• Final Stats
      • VIDEO: Riley  Stockton   |   • VIDEO: Coach Ryan  Looney

SEATTLE – Seattle Pacific coach Ryan Looney was glad that he had Jobi Wall on his side this time at Brougham Pavilion.

Wall and David Downs combined for 43 points Friday as the 22nd-ranked SPU men's basketball team defeated Hawaii Pacific 70-52 on the first day of the Sodexo GNAC/PacWest Challenge.

The Falcons (3-0) got 23 points from Wall (Arvada, Colo.), a junior transfer who hit his first seven shots from the field. The 6-foot-6 wing shot 8 of 9 for the game, a figure that includes 6-of-7 accuracy from 3-point range.

Friday was Wall's Brougham Pavilion debut in an SPU uniform, but he played there once before. Wall scored 28 points for Colorado Christian, which beat SPU 73-69 on Dec. 30, 2009. That was Looney's first loss as SPU's head coach after directing the team to nine consecutive victories.

Looney is thrilled that Wall chose to move to the home side at Brougham when he transferred to SPU prior to this season.

"He's a really good player. He does a lot of things well for us. He works defensively, he rebounds and he can really shoot it."

Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) added 20 points for the Falcons, converting 6 of 8 field goals and 4 of 6 on treys.

"They both shot it extremely well and we needed it," Looney said of his high-scoring tandem that combined to hit 14 of 17 shots from the field and 10 of 13 treys. "Those shots that Dave and Jobi made carried us all night."

Kyle Allen compiled 15 points as the only double-figure scorer for HPU (0-2).

SPU started strong, hitting three-straight 3-pointers – including two by Jeff Dorman - to take a 9-0 lead and force HPU into taking their first time out. A steal and layup by Nick Frazier got the Sea Warriors on the board, but the Falcons quickly struck back with another trey by Jake Anderson.

SPU controlled the pace of the opening period, leading the Sea Warriors by as much as 15, and taking a 34-21 lead to the locker room. The Falcons shot 67 percent (12 of 18) in the first half, including 64-percent accuracy (7 of 11) from behind the arc.

Wall had a perfect shooting first half for the Falcons, hitting 5-for-5 from the field, 3-for-3 from behind the arc, and 1-for-1 in free throws.

HPU entered halftime with a 30 percent (7 of 23) field goal percentage and just 1 of 5 on 3-pointers.

In the second half, the Warriors struck first, scoring two off a steal and quick layup.  SPU answered with two points of their own, but the Sea Warriors closed the gap to only seven points.  Sean Jones hit a three to narrow the gap to 37-33 with 15:41 left to play in regulation.  

"Hawaii Pacific did a nice job. There were times tonight where they gave us a lot of problems," said Looney.

SPU pulled away again, opening up a 12-point lead with 5:48 left to play.

The Falcons, up 70-49, gave up a foul with two-tenths of a second left in the game, putting the Warriors' Ronnie Hodge at the charity stripe to shoot three.  Hodge made all three free throws, ending the game 70-52 in favor of SPU.

Seattle Pacific shot 62 percent (24 of 39) from the field for the game and 54 percent (13 of 24) from behind the arc.  

Andy Poling (Portland, Ore.) scored nine points and grabbed eight boards to lead the Falcons 29-25 rebounding edge.

The Seattle Pacific men are back in action Saturday at 7 p.m. when they take on third-ranked BYU-Hawaii in the final game of the Sodexo GNAC/PacWest Challenge. The Seasiders lost 78-77 to Central Washington in Friday's first game. Hawaii Pacific will face CWU at 3 p.m. Saturday.

"They're really good. They probably didn't shoot it as well as they normally do, but I would guess we'll see a really good team tomorrow," Looney said of BYU-Hawaii, which advanced to the NCAA Division II championship game last season.

NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Sodexo GNAC/PacWest Challenge -- Game 2
Friday, Nov. 18, 2011
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

SEATTLE PACIFIC 70, HAWAII PACIFIC 52

HAWAII PACIFIC (0-2)
Miller 1-7 1-4 3; Urli 1-3 2-4 4; Jones 2-4 0-0 5; Pierce 0-0 0-0 0; Chappell 3-6 0-1 7; Allen 6-11 3-4 15; Frazier 1-7 4-4 6; Cukic 2-3 1-4 5; Hodge 0-1 5-5 5; White 1-2 0-2 2; Simcox 0-1 0-0 0; Lyons 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-45 16-28 52.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (3-0)
Wall 8-9 1-1 23; Anderson 1-3 0-0 3; Poling 3-6 3-6 9; Downs 6-8 4-5 20; Dorman 2-4 0-0 5; Stockton 2-4 0-0 5; Hutsen 1-2 0-2 2; Moll 1-1 0-0 2; Carel 0-0 1-2 1; Niang 0-0 0-0 0; Morse 0-2 0-0 0; Todd 0-0 0-0 0; Washburn 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-39 9-16 70.

Hawaii Pacific.......   21   31  -  52
Seattle Pacific......   34   36  -  70

3-point goals--Hawaii Pacific 2-9 (Jones 1-2; Chappell 1-1; Hodge 0-1; White 0-1; Frazier 0-3; Allen 0-1), Seattle Pacific 13-24 (Wall 6-7; Downs 4-6; Dorman 1-3; Anderson 1-3; Stockton 1-3; Morse 0-2). Fouled out--Hawaii Pacific-None, Seattle Pacific-None. Rebounds--Hawaii Pacific 25 (Allen 7), Seattle Pacific 29 (Poling 8). Assists--Hawaii Pacific 3 (Frazier 1; Lyons 1; Allen 1), Seattle Pacific 16 (Stockton 4). Total fouls--Hawaii Pacific 16, Seattle Pacific 20. Technical fouls--Hawaii Pacific-None, Seattle Pacific-None. A-726.