Happy holidays, indeed. With just a few days remaining in 2004, Seattle Pacific University has served notice that its men’s basketball team could be one to watch in March of 2005. The Falcons (8-2) take a six-game win streak into the Christmas break and next week’s Oak Harbor Freight Lines Holiday Classic. SPU faces Wisconsin Parkside (3-7) in the first round Wednesday night (Dec. 29) and Puget Sound (6-0), the No. 3 team in Division III, to complete the calendar year Thursday evening (Dec. 30). Great Northwest Athletic Conference play resumes Jan. 6 at Central Washington.

The best gift. The Falcons should enjoy their best Christmas in at least three years, thanks to a couple of impressive victories in Las Vegas. After sliding down a slippery slope into the holidays the past couple seasons, they have built considerable momentum going into New Year’s and, with a pair of wins at their own tournament, could find themselves on the verge of a national ranking. Seattle Pacific is off to its best start and owns the longest win streak in the three-year term of Coach Jeff Hironaka. Last week, SPU defeated Cal State Bakersfield in a vital intra-region contest, 66-62, and then dispatched previously unbeaten Central Missouri State, 90-80. It was the fourth time scoring 90 or more points during the six-game win streak.

Home, sweet Brougham. Seeking to reestablish the reputation of Brougham Pavilion as the visitors’ nightmare on Nickerson Street, the Falcons have started 4-0 at home for the first time since 1996-97 and they hope to continue that success during the 10th annual Oak Harbor Freight Lines Holiday Classic. What’s more, Hironaka hopes to use the tourney as a springboard going into the first two GNAC road games. In the past two seasons, SPU was a combined 11-11 heading into the resumption of conference play and promptly lost. This time around, the Falcons are near the top of the league standings and have a goal of not only reaching the NCAA Division II tournament for the first time in three years, but perhaps earning the top seed in the West Region.

On guards. Paramount to the success so far has been the play of the SPU guards. With defenses designed to collapse around center Jason Chivers (Sr., 6-8, Los Angeles, Ca./Highland-L.A. Trade Tech), the starting backcourt tandem of Tony Binetti (Jr., 6-1, Enumclaw, Wa.) and Jordan Lee (Sr., 6-1, Tacoma, Wa./Life Christian) took over in Vegas last weekend. Lee was selected as co-player of the week in the GNAC after erupting for a season-high 28 points to hold off Bakersfield. He scored the team’s final eight points and drove inside to make 11 of his 17 field-goal attempts. Binetti, back from an ankle sprain which sidelined him one game, poured in a career-best 25 points and added seven assists the next day against Central Missouri. The point man has averaged 14.3 points and has 22 assists to just four turnovers in four December games. Altogether, the four SPU guards shot 15-18 from the field vs. Central Missouri, including an amazing 8-8 from behind the three-point arc.

Wing men. What began as 1-2 punch of Chivers and Lee is now becoming the multi-pronged attack which Hironaka envisioned in the offseason. Along with Binetti, both Dustin Bremerman (So., 6-4, Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower) and Ralph Steele (Sr., 6-2, No. Birmingham, Al./Huffman-Citrus JC) are finding their respective offensive rhythm. Steele helped jump-start SPU after a sleepy first few minutes against Central Mo. and finished with 11 points off the bench. He’s averaged 10.7 points in the last six outings. Bremerman totaled 29 points at Vegas, and has hit 55 percent of his shots and averaged 14.3 points over the last four games. Steele leads the team in overall shooting percentage (.542) while Bremerman is second in the conference among foul shooters, converting 91.2 percent.

Fence mending. Defense was a hallmark of the great SPU teams of the Nineties, and this squad, although fancied for its offense, is beginning to bare its teeth on the other end of the court. When the offense stalled late against Bakersfield, the defense forced three late turnovers, enabling the Falcons to earn their first win in three seasons when scoring fewer than 70 points. When Central Missouri cut a 12-point deficit to one, it was defense which caused the Mules to miss their final six shots. Seattle Pacific has allowed opponents to shoot just 40.3 percent overall and 29.2 percent on three-pointers. Both figures lead the GNAC.

Put-backs. Chivers notched his fifth double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds vs. Bakersfield. He also added a season-high five assists and had two blocked shots...Mike Bushmaker (Jr., 6-7, Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower) contributed seven points in 14 minutes vs. Central Missouri...Dating back to late last season, the Falcons have won 13 of their last 17 regular season games...During the current win string, SPU has held four foes under 70 points and in the eight wins no opponent has shot better than 43 percent...Seattle Pacific has made over 50 percent of its field goals in seven of its wins this season and is 17-3 when doing so over the past two seasons...Seattle Pacific’s 8.2 treys per game is third in the GNAC and it is No. 2 accuracy of .403. The Falcons are No. 1 in field-goal percentage (.493). Individually, Chivers is No. 2 in the conference in rebounding (10.3) and is seventh in scoring (14.2). Bremerman is second in free throw accuracy (.912). Lee is third in three-point accuracy (.531) and sixth in scoring (14.8). Binetti is No. 3 in assists (4.4) and eighth in both three-point shooting (.462) and overall field-goal percentage (.540). Steele is sixth in shooting (.542).

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. Brock Veltri is Hironaka’s chief assistant. Veltri spent two years in a similar position with Scottsdale Community College in Arizona. A former Idaho State graduate assistant, he played two years at Peninsula College in Port Angeles, Wa. Scott Reid, a King Co coach of the year at Bellevue’s Newport High School, is in his second season and George Parker, who first served as a volunteer assistant in 1986, returns for his 16th year.

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.

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.