona. Just one letterman, senior forward Casey Reed, and coach Jeff Hironaka departed from last year's team.

Coaches Poll
Seattle Pacific was projected to win the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title by the annual coaches poll released Oct. 28. Despite having won three GNAC championships, this is the first time the Falcons have been selected atop the conference poll. They captured the 2006 league title and were co-champions in 2002 and 2007. SPU received four first-place votes en route to its 76-point total. Last year's GNAC champion Western Washington was picked second in the poll. The Vikings tallied 72 points and also had four votes for the top spot. Central Washington, last season's runner-up, picked up the other first-place vote to finish third with 59 points. Alaska Anchorage was slotted fourth in the balloting, followed by Montana State Billings, Northwest Nazarene, Alaska Fairbanks, Saint Martin's and Western Oregon.

Coach Looney
Ryan Looney, who led Eastern Oregon University to the quarterfinals of the 2009 NAIA Division II Tournament, was hired May 26, 2009 as the men's basketball coach at Seattle Pacific. Looney, 34, compiled a 95-55 record in five seasons with Eastern Oregon. His Mountaineers won 63.3 percent of their games, the best winning percentage among all-time EOU coaches. Looney directed EOU to back-to-back NAIA Tournament appearances in 2008 and 2009, stopping the school's postseason drought that dated to the 1950s. His Mountaineers won the 2008 Cascade Collegiate Conference championship, their first title in 38 years, and shared the conference crown in 2009. The 2009 EOU squad registered a 25-8 record, including 14 consecutive victories, before suffering an 80-79 NAIA quarterfinal setback against No. 1-ranked and eventual national champion Oklahoma Wesleyan. Looney is the 11th head coach for the SPU program that began sponsoring intercollegiate men's basketball in 1946. He replaced Jeff Hironaka, who left after 18 years on the Falcons staff, the last seven as the head coach, to become an assistant coach at Washington State. Looney was hired as Eastern Oregon's head coach in May of 2004. He served the previous two seasons as the top assistant at NCAA Division II Minnesota State University Moorhead, helping the team to a 33-24 record and a berth in the finals of the 2002 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament. He played collegiately at Eastern Oregon from 1996-98, averaging 7.2 points in 53 career games. An NAIA All-America scholar athlete, Looney still holds the school's career free throw accuracy record at 89.5 percent. After graduating in 1998 from EOU, Looney got his first head coaching job in 1998-99 at Cove High School. After working two seasons as an assistant at Wisconsin-LaCrosse, where he received his Master of Science degree in sports administration in 2001, Looney joined the staff at North Idaho College for the 2001-02 season.

The Schedule
Local basketball fans will have plenty of opportunities to watch the Seattle Pacific men's basketball team as the Falcons play at home for 17 of the 29 games on their 2009-10 schedule. The Falcons play five games against teams that participated in the postseason last year, including a non-conference contest on Dec. 5 in Seattle against BYU-Hawaii. The Seasiders were the top seed from the West Region in the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The regular season begins at home for SPU, which hosts the Sodexho Tip-Off Classic, Nov. 20-21 at Brougham Pavilion. The Falcons open the tournament against Dominican University at 7 p.m. in the nightcap of a doubleheader that Western Washington and Cal State Monterey Bay open at 3 p.m. The Northwest teams trade opponents the next night with SPU playing Monterey Bay, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. That is the first of three home tournaments for the Falcons, who host four-team events Dec. 4-5 and Dec. 29-30.