Second at stake. A couple modest win streaks will collide Saturday night (Jan. 31) in Bellingham, with second place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men’s basketball standings likely hanging in the balance. Seattle Pacific University (5-3, 9-8), owning a season-best three-game win streak, visits Western Washington (6-2, 12-5), winner of five in a row, to mark the halfway point in the conference campaign. The Falcons remain on the road next week, with stops at Humboldt State and Western Oregon. After that, five of the final seven are at home.

Difficult stretch ahead. SPU still has designs on making a run at the NCAA Division II tournament but it cannot afford to go winless over the next three outings. Hopes for a 2-1 mark or even a single victory are tempered by the combined 27-2 home record of Western Washington, Humboldt and Western Oregon. On the other hand, Coach Jeff Hironaka has his team playing well and they’ve gone 3-3 as the visiting team thus far this season. If the Falcons should win at Bellingham, it would be their longest win string in 41 games.

Interior dominator. In theory, Seattle Pacific possesses the perfect combination of offensive weapons. Center Jason Chivers (Jr., 6-8, Los Angeles, Ca./Highland-L.A. Trade Tech) is the ultimate inside force while a phalanx of deadeye three-point threats stationed around the arc prevent defenses from sagging on Chivers. Last week, Central Washington chose to double-team Chivers but paid the price; SPU shot a season-best 12-18 on three-pointers, with Jeff Knudson (So., 6-7, Mukilteo, Wa./Kamiak) hitting all five of his trey attempts in an 87-77 win. In the 87-62 homecoming victory over Saint Martin’s, Chivers was an inside/outside threat all by himself. He began the game with a three-pointer, then alternated between classic post-up moves and medium-range jumpers, converting 10-13 shots to score 22 points. With 12 rebounds, it was the 11th double double for Chivers in his last 12 games. He’s now averaging 15.9 points and leads the GNAC in rebounding (11.6) and is No. 3 in blocks (1.81).

Deadeyes for the SPU guys. Fouling the Falcons only makes matters worse. Standing 15 feet from the basket with no one in their face, there’s few teams which feature more deadly shooters. Seattle Pacific is No. 4 in the NCAA in free throw accuracy, hitting 78.0 percent. Over the last three games, it has made 45-51 (88 percent). The team’s top four scorers are all making 74 percent or better. Backcourt sparkplug Ralph Steele (Jr., 6-2, No. Birmingham, Al./Huffman-Citrus JC) is No. 3 nationally, sinking 94.2 percent (49-52) from the foul line. Steele has made 29 free throws in a row over the last eight games.

Three musketeers. When Chivers goes to the bench, Hironaka has two options: capable backup post Chris Cohen (Sr., 6-8, Saint Helens, Or.), the squad’s sole senior, or a quick, sharpshooting lineup which can be deadly from the outside. Chad Williams (So., 6-8, Burlington, Wa./Burlington-Edison-Whatcom CC) moves to center, with Knudson, Dustin Bremerman (Fr., 6-4, Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower) and Jordan Lee (Jr., 6-2, Tacoma, Wa./Life Christian). That gives the coach four players on the floor who are shooting over 41 percent on three-pointers and making at least one trey per game. Last week that wrecking crew made a combined 16-32 field goals outside the arc and the team, overall, was 20-41. Lee, the team’s top scorer at 16.4, is No. 3 in the conference, shooting .489 (44-90) on threes. Williams, who also had a season-high nine boards vs . Saint Martin’s, is at .487 (19-39) and Knudson is 44 percent (31-70).

Rest of the West. The Falcons, with a sub-.500 record at the time, were ineligible for the first regional rankings from the NCAA last week. However they have already beaten two of the top five teams, No. 4 Humboldt and No. 5 Alaska Anchorage. Cal State San Bernardino, which rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit in Las Vegas Dec. 20 to defeat SPU, is No. 1. Next are BYU Hawaii and Cal State Bakersfield. The GNAC and California Collegiate Athletic Association champions and the other top six teams in the final West Region rankings will go to the playoffs in March. Washburn (Ks.), which also beat Seattle Pacific in Vegas, is one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the nation at 16-0.

Put-backs. Chivers has averaged 19.9 points over his last nine games. In conference play he is averaging 17.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, 2.25 blocks and shooting 54 percent...Defensively, SPU stole the ball 22 times last week, far above its season average of 6.00, and opponents were just 8-34 on three-pointers...Knudson’s 5-5 on treys against Central is second only to the 6-6 performance by Sergio Gomes in 1990 in school records. It also tied Knudson’s career-high for threes...Bremerman had a season-high six assists vs. SMC and Tony Binetti (So., 6-1, Enumclaw, Wa.) had 10 assists, his second double-digit effort in five games. The team’s 27 assists was a season-best...Steele is the GNAC leader in foul shot percentage and Binetti is No. 5 in assists (5.2)...Seattle Pacific leads in rebounding margin (+4.2) and free throw accuracy...SPU is 9-2 when shooting better than 45 percent from the field, 9-3 when scoring at least 78 points and also 9-3 when out-rebounding foes.

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.