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Home stretch. They gotten this far, they might as well bring it home. Seattle Pacific University enters the home stretch of the men’s basketball regular season this week, striving to cement a place in the NCAA tournament, if not clinch a share of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship. Yet some formidable foes are coming this way. The 25th-ranked Falcons (9-4, 16-8) go after their third consecutive win Thursday night against Alaska Fairbanks (7-5, 16-10), and Alaska Anchorage (8-5, 17-7) arrives Saturday (Feb. 24) for Seniors Night. The regular season concludes Mar. 1 at Western Washington.

Jockeying for position. Seattle Pacific clings to first place in the GNAC by the slimmest of margins and is also seeking to clinch a third straight NCAA berth and avoid being on the same side of the bracket as the top seed of next month’s Division II West Regional. Red-hot Central Washington, winner of six in a row, trails SPU by a half-game in the conference. The Alaskans and Seattle University each have five losses, one more than the Falcons.

With four to go. Little change is expected in the Feb. 21 regional rankings. Going into last week, CCAA leader Humboldt State held the edge over Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona. Seattle Pacific was fourth. All four teams emerged unscathed last week. Meanwhile, No. 5 Alaska Anchorage and Fairbanks both split while No. 7 Grand Canyon won three times. No. 6 BYU Hawaii was idle. The CCAA and GNAC champion earn automatic NCAA berths with the other six West berths coming from the regional rankings.

Dustin busts for 33. When crunch time comes, clutch players deliver. A year ago, en route to the national semifinals, it was All-American point guard Tony Binetti made play after big play. This time around it could be Dustin Bremerman (Sr., 6-4, Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower). A quiet guy vocally, Bremerman’s game did the talking in the 99-91 road win at Saint Martin’s. He connected on seven (of 11) three-pointers and scored 33 points as the Falcons made a big push midway through the game and eventually led by 19. Bremerman hit 12 of 16 field goals overall on his biggest night in two months and his eight career 30-plus performance. His 18.8 scoring average leads the team.

Hot hands. It seems that when the Falcons shoot well, they are shooting very, very well. Bremerman set a sizzling pace and his teammates followed suit against the Saints, converting 61 percent from the field and 12 of 26 threes. It was the seventh time the squad has shot 58 percent or higher this season. SPU is 10-0 when shooting at least 50 percent and has won 29 in a row under such circumstances going back three seasons. For the year, the Falcons are at 50 percent, ranking second in the GNAC and 22nd nationally.

Last call. Saturday will be the last time Coach Jeff Hironaka’s four graduating seniors will make the climb up the stairs from the locker room to the Brougham Pavilion playing floor, exchange high-fives with the Orange Men and bathe in the applause of their partisan supporters. It’s Senior Night and the last call for Bremerman, starting wing Drew Matzen (Sr., 6-4, Lynnwood, Wa./Bothell), starting point guard Brian Lynch (Sr., 6-2, Missoula, Mt./Great Falls-Montana) and reserve Austin Yuen (Sr., 5-8, Mercer Island, Wa.). Bremerman will leave as the school’s No. 2 career scorer and three-point producer. Matzen, a two-year starter, is averaging a career-best 9.0 points and 2.8 assists. Lynch has started all but one game and leads SPU in both assists (3.5) and steals (1.4). Yuen has bounced back from offseason knee surgery to play six times during the second half of the season.

A world audience. Saturday’s Senior Night doubleheader will be streamed live on the Internet by CSTV. Fans can access the games at no charge at www.NCAAsports.com/DII.

X-men. Six players scored in double figures at Lacey, and the inside troika of Rob Will (Jr., 6-10, Seattle, Wa./O’Dea), JoJay Jackson (Jr., 6-5, Fairfield, Ca./Vallejo-Solano JC) and Casey Reed (So., 6-5, Canby, Or./Canby-Navy) inflicted lots of damage. Jackson (15), Will (14) and Reed (11) combined for 40 points, converting 13 of 20 shots and 13 of 16 free throws. Will and Jackson also had seven rebounds apiece. Inside the arc, SPU shot 21 of 28.

Put-backs. Seattle Pacific is 36-3 at home over three seasons and 10-1 this season, shooting 52 percent and averaging 85.3 points. The Falcons have not sustained consecutive home losses since the end of the ‘03-04 season (vs. the Alaskans)...In career scoring, Bremerman (1719) trails only Loren Anderson (1941), who erupted for a school-record 54 points on his senior night in 1958. Bremerman is No. 8 in GNAC career scoring and his 232 threes trails only the 259 of Jeff McBroom at SPU. He has now scored at least 13 points in each of his last 18 games and is 10th nationally in free throw percentage (.881). Bremerman’s seven treys is two shy of his career-high and school co-record set earlier this season. His 75-percent shooting was a season-best...Over the last six games the Falcons have converted 85 percent (105-124) of their free throws and 46 percent (38-82) of their three-point attempts...Lynch who had seven assists at SMU, has 13 and just three turnovers in the last three outings...Marques Echols (Jr., 6-2, Seattle, Wa./ Garfield-Peninsula CC) has come off the bench to score in double figures four of the last six games, averaging 10.9. He is 8 of 11 on threes in the last three games...Reed’s four double-figure games have come in the last seven. He has 13 assists in the last four games...Rob Diederichs (Fr., 6-8, Shoreline, Wa./Shorewood) is due for a breakout display. Averaging nearly 11 points at home, he has only scored in double figures once in the last 10 contests. Diederichs’ 215 points trails only Bremerman (312) and Brannon Stone (264) for a freshman over the last 18 seasons...Adam Wardell (Fr., 6-2, Sedro Woolley, Wa.) has played 25 minutes in last two games and has 10-1 assists-to-turnovers in last six games...The Falcons are No. 2 in GNAC scoring (80.9), shooting (.499) and three-pointers per game (9.0)...Bremerman is fourth in scoring and fifth in free throw percentage (.881). Will dropped to No. 2 in blocks (2.0), and is fifth in shooting (.566) and eighth in rebounding (6.3). Echols is No. 2 in three-point accuracy (.479). Diederichs is sixth in shooting accuracy (.544)..

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.