Wednesday, January 14, 2015
PORTLAND, Ore. – If nothing else, Central Washington and Western Washington make great television.
For the sixth year in a row a game between the two long-time rivals will be televised regionally on ROOT SPORTS Wednesday. Tipoff is at 8 p.m. at Nicholson Pavilion.
Four of the five previous TV games, which were all played at Sam Carver Gymnasium in Bellingham, have been decided by four points or less.
WWU won the last two in the final seconds – 86-85 two years ago on a shot by Paul Jones and 94-91 last February on a half-court buzzer beater by Richard Woodworth.
The Vikings also beat CWU 90-86 in 2010, 66-62 in 2011 and 99-86 in 2012 in televised games.
Western Washington comes into the game off another buzzer-beater ROOT SPORTS victory – a 68-66 victory Saturday over Seattle Pacific on a layup by Ricardo Maxwell.
That was WWU’s 11th straight home victory. The Vikings (9-6, 2-3) are 8-0 at Carver this season, but are only 1-6 on the road.
Maxwell, who has missed six of WWU’s 15 games, led the Vikings with 17 points and is averaging 15.7. Jaamon Echols, who has sat out five games, is averaging a team-best 19. 2 points.
Jeffrey Parker is scoring 15 points per game and Joey Schreiber is averaging 12.6. Schreiber had 38 points Thursday in a 88-68 home win over MSU Billings, tying a GNAC single-game record for most points by a non-starter.
Anye Turner is also a key player for the Vikings leading the GNAC in rebounding (8.2) and blocked shots (3.4).
Central Washington (8-4, 3-2), which split two games last weekend, is led in scoring by Dom Williams who is averaging 17.5 points.
Also averaging in double figures are Jordan Russell (12.0), Gary Jacobs (11.3) and Joseph Stroud (10.2).
Stroud leads the GNAC in field goal percentage at 72.5 (the all-time conference record is 72.9) and the Wildcats in rebounding (5.3) and blocked shots (32).
WWU-CWU TV Games: Feb. 28, 2010 – WWU 90, CWU 86. Feb. 16, 2011 – WWU 66, CWU 62. Jan. 18, 2012 – WWU 99, CWU 86. Jan. 10, 2013 – WWU 86, CWU 85. Feb. 22, 2014 – WWU 94, CWU 91.
League Leaders Host Saints
Western Oregon (13-3, 5-1), which has won 12 of its last 13 games, hosts Saint Martin’s Saturday in its only game of the week.
The Wolves lead second-place Alaska Anchorage (8-7, 4-1) by one-half game.
WOU is ranked seventh in this week’s D2SIDA West Region poll.
The highest ranked GNAC team in the poll is Seattle Pacific (12-4, 4-2), which is ranked sixth.
The Falcons host Alaska Anchorage (8-7, 4-1) in one of three games on Thursday’s GNAC schedule.
A UAA win would move the Seawolves into a tie for first place with Western Oregon in the GNAC standings.
Elsewhere Thursday Alaska plays at MSU Billings and Simon Fraser visits Northwest Nazarene.
The D2SIDA poll is unofficial. The NCAA will conduct its own official regional poll beginning in February which will determine which five teams join the GNAC, CCAA and PacWest champions in the playoffs in March.
D2SIDA West Regional Poll – 1. Azusa Pacific (14-1); 2. Cal Baptist (13-1); 3. Cal Poly Pomona (10-3) and Point Loma (11-2); 5. BYU-Hawaii (11-2); 6. Seattle Pacific (12-4); 7. Western Oregon (13-3); 8. Cal State Stanislaus (9-4); 9. Dixie State (9-5); 10. UC San Diego (7-5).
Seattle Pacific Ranks Second In Rebounding
Seattle Pacific had two dominating rebounding performances in splitting a pair of games last week outrebounding Simon Fraser 53-17 and Western Washington 44-29.
Riley Stockton had 20 rebounds, including 14 against the Vikings, to move into 11th place on the GNAC all-time rebounding list with 631.
SPU ranks second nationally in rebounding outboarding its opponents by 13.7 per contest. SPU also ranks fifth in field goal percentage (52.6) and seveneth in scoring margin (19.1).
Simon Fraser maintained its season-long national lead in four categories including scoring (119.4), three-pointers (14.8), steals (15.4) and turnover margin (11.0). The Clan also ranks fifth in assists (21.1) and seventh in offensive rebounds (16.3).
In individual stats, SFU’s Sango Niang ranks fourth in assists (7.5). Anye Turner of Western Washington and Joseph Stroud of Central Washington are fifth (3.40) and eighth (2.67), respectively, in blocked shots and Stockton is 10th in assist/turnover ratio (3.27).
Team Notes
Alaska: Almir Hadzisehovic came off the bench to lead four players in double figures with 12 points in the Nanooks’ 12-point home loss to UAA. Hadzisehovic made 5-of-7 shots. Nine UAF players saw action in the game, all between 15 minutes and 28 minutes.
Alaska Anchorage: Travis Thompson led the Seawolves with 21 points, five rebounds and four assists in a 76-64 road win at Fairbanks. Thompson made two treys moving into a tie for third-place on the GNAC all-time three-point career list with 260. He’s tied with Ryan McCarthy of Northwest Nazarene (2002-06), UAA’s current women’s head coach.
Central Washington: The Wildcats used an 18-2 run to overcome a 10-point deficit against Saint Martin’s in a 70-68 victory Thursday as Joseph Stroud, Jordan Russell and Gary Jacobs led a balanced attack with 15 points each. Stroud had a game-high 17 in Saturday’s loss at Western Oregon and finished the weekend shooting 87.5 percent from the floor (14-of-16). He also led CWU on the weekend with 11 rebounds and four blocks and tied for the team lead with three blocks.
Montana State Billings: In addition to Momir Gataric (See Player of the Week notes), the Yellowjackets were led by Antoine Hosley who came off the bench to score 35 points in road games at Bellingham and Burnaby, Hosley shot 76.2 making 16 of 21 as MSUB shot 56.1 percent as a team.
Northwest Nazarene: Redshirt freshman Alex Birketoft from Denmark and Cal State Bakersfield transfer Erik Kinney each had 26 points as the Crusaders split two road games, getting an overtime win at Lacey. Birketoft also had a team-high 16 rebounds and Mike Wright had a team-best 11 assists.
Saint Martin’s: Riley Carel led the Saints with 38 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a pair of nail biters as SMU lost by two points to Central Washington and in overtime to Northwest Nazarene. Trey Ingram added 34 points, 20 against the Wildcats.
Seattle Pacific: Mitch Penner (31 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists) and Matt Borton (21 points, 15 rebounds) led the Falcons to a 115-81 win at Simon Fraser. Penner finished the weekend with 42 points and 16 rebounds. Cory Hutsen and Shawn Reid had 32 and 30 points, respectively. Reid came off the bench against WWU to lead the Falcons with 21 points, SPU outrebounded SFU and WWU by a combined margin of 97-46. Riley Stockton had 20 rebounds, 14 against the Vikings.
Simon Fraser: Sango Niang had 55 points including 27 against Seattle Pacific and 28 against MSU Billings. He was a perfect 15-of-15 in the two losses and has made 16 in a row. Justin Cole had 30 points and Patrick Simon had 25 points. Cole also had five steals. SFU had 13 fewer turnovers (20-33), but was outrebounded 92-52 and outshot 64.9 to 43.9 from the floor and 53.1 (15-of-59) to 25.4 (15-of-59) from the arc.
Western Oregon: Andy Avgi scored 23 points in Saturday’s 78-74 win over Central Washington after netting 18 points to rally the Wolves from a 34-31 halftime deficit to beat Northwest Nazarene Thursday. Jordan Wiley had 26 points including a three-pointer to give WOU a 61-59 lead with 2:09 left in Thursday’s victory. Lewis Thomas had 20 rebounds in the two contests.
Western Washington: Mac Johnson scored 31 points and had a team-best 17 rebounds as the Vikings extended their home win streak to 11 with victories over MSUB and Seattle Pacific. Joey Schreiber key Thursday’s 88-68 victory scoring a GNAC-season best 38 points. Ricardo Maxwell had 17 points, including the game-winner at the buzzer, and Johnson had 16 against the Falcons.
GNAC Players of the Week
Jan. 5-11: Momir Gataric, MSU Billings (F, 6-5, Jr., Sunnyvale, CA – West Valley College) and Andy Avgi, Western Oregon (F, 6-6, Jr., Woodburn, OR) … Gataric scored 45 points and shot 72.7 percent from the floor (16-of-22) as the Yellowjackets split two games defeating Simon Fraser 111-104 Saturday for their first conference win of the season. He had 25 points on 10 of 14 shooting in a 88-68 loss to Western Washington before contributing 20 points, five assists and four assists against the Clan … Avgi scored 41 points as the Wolves defeated Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington to extend their home win streak to eight and take over sole possession of first place in the GNAC. Avgi made 17 of 29 shots, including a key tip-in with 23 seconds remaining in the win against NNU.