Ringing out ‘03. If all goes well at next week’s Oak Harbor Freight Lines Holiday Classic, the Seattle Pacific University men’s basketball team will also have something to celebrate on New Year’s Eve. The Falcons (4-5), back home following a stretch of seven consecutive road games, resume play Monday night (Dec. 29) when they face West Virginia’s Alderson-Broaddus (4-2) in the tournament’s first round. On Tuesday evening (Dec. 30), the tourney concludes with SPU meeting longtime foe Saint Martin’s (3-6). Seattle University (4-3) plays in the 5 o’clock game each night. Great Northwest Athletic Conference action begins again Jan. 8 at home against Western Oregon.

Streaks stop here. It was the longest stretch of road games in 14 years and by the seventh and final stop the Falcons were no doubt longing to come home. Seattle Pacific stumbled twice in Las Vegas against two tough teams (combined record of 14-1) and broke for Christmas with a sub-.500 record. It’s a rare occurrence, having happened only once in the last 12 seasons. Almost as rare are three-game losing streaks (once in the past four seasons), something Coach Jeff Hironaka hopes to avoid when the Falcons face Alderson-Broaddus, an NCAA Division II tournament team a year ago. It will be the first home game since Nov. 22 and will commence a four-game homestand, the year’s longest.

Doubles no trouble. Hironaka has listed a few factors which would make or break his young team’s postseason chances this next March. Central to the Falcons’ hopes is the play of center Jason Chivers (Jr., 6-8, Los Angeles, Ca./Highland-L.A. Trade Tech), who would need to average doubles figures in points and rebounds, according to Hironaka. And, despite a twisted ankle early on, Chivers is delivering the goods. He has posted five straight double doubles, averaging 17.6 points and 13.2 rebounds over that span. Chivers leads the GNAC in rebounding at 10.7 and is No. 2 in blocked shots (1.89). He’s also on the rise, coming off career-highs last week in rebounds (18) and scoring (26).

Just a Dustin freshman. Pssst. Here’s a tip: the early line on GNAC freshman of the year has forward Dustin Bremerman (Fr., 6-4, Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower) as the favorite. But please, no wagering. The NCAA frowns on that sort of thing. Bremerman, who has waited two years to get back on the court, first won a starting job and is now looking like one of the most prolific scoring first-year players at Seattle Pacific in 15 years. He’s scored 10 or more points in six of nine games and has connected on three or more three-pointers four times. Last week he hit for 20 points twice. He sank four treys in the 80-67 win at UC San Diego. Bremerman is the team’s No. 2 rebounder (5.2) and No. 3 scorer (12.7). The last SPU frosh to average in double figures was Jackie Johnson (20.0) in 1988-89.

No letup for Lee. Speaking of rarities, it’s been awhile since a Falcon improved his scoring average by four fold. Now, meet Jordan Lee (Jr., 6-2, Tacoma, Wa./Life Christian). After averaging 3.6 points per game as a sophomore, Lee leads SPU at 16.7 and has nearly scored as many points in his first nine games (150) as he did in his first two seasons (161). Lee pumped in 25 points–his fourth 20-point outing in six games–in the 101-93 loss to Cal State San Bernardino in Las Vegas last week. His strong suits are creating his own shot and hitting consistently from the outside. Lee has three games of five three-pointers and is shooting 51 percent (25-49) outside the arc. At the foul line, he made his first 16 free throws this season. He ranks fourth in the conference in shooting from three-point range, the free throw line (.893) and is 10th in scoring.

Put-backs. This is the ninth annual Oak Harbor Freight Lines Holiday Classic. The Falcons’ run of 13 straight wins in the tournament ended abruptly last year with a 83-67 loss to Rocky Mountain College in the title game... Point guard Tony Binetti (So., 6-1, Enumclaw, Wa.) scored a career-best 17 points at UC San Diego. He is sixth in GNAC assists (5.0) and leads the league in assists to turnovers ratio (3.26:1)...Jeff Knudson (So., 6-7, Mukilteo, Wa./Kamiak), mired in a sophomore shooting slump, is shooting 11-31 on three-pointers after leading the GNAC at 50 percent in his first year. Knudson scored 10 points in the 81-69 loss to Washburn...Chivers has converted 54 percent (40-74) from the field in the last six games. His first career three-pointer came against CSSB. One-third of his rebounds (32) have come off the offensive glass...Reserve guard Ralph Steele (Jr., 6-2, No. Birmingham, Al./Huffman-Citrus JC) is also in a shooting funk, going 7-31 in the last four games. Steele did score 14 vs. San Bernardino and he’s 20-22 at the foul line (91 percent)...Seattle Pacific leads the conference in free throw accuracy (.777)...Cal State San Bernardino’s 69 second-half points was the most by an opponent in one period since at least 1996...SPU is 4-1 when shooting better than 45 percent from the field and also 4-1 when out-rebounding foes. In four of the five losses, opponents have shot 48 percent or higher.

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.