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One for the road. First comes a chance to ensure a place in the postseason, then the waiting and watching begins. Seattle Pacific University can clinch at least a tie for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men’s basketball championship Thursday night (Mar. 1) as the Falcons 10-5, 17-9) finish the regular season, at Western Washington, two days earlier than their rivals. Whether that lead will hold through the weekend and how the NCAA Division II tournament selections will be affected remains to be seen. The 64-team bracket and site of the West Regional will be announced Sunday night (Mar. 4) and the postseason begins Mar. 9.

Five for one. Going into the final week, five teams are still in contention for the GNAC crown. The two teams tied behind SPU, Central Washington and Seattle University, each have five losses and meet Thursday at Connolly Center. Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks, each with six defeats, face-off Saturday. The GNAC champion earns an automatic NCAA berth, and should Central prevail it would likely knock out one of the top eight ranked teams in the West.

California on the horizon. It seems almost certain that the regional will be situated somewhere in California for the first time in three years. CCAA leader Humboldt State holds the edge over Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona. Seattle Pacific, the defending GNAC and West champion, was fourth again in last week’s regional rankings. The regional was held in Bellingham in ‘05 and SPU in ‘06. A new poll will be released Feb. 28. The Falcons are seeking their third straight trip to the playoffs and their 18th overall.

Echols equals clutch. For a few moments last week, doubt crept into Falcons’ postseason aspirations. They were beaten at home by a desperate Alaska Fairbanks team, 75-70, and with under four minutes left against Anchorage, their 11-point lead had shrunk to six and the shot clock was winding down. Enter Marques Echols (Jr., 6-2, Seattle, Wa./ Garfield-Peninsula CC). From 23 feet he cast a perfect shot through the cotton for three points. The next time down court, Echols set-up Rob Will (Jr., 6-10, Seattle, Wa./O’Dea) for a layup and suddenly the lead was restored to 11. For the week, Echols came off bench to total 26 points and 10 assists, and hit 5 of 7 threes while not committing a single turnover. He has raised his three-point clip to 50 percent for the season (40-80) to become the GNAC leader, and is shooting 54 percent (27-50) in league play.

Another 500. Yep, he’s breathing rarified air these days. Eight points from now, Dustin Bremerman (Sr., 6-4, Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower) will be become just the second SPU player with two 500-point seasons to his credit. Bremerman hiked his season total to 492 points with a combined 41 last week. Bremerman first eclipsed 500 points last season (575) and can match season record-holder Jeff McBroom’s feat of back-to-back 500s in 1998-99. McBroom’s career mark of 259 three-pointers is within Bremerman’s sights (238), although Loren Anderson’s career scoring total of 1948 seems beyond his reach (he currently has 1760 points). Bremerman is the No. 4 scorer (18.9) in the conference and is 10th nationally in free throw accuracy (.886).

If they shoot, score. Barring a calamity on the boards or some obscene imbalance in free throws, the formula for success is simple: if SPU can shoot well, it wins. Twelve times the Falcons have hit 50 percent or higher from the field, winning 11 of those games. They are 13-1 when scoring 80 or more points. Those are figures are well within reach since Seattle Pacific rates among the national leaders (16th) in field-goal percentage (.503) and leads the GNAC in scoring (80.9). Last week’s hiccup in the equation came against Fairbanks: SPU shot 53 percent but lost after being out-rebounding 39-21. Against Anchorage, the team connected on 60 percent from the floor for the sixth time. The loss to UAF was the first in 30 games over three seasons where the Falcons have shot at least 50 percent and been beaten.

Good signs. Apart from their woes on the boards and lapses in letting Alaska Anchorage unleash fast breaks, Coach Jeff Hironaka’s squad showed that it is a team capable of a tournament run. They obviously shot the ball well, shared it (44 assists) and kept possession (24 turnovers). They bounced back to out-rebound Anchorage, 33-19, and got excellence production from their bench, finishing a plus-18 against the Alaskan reserves. In addition to Echols, Rob Diederichs (Fr., 6-8, Shoreline, Wa./Shorewood) helped ignite the offense midway through the second half vs. the Seawolves. He contributed to 14 consecutive points (10 scored, two baskets created by his assists) in a six-minute span. Casey Reed (So., 6-5, Canby, Or./Canby-Navy) and Filip Popovic (Jr., 6-7, Montenegro, Serbia) backed Will with a combined 10 points and three rebounds in 20 minutes vs. UAA.

Put-backs. To earn the GNAC automatic berth, Seattle Pacific will likely need to finish first outright. The winner of Thursday’s Seattle-Central game would earn a share of the title (or the title outright if SPU loses) and claim the automatic berth in the playoffs by winning again Saturday. Of the five teams still in contention, only UAA does not have an opportunity to take the automatic berth.Drew Matzen (Sr., 6-4, Lynnwood, Wa./Bothell) put together some memorable bursts in his final two home games. Matzen led a late charge against UAF, scoring all nine of his points in 57 seconds before fouling out. In a whirlwind 20 seconds of the first half vs. UAA he scored five points on a deep three, followed by a steal and layup. Matzen finished with 12 points...SPU is the only GNAC team with a winning record (3-2) vs. CCAA teams and is 6-2 in non-conference in-region games...Seattle Pacific finished 11-2 at home this season, but sustained consecutive home losses for the first time since ‘03-04 season...Over the last three games the Falcons have converted 58 percent (90-155) of their field goals and over the last five games they have made 44 percent (56-127) of their three-point attempts... Point guard Brian Lynch (Sr., 6-2, Missoula, Mt./Great Falls-Montana) has 17 assists and just four turnovers in the last five games...Echols has scored in double figures six of the last eight games, averaging 11.4. He is 13 of 18 on threes in the last five games... Diederichs’ 230 points trails only Bremerman (312) and Brannon Stone (264) for a freshman over the last 18 seasons...The Falcons are No. 1 in GNAC scoring (80.9), No. 2 in shooting (.503), three-point accuracy (.393) and three-pointers per game (9.0)...Bremerman is fourth in scoring and sixth in free throw percentage (.886). Will, who rejected five UAF shots, regained the lead in blocks (2.1), and is third in shooting (.574) and eighth in rebounding (6.3). Echols is No. 2 in three-point accuracy (.479). Diederichs is sixth in shooting accuracy (.544). Lynch is eighth in assists (3.4) and ninth in steals (1.3)...In league games, SPU is scoring 84.5 points per game, shooting 52 percent from the field and out-rebounding opponents by 1.8. Bremerman is averaging 20.0 points and Will 14.9 while hitting 60 percent.

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.