Division II game of the week. Winning streaks, the conference lead and top-10 national rankings are all amongst the spoils when 8th-ranked Seattle Pacific University faces No. 10 Humboldt State Thursday night (Jan. 24). It will be the first road game in over a month for the Falcons (7-0, 15-1), who have won a school-record 15 straight while the Lumberjacks (6-1, 15-1) own a 12-game home win streak. SPU visits Western Oregon (2-5, 5-11) Saturday night (Jan. 26) before returning to Brougham Pavilion for homecoming week and a bout with Saint Martin's Jan. 31.

On top for now. It's a good thing that Seattle Pacific holds a slight lead in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings because seven of the next nine games are on the road. Humboldt and Western Washington each trail by one game as the GNAC schedule approaches the halfway point. And the Falcons, unbeaten at 5-0 on the road this season, are also trying to stay within striking distance of the top spot in the region. Cal State San Bernardino not only holds the No. 1 position in the West but in the entire nation with a record of 15-0. SPU is expected to overtake Humboldt as the region's No. 2 team later this week. The No. 8 national ranking is an improvement of one spot from last week and the highest since a two-week stay at No. 4 in 1993-94.

On a roll. Rarely do teams live up to their billing but the Falcons seemed to have raised their level of play with each successive victory. Coach Ken Bone said that his team's performance during the first half of last week's 95-64 defeat of Alaska Anchorage was the best of the past two years. It came on the heels of an 81-56 win over Alaska Fairbanks. In its last three outings, SPU has hit a combined 58 percent of its field goals and it has committed less than 10 turnovers in three of the last four games. The defeat of Anchorage featured a season-high of 60-percent shooting and the win erased the old record of 14 straight set in 1965-66.

Balance versus Big Three. As the only game this week featuring two top-10 teams, Seattle Pacific's visit to Arcata, Ca., is sure to attract attention from throughout the country. On the court, there will be several interesting matchups. It pits the top defensive team in the GNAC (SPU allows opponents to shoot only .408 and score 64.8 points) and the most explosive offensive club (HSU averages 91.9 points per game). And while the Falcons are uniquely balanced, with all five starters averaging between 10.2 and 16.1 points, the Lumberjacks boast the conference's Big Three. Austin Nichols leads the league in scoring (23.1) and both Fred Hooks (19.4) and Isaac Gildea (16.4) rate amongst the top 10. Hooks is the top rebounder in the GNAC at 12.0.

But are they elite? Already the question is being posed to Bone: Is this squad as good as the Falcons who went to the Final Four in 2000? There's certainly a lot of basketball to be played but they are formidable. They are stronger both on defense and in rebounding and the bench seems deeper. Offensively, they may not be as potent yet they are more versatile. Four of the five starters are effective both in post-up positions and on the perimeter. Forward Yusef Aziz (Jr., 6-4, Seattle, Wa./Foster-Highline CC) is the epitome of that concept, using his quickness against bigger opponents and his strength versus the smaller ones. He leads the team with a 16.1 scoring average and is third in the conference in field-goal accuracy (.607), including 10 of 27 -pointers. In fact, the SPU starting frontline of Aziz, Brannon Stone (Sr., 6-9, Oak Harbor, Wa.) and center Eric Sandrin (Sr., 6-10, Bothell, Wa./Shorecrest) has 43 treys. Stone is coming off a week in which he hit 6-12 shots outside the arc, scored 31 points and passed for 11 assists with just one turnover to earn GNAC co-player of the week.

Keep 'em coming. One reason the frontline is so efficient is that Bone keeps his players fresh, and he can do that because of some high-quality reserves. Daniel Sandrin (Jr., 6-7, Bothell, Wa./Bothell-Portland) and Gene Woodard (Jr., 6-4, Edmonds, Wa./O'Dea) would've won starting jobs at many GNAC schools, particularly in light of their play during the first half of this season. Sandrin came off the bench for 20 points last week, canning 9-13 shots. He also had three assists, two blocks and two steals. Sandrin is fourth in the conference in shooting (.597) and averages 7.4 points. Woodard contributed eight points and three steals vs. Fairbanks and is averaging 6.2 points and shooting .507.

Put-backs. Thursday's game can be heard live over the Internet at www.hsujacks.com...SPU has had fewer turnovers than its opponent in 14 of 16 games this season and has out-rebounded 13 of 15 foes...Seattle Pacific leads the conference in scoring defense, field-goal percentage defense, offensive field-goal percentage (.494) and scoring margin (+17.3) and is second in rebounding margin (+5.6), steals (9.4) and turnover margin (+2.94)...Aziz is second among GNAC leaders in steals (2.06) and third in field goal percentage. Stone is fourth in steals (1.9), fifth in assists (4.6) and blocks (1.25) and seventh in steals (1.75). Nick Johnson (Sr., 6-3, Burlington, Wa./Burlington-Edison) is second in free throw percentage (.875)...Stone surpassed Bob Rochelle (1957-61) and Orville Anderson (1955-59), respectively, to become the school's No. 4 career rebounder and No. 7 scorer last week. He needs 45 points to become No. 6 and 17 steals to own that career record...The next win will be the 250th in Bone's career. He missed the final 25 minutes of last year's game Arcata after being ejected for the only time in his caeeer...Maurice Cato (Jr., 6-0, Fairfield, Ca.) had a season-high six assists and Daniel Sandrin a career-high seven rebounds vs. Alaska Fairbanks...Chris Cohen (So., 6-8, Saint Helens, Or.) had a season-best six points and three boards vs. UAA...Stone's double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds vs. UAF was his second of the season...SPU hit a season-high 59 percent (10-17) treys vs. UAA but managed only 9-17 the line, a season-low 53 percent...Less than 75 reserved seats remain for the Feb. 2 homecoming game vs. Central Washington but plenty of general admission seats are available.

Opponent & series notes. Seattle Pacific has won 16 in a row over Humboldt State and leads the series 16-1, but the last three games have been settled by a total of seven points. That includes a 77-76 victory at Arcata a year ago on a last-second rebound layup by Aaron Bellessa (Jr., 6-2, Federal Way, Wa./Decatur). At home, SPU prevailed 91-88 in overtime. The 'Jacks won their first 15 games before losing at Central Jan. 17...The Falcons have won six of seven meetings with Western Oregon, including four in a row. Robert Day leads the Wolves, averaging 18.9 points.

SPU Coaches. In his 11 years as coach of his alma mater, Ken Bone has directed the Falcons to seven NCAA tournament berths, five conference titles and 11 consecutive winning records. His winning percentage of .712 is the best in school history, surpassing even the legendary Les Habegger. From 1995-2000 Bone's teams advanced to the regional championship game five times, including a record 27 wins and Final Four appearance in 2000. Jeff Hironaka is in his 11th year as associate head coach. Jarrett Mentink returns to the staff after a four-year absence this season. George Parker who first served as an assistant in 1986, returns for his 13th year on the staff. Former all-conference forward Reggie Paul joins the staff after five seasons of playing professionally in Europe and Asia.