ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Dec. 5) -- Jason Chivers grabbed 12 rebounds and scored 22 points, 18 in the second half, as Seattle Pacific University opened Great Northwest Athletic Conference play by beating Central Washington 81-71 at Nicholson Pavilion Thursday night.

Maurice Cato (Sr., 6-0, Fairfield, Ca.) added 19 points and Daniel Sandrin (Sr., 6-7, Bothell, Wa.) 12 in his first start as the Falcons (1-0, 4-1) won for the third year in a row on the Wildcats' (0-1, 3-2) home floor and for the seventh time in the last eight meetings.

Chivers (So., 6-8, Palmdale, Ca.) and Cato combined for 12 points in the final five minutes after Central had trimmed a 17-point lead to 65-62.

Chivers muscled inside for two baskets during a 10-4 run which pushed the lead back to 75-66 with 1:15 to go. He made nine of 10 shots, all from close range.

The Falcons, beginning a stretch of five straight road games, visit Saint Martin's Saturday night in Lacey.

Both teams' top scorers were strangely quiet. Yusef Aziz (Sr., 6-4, Seattle, Wa./Foster) of SPU had scored a career-high 32 points in an 84-81 non-conference victory Nov. 23 in Seattle, but managed only eight points on 4-11 shooting. The Wildcats' Kasey Ulin, who averaged 18.0 points, finished with 15, all in the second half.

The Falcons shot 61 percent (19-31) from the field in the second half and 55 percent for the game (33-60). Central, which had averaged 94.0 points in its first five outings, shot 42 percent from the floor (23-55) and, worse, 18-32 from the foul line while committing 20 turnovers.

Seattle Pacific saw an early lead erased but then reeled off nine unanswered points to take a 33-24 lead shortly before halftime and never trailed thereafter. Sandrin scored four points during the run which was punctuated by a Cato trey. The bulge grew to 40-28 two minutes into the second half on a three-pointer by Cato after Chivers stole an inbounds pass. Chivers gave SPU its biggest margin at 53-36 with 13 minutes left.

SEATTLE PACIFIC--Aziz 8, Sandrin 12, Chivers 22, Cato 19, Harris 4, Lee 3, Binetti 6, Keely 4, Woodard 0, Cohen 0.

CENTRAL WASH.--Ulin 15, Thompson 14, Bond 5, Mitchell 8, Lewis 6, Freymond 4, Kernen 2, Van Hook 2, Boast 11, Thomas 4.

Halftime--SPU 33, CWU 26.