SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (Mar. 6) -- Experience will hopefully count for something when the Seattle Pacific University men's basketball team opens the postseason play Thursday night.

The Falcons (23-4), ranked No. 9 nationally and seeded third in the West Regional, face former conference rival BYU Hawaii (19-9) in the first game of the tournament at 5:30. Whereas the Seasiders have only one holdover from their playoff team of two years ago, SPU features a veteran squad in terms of playoff experience, a total of 29 games in all.

"There's something to be said for experience," said SPU Coach Ken Bone, whose program has made the NCAA Division II tournament each of the last five years and eight of the last nine. "The fact that we've been in this situation before usually helps ease the nervousness, especially in those first 10-15 minutes of the opening game."

Seattle Pacific has advanced to the West championship game three of the last four years, and took the regional title en route to the Final Four in 2000. Starters Brannon Stone and Nick Johnson were both key members of that team.

The only first-round exit was an overtime loss to Central Washington a year ago.

Humboldt State, the No. 2 seed, awaits the winner in Friday?s first semifinal. SPU defeated the Lumberjacks 81-78 at home last Saturday to earn a share of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship.