Sunday, March 9, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. - Seattle Pacific earned the No. 2 seed and will play CCAA champion Cal State Stanislaus in the opening game of the NCAA Division II Men's West Regional basketball tournament Friday at San Bernardino, Calif.

Cal State San Bernardino is the top seed and will open the tournament against PacWest champion Chaminade.

Seattle Pacific, which is making its 10th consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament (the longest current streak in Division II), was the lone GNAC team to qualify for the tournament.  That is the first time that has happened in the 14-year history of the conference. 

The previous low was two teams in both 2001-02 and 2002-03 when the tournament was a six-team event and last year when SPU and Western Washington were the conference's lone representatives. 

Both teams eventually reached the championship game with the Vikings winning 62-58 to earn their second consecutive regional title.

The other two first-round games Friday will feature fourth-seed Chico State against fifth-seed Cal Baptist and third-seed Cal Poly Pomona and sixth-seed Dixie State.

Seattle Pacific brings a 26-5 record into the regional tournament.  The Falcons are led in scoring by GNAC Player of the Year David Downs, who averaged 20.2 points per game.  Patrick Simon is averaging 16.5 points.  Also in double figures is Cory Hutsen averaging 10.7 points.

Downs was selected the Most Valuable Player in the GNAC conference tournament.  In SPU's two tournament games, Downs scored 44 points and also had nine rebounds and seven assists.  He made 14-of-29 field goals, including 4-of-9 from the arc.  He was perfect from the foul line (12-of-12).

SPU defeated Western Washington 65-62 in the championship game after eliminating Western Oregon 73-57 in the semifinals.

NCAA Division II West Regional (March 14-17 at San Bernardino): Friday - #3 Cal Poly Pomona (21-6) vs. #6 Dixie State (21-6), noon; #2 Seattle Pacific (26-5) vs. #7 Cal State Stanislaus (21-8), 2:30 p.m.; #4 Chico State (22-7) vs. #5 Cal Baptist (24-3), 5 p.m.; #1 Cal State San Bernardino (23-4) vs. #8 Chaminade (19-12), 7:30 p.m.  Saturday - Semifinals at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.  Monday - Championship game. at 7 p.m.