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March 13, 2009

Box Score

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Guard Brandon Larrieu scored 24 points, including six in the final 90 seconds as Seattle Pacific University claimed an 82-77 victory over nationally ranked Western Washington University in an opening-round game Friday at the NCAA Division II West Sub-Regional being played on Haggen Court in Western's Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Guard Ira Graham (Sr., Fontana, CA) scored a game-high 29 points for Western, which concluded the season 21-6. The Vikings ranked No.23 in the final National Association of Basketball Coaches/NCAA II Top 25, were the No.2 seed in the West Region.

Seattle Pacific, the No.7 seed, improved to 19-9 overall. The Falcons will face Cal Poly Pomona, an 83-81 overtime victor over Cal State San Bernardino, in a regional semifinal Saturday (7 p.m.) at Carver Gym.

Western held a 67-64 lead after a 3-pointer by Steve Alford (Sr., Bakersfield, CA/South) with six minutes left. The Falcons then rallied with eight straight points. Casey Reed hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired, and Jeff Downs then hit a layup and was fouled. Downs missed the free throw, but the Falcons got the rebound, and Downs, who finished with 19 points, took a feed from Reed and hit a 3-pointer.

That gave Seattle Pacific a 72-67 lead with 4:50 to go, and the Falcons led the rest of the way.

Western, which had recovered from an eight-point deficit in the last two minutes to beat the Falcons, 76-75, in the final week of the regular season, looked like it might rally again.

Down five, 78-73, with 1:14 left, the Vikings got two free throws each from Calin Schell (Sr., Chelan) and Graham to narrow the margin to one with 30 seconds to go. Larrieu hit two free throws with 28 seconds left, giving Western a chance to tie, but Downs stole a cross-court pass, and a Larrieu layin with 10 seconds left iced the victory for Seattle Pacific.

The Falcons, who beat the Vikings at Carver Gym, 86-84 on Jan. 17, shot 64.3 percent (18-of-28) from the field in the second half Friday, and 56.9 percent (33-of-58) for the game.

Alford had 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for Western, and Schell added 10 points and 11 rebounds as the Vikings claimed a 37-27 advantage on the boards.

Graham's 29 points gave him 1,465 for his career, seventh-best in school history.

Western finished 11-3 at home, two of the losses to Seattle Pacific.

CAL POLY POMONA 83 CAL STATE SAN BERNARDINO 81 (OT)

Gordon makes big plays as Broncos win after losing 19-point lead

BELLINGHAM, Wash. --- Larry Gordon had game-highs of 28 points and 13 rebounds, hitting a 3-pointer to send the game to overtime and making a crucial block to preserve the victory at the end of the extra period, leading Cal Poly Pomona to an 83-81 victory in the first of two opening-round games Friday in the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball West Sub-Regional on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium on the campus of Western Washington University.

The Broncos, the No.3 seed in the West Region, improved to 21-7 and face the winner of tonight's No. 7-seed Seattle Pacific versus No.2 Western Washington contest Saturday at 7 p.m. Guard Austin Swift added 17 points for Cal Poly Pomona, which won for the 12th time in the last 13 games.

Cal State San Bernardino, the No.6 seed, had an eight-game winning streak snapped and concluded its season 20-10. The Coyotes, who won the California Collegiate Athletic Association tournament, were led by center Brandon Brown, who had 25 points and 10 rebounds.

Cal Poly Pomona had a 30-26 lead at halftime and opened up a 19-point lead, 51-32, with 14:20 to play. But Cal State San Bernardino rallied, taking a 64-60 lead on a Brown layin with 3:30 left.

The Coyotes were still up by four, 74-70, with under 20 seconds left. Dahir Nasser hit two free throws to cut the margin to two, and after Devin Montgomery made one of two foul shots with 14.8 seconds to go to put the Coyotes up three, Gordon, the CCAA Player of the Year, hit a 3-pointer from the left corner at the buzzer to force overtime at 75-75.

Gordon then scored the first basket of overtime, giving the Broncos a lead they would never relinquish. With the score 82-81 in the final five seconds, Gordon blocked a Brown shot in the paint, and the ensuing tie-up gave Cal Poly Pomona the ball to effectively put the game out of reach.

Seattle Pacific ends Vikings' regional run in first round

DAVID RASBACH - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

BELLINGHAM - The Western Washington University men's basketball team got almost everything it could have asked for - a Great Northwestern Athletic Conference championship, a trip to the NCAA Division II West Regional after a two-year absence and a first-round game on their home court.

The only problem was their first-round opponent was the same team that ended the Vikings' season the last time they made it to the regional in 2006 and a team that they split a pair of regular-season games with by a total of three points.

GNAC rival Seattle Pacific got the better of Western on its home court for the second time this season on Friday, March 13, beating the Vikings 82-77 behind 24 points from Brandon Larrieu.

Western, which lost only three home games all season, finishes with a 21-6 mark. The seventh-seeded Falcons (19-9) move on the regional semifinals to face No. 3 seed Cal Poly Pomona (21-7), which earlier beat Cal State San Bernardino 83-81 in overtime. The semifinal will be at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 14, at Carver Gymnasium, and the winner moves on to face the winner from the Laie, Hawaii, sub-regional for a trip to the Elite Eight in Springfield, Mass.

"I told my guys there is nothing to hang their heads about after this season," Western coach Brad Jackson said. "Sure we wanted to win this game, but we accomplished so much this season. We won a conference championship, which is not easy to do in our conference, and we got into the postseason. I'm proud of what these guys accomplished this season."

But Western struggled to string together scoring runs Friday night and was unable to pull away from the Falcons.

Seattle Pacific led throughout the first half, but Western managed to close within one, 35-34, at the break. They took the lead 67-64 on a 3-pointer by Steve Alford with six minutes left.

But the lead was short lived, as the Falcons scored eight straight, spurred by a shot-clock-beating 3-pointer by Casey Reed, to take the lead back.

"We never were able to put that run together," Jackson said. "Every time we'd battle back or take the lead, they'd come right back and take it from us. Give them credit because they hit some big shots tonight."

It happened again in the final two minutes, when free throws from seniors Calin Schell and Ira Graham cut a 78-73 lead to one point with 30 seconds to play.

Once again, Seattle Pacific had the answer.

Larrieu hit a pair of free throws on SPU's next possession, and Jeff Downs stole a cross-court pass on Western's ensuing possession and fed Larrieu for a layin with 10 seconds to play to ice the victory for the Falcons.

"It was like coach said, we never were able to make a run and take control of the game," Western's Morris Anderson said. "They came back at us every time we tried."

The Falcons were playing without leading scorer Chris Banchero, who was out with injury, but Larrieu more than made up for his absence.

"They have a number of talented players who can step up for them," Jackson said. "Brandon did a good job tonight. He hit some big shots for them."

Downs finished with 19 points for the Falcons, while Rafael Moreira had 14.

Graham scored a game-high 29 points in his final game as a Viking, while Alford, also a senior, scored 11 points and had a game-high 12 rebounds and Schell added 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Despite the season-ending loss, Western is encouraged with the progress it made this year and its prospects for next year. The Vikings will lose four seniors in all - Graham, Alford, Schell and David Brittney.

"Ira and those guys talked to me and told me what I did right and how I can improve for next year," Anderson said. "They meant so much to us. Now it's up to us to work hard and get back here."

Coyotes erase a 19-point deficit but lose in overtime.

By DAVID RASBACH, Special to The Press-Enterprise

BELLINGHAM, WASH. - Watching your season come to a conclusion is never easy.

But traveling more than 1,200 miles just to have your neighborhood rival end it in overtime is just about unbearable.

That's exactly what the Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team did to its California Collegiate Athletic Association rival Cal State San Bernardino in the first round of the NCAA Division II West Regional on Friday. Larry Gordon matched his career high with 28 points, including a game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer in regulation to send the game to overtime, as the Broncos went on win 83-81.

While the third-seeded Broncos (21-7) move on to Saturday's regional semifinal against seventh seed Seattle Pacific (19-9), which beat sub-regional host Western Washington 82-77 later Friday, the Coyotes' season ends with a 20-10 record.

"It always seems like we play Pomona this way," Cal State coach Jeff Oliver said. "But they just won't give us any."

Oliver's frustration is easy to understand, considering the Broncos came back from 19 down to beat the Coyotes in the West Regional final in 2003 in a game that went into double overtime.

On Friday, it was Cal State that came back from 19 down with just more than 14 minutes to play.

"Being 19 down to Pomona is like being down 40," Oliver said. "They play so tough defensively."

But the Coyotes turned to all-CCAA center Brandon Brown, who finished with a team-high 25 points, and some suddenly potent three-point shooting from Reggie Brown and DuBois Williams to get back in the game and take a 70-66 lead with 48.8 seconds to play.

The Coyotes twice had opportunities in the final minute of regulation to put the game away, but missed free throws hindered their cause -- the most costly of which was by Devin Montgomery with 14.8 seconds to play, when he split a pair that could have given the Coyotes a four-point lead and likely the win.

"There were just too many missed opportunities by everybody late in that game," Oliver said. "Including by me. Missed free throws, missed shots, missed assignments -- everybody made mistakes."

An extra-special win

Cal Poly needs OT to advance to semifinals

Michelle Gardner, Staff Writer, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - It didn't take long for Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball coach Greg Kamansky to draw a parallel between his team's most recent showdown against local rival Cal State San Bernardino and one six years ago that put his program on the map.

The Broncos (21-7) upended the Coyotes 83-81 in overtime on Friday in the Division II West Sub-regional at Western Washington University.

Cal Poly blew a 19-point second-half lead and needed a last-second 3-pointer from Larry Gordon to send the game into overtime before winning it.

It was all too similar to the 2003 regional final between the same two teams in Hawaii. On that occasion San Bernardino blew a 19-point lead and the Broncos won in double overtime to go on to the Elite Eight for the first time.

So Kamansky wasn't surprised that the Coyotes (20-10) made it interesting.

"We knew they were going to make a run because they're too good a team not to," Kamanksy said. "When these teams play those things happen. It was just another one to add to the books."

The win over the local rival put the No. 3 seeded Broncos in the regional semifinal at 7 tonight against seventh-seeded Seattle Pacific (19-9), which upset second-seeded Western Washington 82-77.

The Broncos led 30-26 at the half and the lead ballooned to 19 as they made eight of their first 10 shots from the field in the second, with a 3-pointer by Gordon making it 51-32 with 14:23 to go.

But it wasn't that easy. The 3-ball that didn't fall in the first half started finding the net. The Coyotes hit 9 of 24 in the game after a 1-for-10 start. Down 60-49 the Coyotes went on an 11-2 run highlighted by two 3s from Lawrence Tyson and one from Tim Denson and trailed 62-60 with 5:21 to go.

It was a nail-biter the rest of the way. The Coyotes seemingly had the game in hand at 70-66 with 48 seconds left only to have Denson miss the front end of a one-and-one with Gordon grabbing the rebound.

Later down 70-68, the Coyotes' Brandon Brown had a breakaway bucket but he was fouled by Gordon going up for the shot. An intentional foul was called but Brown jammed his shoulder and had to come out of the game. Michael Frazier hit the two free throws in his place to make it 72-68.

Denson made one of two to make it 75-72 with 14 seconds left. And set the stage for Gordon's heroics. Austin Swift lofted up a 3 from the top of the key that was off the mark and a scramble for the loose ball followed. Gordon came up with the ball, dribbled out to the corner and hoisted up a shot that was in the air when the buzzer sounded.

"I was initially coming off a screen for Austin," Gordon explained.

"I knew we needed a 3 and worked back. I saw Robert (Summers) was open but I figured I had to take the shot."

Overtime was equally as thrilling. The lead changed hands three times with Cal State's last lead coming at 81-80 on a bucket by Brown off a pass from Denson. But the Broncos answered at their end with Gordon scoring on an uncontested putback, making it 82-81 with 1:09 to go.

Both teams missed their next attempt with Tyson grabbing a rebound with nine seconds left and the Coyotes still down by one. Brown drove to the bucket but was tied up by Gordon going up and the ball went to the Broncos on the alternate possession with 3.1 seconds left. Walter Thompson made one of two free throws after a quick foul to seal the outcome.Dubois Williams inbounded the ball to Brown at midcourt but he bobbled the ball and never got a good shot off.

Cal State shot 47.5 percent (29-for-61) for the game while the Broncos did better 50.8 (31-for-61). The Broncos had a rebounding edge of 41-32 which helped make up for their 20 turnovers.Gordon tied a career-high with 28 points. He also had 13 rebounds.Swift followed with 17 while Thompson contributed 13, 10 of those in the first half Nasser had seven assists.Cal State was led by Brown with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Montgomery and Denson tallied 14 each with Denson also dishing out six assists.

"I thought we did a good job with the pressure early but then we got away from it. Maybe we got a little fatigued," Cal State coach Jeff Oliver said. "We did everything imaginable to lose this game. But they made some big shots too."