Tuesday, December 18, 2012

PORTLAND, Ore. - Almost as many GNAC teams as not received votes in this week's NCAA Division II national polls.

A total of nine teams (out of 20) - six women's and three men's - got votes and five earned rankings in the Top 25.

Western Washington (8-0) had the highest ranking earning a No. 5 in the men's NABC poll.  The Vikings extended their two-season win streak to  14 games with a 72-69 victory over No. 14 Drury, Mo. (7-1) Tuesday in the South Point Holiday Classic in Las Vegas.  Seattle Pacific (9-1) is ranked seventh and Alaska Anchorage (8-2) is ranked 25th.

In the WBCA USA Today Sports Top 25, Simon Fraser (8-1) is ranked ninth and Western Washington is ranked 20th.  WWU improved to 7-2 with a 64-62 win over Washburn Tuesday.

Four schools - Montana State Billings (7-2), Seattle Pacific (7-2),  Alaska Anchorage (5-2) and Northwest Nazarene (8-2) - are among "others receiving votes" and are 40th, 43rd, 49th and 54th overall.

Center Chris Mitchell  had a team-high 16 points, including two critical free throws with 19.3 seconds left, lifting Western Washington to its men's victory. Forward Ian Carter led Drury with game-highs of 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Drury tied the game at 67-67 on a fast break dunk by Cameron Adams with 2:17 to play, but Adams was assessed a technical foul for hanging on the rim, and John Allen put WWU  in front to stay with two free throws. 

A Richard Woodworth  free throw extended the margin to three, but two Carter free throws with 1:07 remaining narrowed the gap to one, 70-69. A shot clock violation gave the ball back to Drury, which ran a pick-and-roll that got Brandon Lockhart into the lane on a drive. Lockhart’s layup missed, and Mitchell grabbed the rebound and was fouled, then hit two free throws.

Drury had a pair of 3-point attempts in the final 10 seconds, but both were off line.  Allen finished with 15 points for the Vikings and moved into 11th place in WWU career scoring. Woodworth added 12 points, all in the second half.

MSUB Dunk on Sports Center

Montana State University Billings’ Sam Johnson, had his slam dunk highlight featured on ESPN’s Sports Center Tuesday.

Johnson’s dunk from Monday’s Rocky Mountain College victory was named No. 3 on the daily Sports Center Top 10. On a fastbreak, the junior threw the ball off of the backboard to himself and dunked it.

Johnson was one of four Yellowjackets over 20 points in the win. The Chicago, Ill. native, scored 23, Kalob Hatcher had a game-high 25, and both Jarrell Crayton and Omar McDade recorded 22.