Tuesday, February 3, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. –   With seven games left on its regular-season schedule, Western Oregon has a two-game lead in the loss column on its four closest pursuers.

The Wolves (18-3, 10-1) also have the toughest schedule among the five teams with winning conference records during the final four weeks of the season playing five of its final seven games on the road  including a challenging road trip to Ellensburg and Nampa this week.

WOU, which is 7-2 on the road including a neutral site win, opens this week’s trip Thursday against Central Washington (12-5, 7-3) before taking on Northwest Nazarene (9-11, 7-3) Saturday.

Both CWU and NNU have eight games remaining, four at home and four on the road.

Meanwhile, Seattle Pacific (16-5, 8-3) and Alaska Anchorage (12-9, 8-3), who are tied for second each finish their season with five home games and just two away contests. 

One of UAA’s home games is during the final week when it host Western Oregon on Thursday (Feb. 26).  WOU’s only remaining home games are a week earlier against Western Washington and Simon Fraser.

Nine GNAC eligible  teams are all looking to earn one of the six playoff berths available for the conference tournament which will be played during the first week of March at Billings, Mont.

The men’s tournament begins Thursday, March 5 with the No. 3 and No. 6 and the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds facing off in the opening round.  Game times are at 5:15 and 7:30.

The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, meanwhile, receive byes in the opening round.

The semifinals will be played Friday at 5:15 and 7:30 p.m. with the championship game played Saturday at 7:30.

The winner earns an automatic berth in the eight-team NCAA West Regional tournament beginning the following Friday (March 13).

In addition to the WOU-CWU game, this Thursday’s schedule will also send Saint Martin’s (6-15, 3-8) to Northwest Nazarene, Western Washington (11-10, 4-7) to Seattle Pacific and Simon Fraser (8-11, 3-8) to MSU Billings (4-17, 2-9).

Alaska (5-14, 2-9) and Alaska Anchorage are idle until playing their rivalry game Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

 WOU Ranked 20th in NABC Coaches Poll

Western Oregon moved up to 20th place from 24th in this week’s NABC national poll after earning home wins over Montana State Billings and Seattle Pacific last week. The Wolves earned their first national ranking of the season last week.

SPU is the only other GNAC team that earned points in this week’s poll.  The Falcons received two ballot points and are 35th overall.

In this week’s D2SIDA national poll, Western Oregon is ranked 23rd.  The Wolves are ranked third and Seattle Pacific is ranked seventh in the D2SIDA regional poll.  The first official NCAA West Regional poll will be released in two weeks (Wednesday, Feb. 18).

D2SIDA West Regional Poll (records through Feb. 1) – 1. BYU-Hawaii (17-2); 2. Azusa Pacific (18-3); 3. Western Oregon (18-3); 4. Dixie State (13-6); 5. Cal Baptist (15-4); 6. Cal Poly Pomona (15-4); 7. Seattle Pacific (16-5); 8. Chico State (14-5); 9. Point Loma (15-5); 10. UC San Diego (12-6). (Note: D2SIDA poll is unofficial.  NCAA will conduct an official regional poll beginning Feb. 18).

Nichols 5th, Turner 6th in National Statistics

Julian Nichols of Western Oregon is ranked fifth in assist/turnover ratio and  Anye Turner of Western Washington is ranked sixth in blocked shots in this week’s NCAA Division II national statistical poll.

Nichols is averaging 3.37 for every turnover, while Turner  is averaging 3.05 blocks per game.

Also ranked in the Top 10 is Simon Fraser’s Sango Niang, seventh in assists (6.6) and ninth in scoring (23.5), and Central Washington’s Joseph Stroud, ninth in blocked shots (2.65).

In team categories, Simon Fraser is the Division II national leader in scoring (110.5), three-pointers made (12.9), steals (13.7) and turnover margin (9.7).  The Clan also ranks third in offense rebounds (16.2).

Seattle Pacific ranks second in rebounding margin (13.2), fourth in field goal percentage (52.1) and seventh in scoring margin (18.0).

Western Oregon ranks fifth in free throw percentage (78.0).  Western Washington is fifth in blocked shots (5.6).

By The Numbers

Double-Doubles: 6 – Kevin Rima, NNU.  3 – Matt Borton, SPU; Erik Kinney, NNU; Sango Niang, SFU; Mitch Penner, SPU; Riley Stockton, SPU.  2 – Kalidou Diouf, UAA; Roderick Evans-Taylor, SFU; Austin Hudson, MSUB; Jeffrey Parker, WWU; Lewis Thomas, WOU; Anye Turner, WWU. 1 – 15 with.

30-Point Games: 2 – Sango Niang, SFU.  1 – 15 with.

20-Point Games: 13 – Sango Niang, SFU.  8 – Brian McGill, UAA.  7 – Jaamon Echols, WWU; Cory Hutsen, SPU; Andy Avgi, WOU; Travis Thompson, UAA.  6 – Jeffrey Parker, WWU.  5 – Justin Cole, SFU; Ashton Edwards, UAF; Dom Williams, CWU.

10-Rebound Games: 6 – Kevin Rima, NNU.  5 – Lewis Thomas, WOU.  4 – Matt Borton, SPU; Riley Stockton, SPU; 3 – Erik Kinney, NNU; Tyler Nelson, MSUB; Mitch Penner, SPU; Anye Turner, WWU.

10-Assist Games: 3 – Sango Niang, SFU.  2 – Julian Nichols, WOU.  1 – Harris Javier, WWU; Devin Matthews, CWU; Ricardo Maxwell, WWU; Brian McGill, UAA.

Team Notes

Alaska: Eric Fongue led the Nanooks with 23 points and 16 rebounds in a pair of losses at Burnaby and Bellingham.  Anthony Reese had a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) in the 79-71 loss at Simon Fraser.   He also finished the two-game set with 13 rebounds.

Alaska Anchorage: Travis Thompson had 45 points, converting 9-of-18 three-pointers, in wins at Western Washington and Simon Fraser.  Thompson now has 278 career treys, 14 shy of the GNAC all-time career record.  The Seawolves also got 42 points from Derrick Fain and 39 points and 15 assists from Brian McGill.   Dom Hunter had 34 points, 22 in Thursday’s win at Western Washington,

Central Washington: Joey Roppo led Central Washington with 13 points and Devin Matthews had 11 points in a 66-64 road loss at Northwest Nazarene.  Roppo made 5-of-6 shots including all three of his three-point attempts.  CWU played the game without Jordan Russell.  Russell, who was averaging 10.6 points, has been dismissed from the team.

Montana State Billings:  Antoine Hosley came off the bench to score 23 points, making 10 of 17 shots, in MSUB’s 94-74 loss at Western Oregon.    He added 14 more points in Saturday’s 75-64 loss at Saint Martin’s and did not commit a turnover in 24 minutes.  In the two games, he shot 48.4 percent (15-of-31).  Emmanuel Johnson had 24 points, 15 rebounds and three of MSUB’s four blocked shots.

Northwest Nazarene:  Freshman forward Alex Birketoft had 16 points, eight rebounds, five blocks, two steals and two assists as the Crusaders edged Central Washington 66-64 to complete a two-game sweep of their season series.  Kevin Rima had 14 points and 10 rebounds, recording his conference best sixth double-double of the season.   Rima has 960 career points and 573 career rebounds.

Saint Martin’s:  Isaac Bianchini and Trey Ingram each had 21 points as the Saints split two home games.  Ingram also had a team-best nine assists.  Bianchini made 5-of-8 three-pointers and currently leads the GNAC in three-point percentage, connecting on 50.7 percent (36-of-71).  The GNAC record is 53.1 percent by Brandon Foote of Central Washington in 2007-08.

Seattle Pacific:  Shawn Reid had 30 points and Riley Stockton and Cory Hutsen had 29 points each as the Falcons split two road games, losing in double overtime to Western Oregon 94-84 after beating Saint Martin’s 84-52.  Reid came off the bench to score 23 points in 20 minutes in the win.  Stockton had eight assists increasing his career total to 404 and becoming the 12^th player in GNAC history to record 400 or more assists.

Simon Fraser: Sango Niang had 47 points (9-of-20 three-pointers), 12 rebounds and eight assists as the Clan split two games defeating Alaska and losing to Alaska Anchorage.  In two games this winter against UAF, the Clan launched 102 three-point attempts, including the two highest single game totals in GNAC history in conference games - 55 on Jan. 3 and 47 Thursday.   

Western Oregon:  In addition to Avgi’s 46 points (see GNAC Player of the Week notes), the Wolves were led by Devon Alexander’s 30 points in their sweep of MSUB and SPU.  Julian Nichols had 25 points, 17 assists and 10 rebounds.  Alexander hit a three-point at the buzzer to force overtime Saturday against SPU completing a comeback from a five-point deficit with 17 seconds remaining.  WWU shot 55.2 percent (69-of-125) in the two wins.

Western Washington:  Jeffrey Parker scored 41 points and Anye Turner had 26 points and 23 rebounds as the Vikings split two games.  Turner had 24 of his points and 15 of his rebounds in a 81-76 loss to Alaska Anchorage, a game in which WWU rallied from a 25-point deficit, pulling to within three points twice in the final minute.

GNAC Players of the Week - Andy Avgi, Western Oregon (F, 6-6, Jr., Woodburn, OR) and Derrick Fain, Alaska Anchorage (G, 6-4, Sr., Dallas, TX – The Master’s) … Avgi scored 46 points, including a career-high 33 in a 94-84 overtime win against Seattle Pacific Saturday as the Wolves opened up a two-game in the conference race with wins over Montana State Billings and the Falcons. Avgi made 17 of 28 shots and 11 of 12 foul shots.  He also had nine rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks.  WOU extended its win streak to eight games and its home win streak to 11 with the two wins … Fain scored 42 points and also had 15 rebounds as Alaska Anchorage, which plays five of its final seven games at home, improved to 5-2 in conference road contests with wins at Western Washington and Simon Fraser.  Fain made 13-of-22 shots, including 9-of-15 from the three-point line. He also converted on 7-of-8 free throws as the Seawolves shot 81.2 percent (56-of-69) from the line.

GNAC Weekly (PDF version)