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Home & home & home. One of the most critical weeks in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men’s basketball season will be played out, in part, at Brougham Pavilion as Seattle Pacific University opens a three-game home stand and celebrates homecoming. Undefeated at home, the Falcons (5-3, 12-7) are hoping that by holding serve they can conceivably grab ahold of first place. To do that SPU must beat both Northwest Nazarene (25, 7-11) Thursday night (Feb. 1) and fellow contender Seattle University (4-3, 12-6) Saturday afternoon (Feb. 3). The stand concludes Feb. 8 against Central Washington.

Plot could thicken. Going into the second half of the GNAC season everyone is chasing upstart Saint Martin’s, which enters the week with a two-game lead over Seattle Pacific and three others in the loss column. The Saints travel to Alaska for a pair of games this week. The conference champion earns an automatic berth in the NCAA Division II tournament. Last week the Falcons were No. 3 in the West Region, behind Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona. Eight teams will qualify for the regional tournament, Mar. 9-12.

A worldwide audience. Saturday’s homecoming doubleheader will be streamed live on the Internet by CSTV. It is the first such airing of an SPU home event and fans can access the games at no charge at www.NCAAsports.com/DII.

More adjustments. Coach Jeff Hironaka has got himself a moving target. Hironaka, who moved up to No. 3 in in SPU career wins with his 88th last week, no sooner solves one problem and another materializes. In the past month he and his staff had addressed getting more balance in his offense and trying to develop depth. While those areas have emerged as strengths, attention to the defensive end has waned. Seattle Pacific has given up an average of 86.0 points per game in the last four outings, and allowed two of those teams to shoot 50 percent. The Falcons are now 0-5 when opposing teams shoot over 50 percent.

Offense is humming along. A partial explanation for the porous defense, at least last week, was the rapid pace at which SPU scored. Nearly 200 points went through the nets during a 100-90 win over Saint Martin’s and a 98-91 overtime loss at Central Washington. Bouncing back from a loss at Seattle U., the Falcons shot a sizzling 64 percent to hand the Saints their first league loss. Most of the damage was done inside, where 52 points were scored. At Ellensburg there were misfires for the first half (32 percent) before Seattle Pacific rallied from 20 down to force the extra period (hitting 51 percent after halftime). The team is 7-0 when shooting at least 50 percent and now leads the GNAC, averaging 79.5 points (84.9 in league games).

Boding well for Bremerman. Setting-up shop in Brougham is just fine with Dustin Bremerman (Sr., 6-4, Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower). At home this season Bremerman is locked on target, shooting 60 percent from the field, 47 percent on three-pointers and 98 percent from the foul line while averaging 21.8 points–5.5 above his clip elsewhere–in the eight wins. Last week Bremerman saved his best for second halves, totaling 31 points (9-14 FGs). It was after he fouled out with 91 seconds left at Central that the Wildcats scored seven unanswered points to prevail. It’s likely that during this home stand Bremerman, currently with 1621 points, will eclipse Jeff McBroom (1655) for No. 2 on the school’s career list. Loren Anderson is the record-holder at 1941.

The Iceman. Figuring prominently in both overtime games this season has been Marques Echols (Jr., 6-2, Seattle, Wa./ Garfield-Peninsula CC). In the December victory over BYU Hawaii it was Echols who sank three pressure-packed free throws in the final second to force overtime. He did it again, only in more flamboyant fashion, at Central. Echols drained two three-pointers in the final 7 seconds, again creating a tie. He finished the game with a season-high 24 points (4-9 treys). He’s No. 5 in GNAC three-point accuracy (.448)

How homecoming figures. The Falcons have proven most formidable at home over the past three seasons, going 34-2 and winning their last 11. But that pales compared to the homecoming record of 16 straight wins. This season the team is averaging 84.9 points and shooting 51 percent at Brougham. On the flipside, visitors are shooting just 43 percent.

Put-backs. SPU received eight votes in this week’s national rankings, which would translate to No. 28...The late Orville Anderson will be inducted into the Falcon Legends Hall of Fame Friday. Anderson, who passed away last summer, is the fourth player to be enshrined, joining Loren Anderson, Howard Heppner and Jim Ballard. Anderson still holds the single-game rebounding record (25) and is No. 4 in career boards, No. 10 in scoring...Early foul trouble versus Saint Martin’s limited center Rob Will (Jr., 6-10, Seattle, Wa./O’Dea) to a season-low 14 minutes and snapped his run of double-figure scoring at seven games. He responded with 19 points, five assists and nine rebounds at Central. Will now has 100 career blocked shots. He needs four more to become No. 3 on the career chart...Bremerman has now scored at least 13 points in each of his last 13 games. He is 15th nationally in free throw percentage (.890)...SPU is the last remaining GNAC team unbeaten at home...Casey Reed (So., 6-5, Canby, Or./Canby-Navy), now recovered from an early-season ankle sprain, is averaging over 13 minutes in the last five games. He played 23 and scored 11 points and had six rebounds vs. Saint Martin’s...JoJay Jackson (Jr., 6-5, Fairfield, Ca./Vallejo-Solano JC) contributed 17 points and eight boards against the Saints, hitting three treys...Rob Diederichs (Fr., 6-8, Shoreline, Wa./Shorewood) cut loose his highest-scoring game in over a month vs. SMU, scoring 11 of his 16 in the second half...The Falcons are No. 2 in GNAC shooting (.488) and three-pointers per game (9.1, 18th nationally) but still eighth in rebounding margin (-2.2). In conference games they are shooting 50 percent from the field and a plus-2.4 on rebounds...SPU committed 37 turnovers last week and opponents hit 48 percent on threes (20-42). The 21 turnovers vs. Saint Martin’s was the most in 13 games.

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.