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Fly & drive. It could be cause for celebration, this last trip by air during the men’s basketball regular season. Following Seattle Pacific University’s flight to Idaho’s Northwest Nazarene, there will be nearly two months until the next possible folding of long legs and big bodies into those cramped middle seats and such. The Falcons (3-1, 10-5), winners in six of their last seven games, visit NNU (1-3, 6-9) Thursday night (Jan. 18), then return home and take the short, crosstown drive to Seattle University (1-2, 9-5) Saturday (Jan. 20). Afterwards, SPU plays four of the next five at home, beginning Jan. 25 against Saint Martin’s.

Finding their way. Beginning with a season-ending injury sustained on the opening night of the season, Seattle Pacific has been struggling to find the rhythm exhibited during a successful preseason. Yet there are signs that things are settling down, with the Falcons growing in confidence during home wins over Western Oregon (86-74) and Western Washington (80-65) that pushed them into sole possession of second place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. They are now unbeaten in the last 10 games at Brougham Pavilion (7-0 this season) and venture to the road, where they have won two of the last three.

Signs of times. It’s been a rollercoaster ride for Coach Jeff Hironaka and his squad the past couple months. Beating Division I Murray State and Cal Poly Pomona–and coming close against both Saint Mary’s and San Diego State–propelled SPU to No. 4 in the nation by late November. December, however, was downer. The Falcons equaled their longest losing streak in three years, falling to Cal State San Bernardino, Central Missouri and Rollins in succession. It was no disgrace–those teams owning a combined record of 36-5 going into this week–but it certainly tested the SPU resolve. Four wins in a row, capped by the huge GNAC victory at Alaska Anchorage, slowly restored the players’ confidence. Last week’s wins were by the largest margins since Nov. 25 and featured second halves in which it outscored opponents by a combined 26 points.

Will power, indeed. One player in particular seemed to be back in a groove last week. Center Rob Will (Jr., 6-10, Seattle, Wa./O’Dea) resembled the dominant inside force he became in last spring’s West Regional, when he was voted the tournament’s MVP. Will matched his season high with 18 points against Western Oregon but it was his board work–a career-high (and GNAC season-high) 15 rebounds–which spoke volumes. Will added another 18 points and nine boards versus Western Washington, and totaled seven blocked shots for the week. Seattle Pacific, which had been out-rebounded in eight of their previous nine outings, finished the week with a plus-14 in that category. In GNAC games it leads all teams with an average advantage of 4.2 rebounds.

Movin’ on up. On the court, he’s the quiet man in terms of audio. Go to the video, however, and there’s plenty of material provided by Dustin Bremerman (Sr., 6-4, Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower). In some ways it was just another week on the hardwood: 42 points, 11 rebounds and perfect foul-shooting (18-18). But Bremerman’s timing was impeccable. He scored 17 of his 26 (his best output in six weeks) in the second half against Western Washington. He has now converted 28 consecutive free throws over four games and leads the GNAC and ranks seventh in NCAA Division II accuracy at 93.9 percent (62-66). He’s pacing the team in scoring (18.4) and moved into No. 3 on the school’s career list (1544), surpassing Falcon Legends Howard Heppner (1521) and Jim Ballard (1530). Next up is Jeff McBroom (1655).

Bouncing back. Besides the Will-inspired resurgence on the boards, the biggest difference last week was the re-emergence of the bench. Hironaka considered his reserves one of the team’s top strengths coming into the season and now the non-starters are again fulfilling that promise once more. Led by forward Rob Diederichs (Fr., 6-8, Shoreline, Wa./Shorewood) and guard Marques Echols (Jr., 6-2, Seattle, Wa./ Garfield-Peninsula CC), the reserves outscored their counterparts 44-21 last week. Diederichs has scored 34 in his last three games and Echols had five assists and hit some key free throws against the Vikings. A now-healthy Casey Reed (Jr., 6-5, Canby, Or./Canby-Navy) has provided quality relief for Will inside. He snared a season-high five rebounds in 12 minutes vs. WWU. Showing flashes of his star potential in the early stages of that game was Brandon Larrieu (Fr., 5-10, Puyallup, Wa./Franklin Pierce), slicing inside for a couple buckets.

Put-backs. With two more wins, Hironaka will move into No. 3 on the Seattle Pacific coaching victory list. Les Habegger (1957-74) leads with 267. Ken Bone (1990-02) had 251 and Keith Swagerty (1974-80) 87. Hironaka is 86-44, including a record of 56-20 the last two-plus seasons. He was the West Region coach of the year in 2006...SPU (7-0) and Western Oregon are the lone remaining GNAC teams unbeaten at home...Seattle Pacific is 2-2 against teams currently in the Div. II top 25, with wins over No. 24 Pomona and No. 25 Alaska Anchorage and losses to No. 3 Central Missouri and No. 12 San Bernardino...Will (98) is approaching 100 career blocks, and needs six more to become No. 3 on the career chart...The Falcons are still eighth in GNAC rebounding margin (-2.9) for all games and No. 2 in blocks (3.6). In conference games, they have held opponents to 25 percent shooting on three-pointers while hitting 7.5 treys per game on offense. Both figures lead the GNAC. Individually, Will is the blocks leader (2.3) and No. 6 in rebounding (6.6). Bremerman is No. 3 in scoring and needs six more consecutive free throws to tie the GNAC record of 34 in a row...Quietly, JoJay Jackson (Jr., 6-5, Fairfield, Ca./Vallejo-Solano JC) has become the team leader in three-point accuracy (.423), hitting 8 of 15 in the last four games... Bremerman is now ninth in GNAC career scoring...Austin Yuen (Sr., 5-8, Mercer Island, Wa.) saw his first action of the season last week after undergoing offseason knee surgery.

SPU Coaches. In his first season Jeff Hironaka won more games (16) than all but one other first-year SPU coach, and he took a team to the NCAA tournament in only his third year–faster than any predecessor. Hironaka broke new ground again in 2006, as his team reached the Final Four, winning both GNAC and regional titles, and he was voted the West Region Coach of the Year. His record entering this season is 76-39.

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.