Friday, January 9, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. - Over the past four seasons, Western Washington has been nearly unbeatable at home winning 47 of 48 contests. 

WWU extended its latest home win streak to 11 Thursday as Joey Schreiber came off the bench to score 38 points in a 88-68 win against Montana State Billings.

That was the most points ever by a Viking in a reserve role and it tied the GNAC record set by Marcus Robinson of Alaska Anchorage against Seattle Pacific on Feb. 19, 2005 in a 117-112 Falcon victory.

WWU’s last home loss (76-60) came 51 weeks ago (on Jan. 15) to Seattle Pacific.  The defending GNAC champion Falcons return to Sam Carver Gym this Saturday for a regionally-televised game on ROOT Sports.

Tip-off will be at 9 p.m. (Pacific).

SPU (12-3, 4-1), which is in a tie for first-place with Western Oregon (12-3, 4-1), handed Simon Fraser its first home loss Thursday defeating the Clan 115-81.

Simon Fraser (6-6, 1-3) came into the game as the NCAA Division II national leaders in scoring (124.3), three-pointers made (16.2), steals (17.1), and turnover margin (11.8) and second in offensive rebounds averaging 17.4. 

SPU, however, held SFU 43 points below its season average.

The Falcons came out of the game ranked in the Top 25 in four categories, including second in field goal percentage (53.6) third in rebounding (13.6), sixth in scoring margin (20.5) and 25^th in three-point percentage (41.4).

Western Washington (8-6 overall) was the GNAC coaches’ pre-season choice to win the conference title, but is off to a 1-3 league start, losing three road games by a combined margin of 10 points before Thursday’s win.

Thee Vikings are ranked third in blocked shots (6.4), 13th in offensive rebounds (15.4) and 18th in rebound margin (8.2).

The Seattle Pacific-Western Washington game is one of five on Saturday’s schedule.

Central Washington (8-3, 3-1) which is tied for third-place with Alaska Anchorage (7-7, 3-1), plays at Western Oregon.

The Seawolves, meanwhile, are in Fairbanks for a game with Alaska (5-7, 2-2)   at The Patty Center.

MSU Billings plays at Simon Fraser and Northwest Nazarene visits Saint Martin’s to complete the schedule.  All four of those schools are coming off losses Thursday.

10 Games on  ROOT SPORTS

Saturday’s Seattle Pacific – Western Washington game is one of 10 GNAC contests – five men’s and five women’s - on ROOT SPORTS this winter.

Brad Adam and Bob Akamian are splitting play-by-play duties, while Dave Harshman will provide analysis for all 10 contests.

Men:  Jan. 10 – Seattle Pacific at Western Washington, 9 p.m. PST  (Adam, Harshman).  Jan. 14 – Western Washington at Central Washington, 8 p.m. PST  (Adam, Harshman).  Feb. 11 – Western Oregon at Saint Martin’s, 8 p.m. PST (Adam or Akamian, Harshman).  Feb. 19 – Alaska at Northwest Nazarene, 7 p.m. MST (Akamian, Harshman).  Feb. 21 – MSU Billings at Seattle Pacific, 3 p.m. PST (Adam, Harshman).

Women: Dec. 4 – Alaska 47 at Seattle Pacific 75 (Adam, Harshman).  Jan. 8 – Simon Fraser 103 at Northwest Nazarene 86 (Akamian, Harshman).  Jan. 24 – MSU Billings at Western Oregon, 3 p.m. PST (Akamian, Harshman).  Feb. 11 – Western Washington at Saint Martin’s, 6 p.m. PST (Adam or Akamian, Harshman).  Feb. 28 – Simon Fraser at Western Washington, 7 p.m. PST  (Adam, Harshman).

Seattle Pacific 5th in D2SIDA Region Poll

Seattle Pacific climbed four positions to fifth place in this week’s D2SIDA Men’s Basketball regional poll after sweeping Western Oregon and Saint Martin’s.

Western Oregon, meanwhile, slipped from fourth to sixth.     Central Washington, eighth a week ago, fell out of the Top 10 after losing to Northwest Nazarene.

The 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 (13-1); 2. Cal Baptist (10-1); 3. BYU-Hawaii 9-1; 4. Cal Poly Pomona (8-3); 5. Seattle Pacific (11-3); 6. Western Oregon (11-3); 7. Point Loma (9-2); 8. Sonoma State (8-2); 9. Chico State (7-4); 10. Hawaii Pacific (7-3).

Niang Third in Assists in NCAA Statistics

Sango Niang of Simon Fraser ranks third in assists (7.8) and Anye Turner of Western Washington ranks fourth in blocked shots (3.36) in Friday;s NCAA Division II national statistical report.

The two are among four players ranked in the Top 10 in this week’s report.  Joseph Stroud of Central Washington ranks seventh in blocks (2.64).  Brian McGill of Alaska Anchorage ranks eighth in assists (6.5).

Travis Thompson of Alaska Anchorage ranks 18^th in three-pointers made (3.23) and is closing in on the GNAC all-time career record.

Thompson currently ranks fourth with 258 made.  He trails current UAA women’s basketball coach Ryan McCarthy (NNU, 2002-06) by two for third place and WWU 2006 consensus All-American Grant Dykstra) by eight for second place.

Thursday’s Team Notes

Alaska and Alaska Anchorage: Both the Nanooks and Seawolves are coming off sweeps of Western Washington and Simon Fraser last week and were idle Thursday before playing Saturday at The Patty Center.

Central Washington: The Wildcats used an 18-2 run to overcome a 10-point deficit against Saint Martin’s in a 70-68 win.  Joseph Stroud, Jordan Russell and Gary Jacobs led  a balanced attack with 15 points each to key the win.

Montana State Billings: Momir Gataric scored 25 points connecting on 10-of-14 shots and Antoine Hosley scored 17 on 8-of-11 shooting in a 20-point loss at Bellingham.

Northwest Nazarene: Erik Kinney scored 21 points and Matyas Hering had 14 in seven-point loss at Western Oregon.    Guard Mike Wright had seven assists.

Saint Martin’s:  Riley Carell (22 points) and Trey Ingram (20 points) combined for nearly two-thirds of the Saints’ offense in its narrow loss to CWU.

Seattle Pacific:  Mitch Penner (31 points, 11 rebounds) and Matt Borton (21 points, 15 rebounds) had double-doubles as the Falcons ran their win streak to six scoring 63 second-half points against Simon Fraser.  Penner also had seven assists.

Simon Fraser:  Sango Niang, the GNAC’s leading scorer, had 27 points, but the Clan made just 5-of-21 treys.   Niang had five assists and made 11-of-11 free throws.

Western Oregon: Andy Avgi scored 18 points as the Wolves rallied from a 34-31 halftime deficit to win 66-59.  Jordan Wiley had 16 including a three-pointer to give WOU a 61-59 lead with 2:09 left.

Western Washington:  In addition to Schreiber’s 38 points, Jeffrey Parker had 17 points to key the Viking victory.  Schreiber also had a game-high 12 rebounds and Harris Javier had a game-high 10 assists.