• Boxscore & Play-by-Play

BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Brandon Larrieu scored 18 points, including a fall-away 15-foot jumper with 1:12 remaining Thursday that gave 12th-ranked Seattle Pacific the lead for good in a 73-66 men's basketball victory over No. 15 Western Washington at Carver Gymnasium.

The first-place Falcons (13-2) remained undefeated in four Great Northwest Athletic Conference contests. Defending league champion WWU (16-3) dropped to 3-2 in GNAC play.

SPU trailed 62-57 before outscoring the Vikings 16-4 inside the final five minutes.

Larrieu started the game-ending surge by driving into the lane, stopping and leaning back for a free-throw line shot that put SPU ahead 68-66 with 1:12 remaining. After WWU's Morris Anderson nailed two free throws at 1:32 to tie the score 66-66, the Falcons closed out the game with seven straight points.

A senior wing, Larrieu scored 12 of his team-high 18 points during the first half.

SPU junior Chris Banchero poured in 12 of his 17 points in the second half. He converted 5 of 6 free throws over the final 35 seconds to complete the scoring.

Rafael Moreira and Jeff Downs each contributed 14 points for SPU, which shot 56 percent from the field (27 of 48) while limiting the Vikings to 41 percent (26 of 64) accuracy.

Downs made 4 of 6 treys, leading the Falcons to a 7 of 15 performance from behind the 3-point line. WWU made just 3 of 20 treys.

Anderson finished with 22 points to pace the Vikings, who also got 13 from Zach Bruce, 11 from Derrick Webb and 10 from Andrew Ready.

The Falcons were ahead from midway through the first half until the 10:55 mark of the second half when WWU used a 10-4 run to capture the lead. The Vikings pushed their margin to as many as five points, at 62-57, on a dunk by Bruce with 5:08 remaining. They scored only four points the rest of the way.

The Vikings scored the game's first four points and led 14-13 before SPU went on a 13-5 run, ignited by five straight points from Downs. He hit a jumper and a 3-point basket to start the surge that netted the Falcons a 26-19 lead with 7:20 left in the first half.

SPU lead the rest of the half. WWU drew within 31-30 on a Richard Woodward layup at 1:45. SPU tallied the final five points, including Downs' long 3-pointer at the buzzer to claim a 36-30 halftime advantage.

The SPU men return home for their next three games, beginning Saturday against Montana State Billings. Tip-off is 7 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion.


NCAA Men's Basketball
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Carver Gymnasium/Bellingham, Wash.

(#12) Seattle Pacific 73, at (#15) Western Washington 66

SEATTLE PACIFIC (13-2, 4-0 GNAC)
Larrieu 7-12 2-2 18; Banchero 4-8 8-11 17; Moreira 6-10 2-4 14; Downs 5-7 0-0 14; Anderson 3-5 0-0 6; Sweet 2-4 0-0 4; Diederichs 0-2 0-0 0; Vranes 0-0 0-0 0; Wardell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-48 12-17 73.

WESTERN WASHINGTON (16-3, 3-2 GNAC)
Anderson 8-14 4-4 22; Bruce 6-13 1-8 13; Webb 3-9 4-6 11; Ready 4-13 2-2 10; Vanderjagt 3-6 0-0 6; Woodworth 1-2 0-0 2; McAllister 1-5 0-0 2; Severson 0-1 0-0 0; Blanche 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-64 11-20 66.

Seattle Pacific............... 36 37 - 73
Western Washington............ 30 36 - 66

3-point goals--SPU 7-15 (Downs 4-6; Larrieu 2-5; Banchero 1-2; Sweet 0-1; Diederichs 0-1), WWU 3-20 (Anderson 2-6; Webb 1-4; Ready 0-4; Vanderjagt 0-2; Woodworth 0-1; McAllister 0-3). Fouled out--SPU-None, WWU-None. Rebounds--SPU 31 (Diederichs 6), WWU 35 (Ready 11). Assists--SPU 16 (Larrieu 5; Banchero 5), WWU 12 (Anderson 4). Total fouls--SPU 16, WWU 14. Technical fouls--SPU-None, WWU-None. A-1,912.