Tough trip ahead. They'll be home for Christmas, mom. But they're taking a roundabout path. In the final men's basketball action prior to a 15-day holiday break, Seattle Pacific University takes its first trip to Texas and returns via Reno. The Falcons (5-1) meet a couple of formidable Division II foes in Missouri Western (4-1) and unbeaten Pittsburg State, Ks., (7-0) at the River City Shootout in San Antonio next Monday and Tuesday (Dec. 16-17). Afterwards, they play their first D-I date in five years at Nevada (2-4) Thursday (Dec. 19). Play resumes Jan. 3-4 in Seattle with the Oak Harbor Freight Lines Classic.

Live like a pro. This particular SPU travel junket resembles the NBA in its concentration of three games in four days and high-mileage travel. The Falcons are going east of the Rockies for the first time since the 2000 Elite Eight in Louisville and they haven't been in Reno to face the Wolf Pack since the 1972-73 season. In fact, D-I teams have shied from playing Seattle Pacific for much of the past seven seasons, with just one game (Weber State in 1997-98) during that span. SPU last defeated a D-I 16 years ago at Eastern Washington.

Dynamite in December. Seattle Pacific has a head of steam going into this road trip, having won its Great Northwest Athletic Conference openers on the road last week. Jeff Hironaka is off to the best start by a new Falcons coach and last week's results were strongly rooted in an improved defensive effort. Central Washington was held 23 points under its scoring average in an 81-71 win and Saint Martin's totaled only 23 second-half points and shot just 31 percent as SPU posted its first blowout of the young season, 79-56. The Falcons have now won 24 consecutive December games, dating back to 1998-99.

Center of attention. After showing mere flashes of his potential in the preseason and first few regular season outings, center Jason Chivers (So., 6-8, Palmdale, Ca./Highland-L.A. Trade Tech) played huge last week, particularly in the Central Washington contest. With the team's top scorer ailing, Chivers stepped forward and became a dominating presence inside. He converted nine of 10 field goals, grabbed 12 rebounds and scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half in the win over the Wildcats. He was in double figures again at St. Martin's, scoring 10 points to wrap-up GNAC player of the week. Chivers, while averaging only 18 minutes of play, leads the team in rebounding at 6.7. Not bad, considering this is only his third year of organized basketball. Chivers played his senior year (1996) of high school before embarking on a four-year stint in baseball's minor leagues, most notably with the New York Mets organization. He played 15 games of junior college ball before a knee injury last season.

Yu still da man. The rest of the West Region is well aware of Yusef Aziz (Sr., 6-4, Seattle, Wa./Foster-Highline CC) and that awareness will no doubt expand on this coming trip. Following a bout with the flu, which contributed to his season-low, 8-point outing at Central, Aziz returned to health and form at Saint Martin's. He hit all five of his field goals and scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half as the Falcons pulled away. It raised Aziz back to an 18.5 scoring average. He also leads the team in assists (3.7), blocks (1.0) and is shooting 54 percent from the field. As a junior transfer, Aziz was voted the GNAC newcomer of the year and selected to both the all-conference and all-region teams. Aziz is the son of Zaid Aziz, a 10-year veteran of the NBA (Royals, Sonics, Rockets, Bucks) and member of the Iowa State athletics hall of fame.

Bombers, yes. Mad, no. Seattle Pacific has demonstrated it has a cast of shooters, evidenced by a 50-percent figure on all field goals and a GNAC-leading 44 percent on three-pointers. Far from being mad bombers, the Falcons have worked patiently for good, high-percentage shots, no matter what the distance. Redshirt freshman forward Jeff Knudson (Fr., 6-7, Mukilteo, Wa./Kamiak) is the purest shooter of the bunch, with a range extending well beyond the arc. Knudson has come off the bench to sink a conference-best 65 percent of his three-pointers and 17-28 field goals overall. Aziz is 5-11 on treys and guards Maurice Cato (Sr., 6-0, Fairfield, Ca.), Adam Harris (Sr., 6-0, Fox Island, Wa./Gig Harbor), Jordan Lee (So., 6-2, Tacoma, Wa./Life Christian) and Tony Binetti (Fr., 6-1, Enumclaw, Wa.) are a combined 26-68 (38 percent). Strangely, while players are locked-in on the hoop from 20 feet, they are struggling at 15. The Falcons are dead last in GNAC free-throw accuracy (.664) after setting a team record of 77 percent last season.

Put-backs. Daniel Sandrin (Sr., 6-7, Bothell, Wa.) moved into the starting lineup last week while Jesse Keely (Sr., 6-7, Fircrest, Wa./Bellarmine) is now coming off the bench. Sandrin totaled 21 points (8-15 FGs, 5-6 FTs) last week. Keely owns a field-goal accuracy mark of .647 (11-17)...Overshadowed by Chivers, Cato scored a season-high 19 points at Central and is No. 2 on the team with an 11.6 average. The four guards are averaging a combined 30.0 points and are a plus-16 in assists-to-turnovers...Since allowing each of the first four opponents to shoot over 47 percent, the defense stiffened last week, allowing only 36 percent shooting and 63.5 points per game...While Seattle Pacific has come up short vs. D-I teams, the point spread has been relatively close. In the past six such encounters (Boise State, Oregon State, Oregon, Washington State twice and Weber State) since 1992, the average margin was 13.2 points...Fellow GNAC members Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Anchorage already own victories over D-Is this season, albeit all on home courts. UAF beat UW-Green Bay, Nebraska and Weber State at the Top of the World Classic while UAA defeated Montana...The Falcons are no stranger to Nevada. They opted to forego the High Desert Classic in Las Vegas in favor of San Antonio. They had gone to Vegas four of the past five seasons, going 6-2 in games there...SPU has not lost consecutive games since the end of the 2000-01 season and has not lost three in a row since midway through the 1997-98 season...Aziz ranks No. 6 in GNAC scoring, assists and blocks and No. 9 in rebounding (6.0). Chivers is eighth in rebounding.

Coaches. SPU Coaches. The longest-serving assistant in program history, Jeff Hironaka was selected to succeed Ken Bone as head coach Apr. 30, 2002. A former aide at Idaho State and The Master's, Hironaka joined Bone in 1991 and from there the Falcons won 236 of 253 games, claimed five outright or shared conference championships and qualified for the NCAA tournament eight of the last nine years, including a Final Four advancement in 2000. Hironaka is the second Japanese-American head coach of a four-year collegiate program. Keith Cooper, an alumnus of Seattle Pacific, is the staff's top assistant. Cooper previously was an assistant at Central Washington.

Missing links. For the latest and best information on Seattle Pacific University athletics, stay where you're at -- on The Falcons Online. For updated standings and statistics, see the Great Northwest Athletic Conference web site.