Christmas break. The textbooks, blue books, pens and No. 2 pencils have all been put away. Final exams are finished and now it’s time for nothing but hoops for a few weeks. On the road. Under the sun. Seattle Pacific University resumes its men’s basketball schedule next week with its fifth, sixth and seventh consecutive games on the road. Following a 10-day break, the Falcons (3-3) face UC San Diego (1-3) Tuesday night (Dec. 16). Then comes the High Desert Classic in Las Vegas and afternoon bouts with Cal State San Bernardino (3-1) Friday (Dec. 19) and Washburn (6-0) Saturday (Dec. 20). After Christmas, SPU hosts the Oak Harbor Freight Lines Classic Dec. 29-30 at Brougham Pavilion.

Worlds apart. Sure, playing on the road becomes tiresome after awhile. The hotels and airports all begin to look the same. But the difference between the Falcons’ last stop and their next one cannot be understated: roughly 2700 miles and 81 degrees. In Fairbanks last weekend, the temperature was 16 below zero when the team arrived (undeterred, Coach Jeff Hironaka still took his daily 5-mile run). In San Diego, Hironaka can leave his woollies behind; the forecast is for sun and 65 (above). The Elvis (and Bing) impersonators may be singing White Christmas in Vegas, but The Strip should be warm and dry.

Heir Jordan. Hironaka lost his top scorer, Yusef Aziz, after last season. And although he might have been tempted to seek some transfer to fill that role, he also believed the answer could come from within. Surprisingly, the choice as Aziz’s heir-apparent was Jordan Lee (Jr., 6-2, Tacoma, Wa./Life Christian), who had averaged 3.0 points per game in his first two seasons. Lee got the green light to look for his shot during a summer tour of Australia, averaging 23.2 points in five games. Following a slow start due to an ankle injury, he is going gangbusters once again. Lee poured in 29 points in the 89-83 overtime win at Alaska Anchorage and totaled 50 points for the week while hitting 10-16 three-pointers. He is averaging 23.0 points over the past four games and 17.0 for the season. Lee leads the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in free throw percentage (16-16) and is fifth in three-point accuracy (52 percent, 16-31). He has already scored more points (101) than in 25 games (91) as a sophomore.

Chivers in charge. Like Lee, center Jason Chivers (Jr., 6-8, Los Angeles, Ca./Highland-L.A. Trade Tech) got off to a sluggish start after twisting an ankle. But the big guy is on the mend and beginning to fulfill his key role. In Alaska he posted back-to-back double doubles as the Falcons came away with a respectable road split. Chivers sparked SPU in the second half at Anchorage and finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots before fouling out in overtime. He had 15 points, 14 boards and two blocks at Fairbanks, where Seattle Pacific succumbed, 81-76. Chivers has averaged 14.3 points over the last three games. He leads the GNAC in shot-blocking (1.83) and is No. 2 in rebounding (9.2).

Just a freshman, sort of. If freshman forward Dustin Bremerman (Fr., 6-4, Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower) is performing at a level which belies his class standing, well, no wonder. Bremerman has waited two years to get back on the court after attending community college one year and serving a redshirt season at SPU. So in many ways it’s not surprising that he has won a starting job and is now becoming a prominent third prong in the offense. Bremerman scored five of his 16 points in overtime as SPU beat Anchorage, a team which was coming off two Div. I wins. He connected on a trey and a long two-pointer in the final frame. At Fairbanks he came back with 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists. He is now averaging 11.7 points and 6.0 boards and shooting 52 percent from the field.

Put-backs. Tony Binetti (So., 6-1, Enumclaw, Wa.) salted away the UAA win with a key rebound and three key free throws in the final 11 seconds. He is fourth in GNAC assists (5.7) and leads the league in assists to turnovers ratio (4.25:1)...The Falcons finished with five in double figures at Anchorage, including Mike Bushmaker (So., 6-7, Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower), who had 11 points and a career-high eight rebounds as Seattle Pacific finished with a 43-27 advantage on the boards...Each of the last three games played at Anchorage has gone to overtime, with SPU winning two of those...Last week Seattle Pacific shot 20-44 (45 percent) from outside the arc and 25-31 (81 percent) at the foul line. It leads the GNAC in free throw accuracy (.792) and is third in three-point accuracy (.389) after a cold (12-39) start in the first three games...The Falcons began conference play with a victory for the third year in a row and the eighth time in nine seasons...SPU and travel partner Western Washington were the only road teams to win in nine games on the opening weekend of GNAC play...Les Habegger, the head coach from 1957-74, will be inducted into the Falcon Legends Hall of Fame Jan. 23, during Homecoming weekend. Habegger’s teams won 267 games and made six trips to the NCAA tournament. He went on to become assistant coach for the SuperSonics’ NBA Championship team in 1979 and was later very successful as a pro coach in Germany.

Tickets, Please. Reserved tickets for all SPU home games are priced $7 and $6. General admission is $5 with youth, students and senior citizens $3 with proper identification. Groups can qualify for discounts by calling (206) 281-2085 in advance.

SPU Coaching Staff. In his first season Jeff Hironaka won more games (16) than all but one other first-year SPU coach. A former aide at Idaho State and The Master’s, Hironaka became Ken Bone’s top assistant 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 times, including a Final Four advancement in 2000. Hironaka is the second Japanese-American head coach of a four-year collegiate program...As both coach and player, Ben Scheffler has been associated with seven NCAA tournament teams. The staff’s top assistant, Scheffler started three seasons at guard and later served on Bone’s staff from 1998-01. He was a volunteer assistant at Washington in 2001-02. Scott Reid joins the staff following two years as KingCo coach of the year at Bellevue’s Newport High School. George Parker who first served as a volunteer assistant in 1986, returns for his 15th year. Dan Barfoot serves as graduate assistant and Maurice Cato, starting point guard the past two years, is student assistant.

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.