Tuesday, February 9, 2016

WESTERN OREGON MOVES INTO NO. 1 POLL POSITION: For the first time in conference history, a Great Northwest Athletic Conference team sits at the top of both the Division II men’s and women’s basketball polls in the same week.

The Western Oregon men, meanwhile, rose to the No. 1 poll position for the first time in school history and took the top spot in both Division II polls. The Wolves are No. 1 in this week’s National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Men’s Basketball Rankings, earning 11 of 16 first place votes and 394 total points. Western Oregon also assumed the No. 1 spot in the D2SIDA Division II Media Poll, earning nine of 14 first place votes and 335 total points.

The Wolves took over the No. 1 spot in both polls from Augustana (S.D.), who saw a 17-game win streak snapped on Friday by Northern State.

Alaska Anchorage’s women returned to the top spot for the second time in three weeks, ascending to No. 1 in the latest USA Today/Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division II Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll. The Seawolves picked up nine of a possible 22 first place votes and 580 total points, one point more than No. 2 Lubbock Christian.

Western Oregon, the defending GNAC regular season champion, is riding an 11-game win streak. The Wolves picked up two road wins last week in the Puget Sound region, scoring a 74-62 win over Saint Martin’s on Thursday before edging out Seattle Pacific in overtime on Saturday, 84-82. Western Oregon enters the week with a 20-2 overall record and 13-1 conference mark. They are ranked second in Division II in turnovers per game (9.4), third in turnover margin (5.4), fifth in fewest turnovers (206), ninth in assist/turnover ratio (1.52) and 19th in steals per game (9.0).

AN EPIC BATTLE: While many expected Thursday’s game between Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington to be a hard-fought contest, no one expected it to become an epic battle that lasted two overtimes.

Down by as much as 17 points with 9:28 left in regulation, Western Washington charged back to come within three points in the final five seconds. An Alaska Anchorage fould resulted in three made free throws by Kyle Impero to tie it at 83-83 and force overtime.

Alaska Anchorage again held the lead for much of the first overtime period, but again Western Washington tied the game on Jeffrey Parker’s three-pointer with six seconds left, forcing the second overtime period. The Vikings took a 101-99 lead with 2:59 left in the second extra period, but the Seawolves went on a 9-4 run over the final four minutes to secure the 108-105 victory.

The game yielded three 30-plus point scorers. Western Washington’s Impero led all scorers with 37 points, connecting on 12 of 21 from the field and 10 of 12 from the free throw line to go along with six rebounds and five assists. Alaska Anchorage’s Sekou Wiggs scored 33 points, which included 15 of 20 from the free throw line, to go along with 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two assists. Brian McGill contributed 31 points and made an impressive 15 of 15 from the free throw line. On the night, UAA shot 39 of 45 from the charity stripe (86.7 percent).

The double overtime battle was the 19th in GNAC history and the first since Western Oregon beat Seattle Pacific, 94-84, on Jan. 31, 2015.

OVERTIME NO. 2: Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington were not the only teams to engage in an overtime battle on Thursday. Montana State Billings overcame a 49-32 halftime deficit to force overime, outscoring Central Washington 42-25 in the second half. The Wildcats held the lead until a Marc Matthews lay-up with 1:07 left knotted the game at 74-74. Neither team would score again before time expired.

Central Washington kept easy control in the extra period, outscoring the Yellowjackets 14-5 to secure the 88-79 victory. The Wildcats’ defense played a lockdown overtime, limiting the Yellowjackets to 1 of 4 from the field and three free throws.

Gary Jacobs led the way for Central Washington with 20 points and 14 rebounds, which included a perfect 9 of 9 from the free throw line. Preston Beverly led Montana State Billings with 21 points, connecting on 7 of 13 from the field to go along with nine rebounds.

OVERTIME NO. 3: The GNAC’s third overtime game of the week came on Saturday with the conference’s top team battling at a team that was looking to stake their claim to second place in the standings.

Like the Central Washington/Montana State Billings game on Thursday, the battle between Western Oregon and Seattle Pacific was a tale of two halves. The Falcons fed off the home crowd to take a 49-35 halftime lead, shooting 63 percent from the field (17-27) and 70 percent from three-point range (7-10) in the opening 20 minutes.

The momentum swung the Wolves way in the second half, with the visitors outscoring the home team 41-27. Western Oregon shot 51.7 percent from the field as Andy Avgi’s three-pointer with 43 seconds left tied things up at 76-76 to force overtime.

Things stayed close in the overtime period, but Jordan Wiley’s three-pointer with 3:33 left gave WOU the lead for good as the Wolves edged out the 84-82 victory. Avgi led all scorers with 29 points, connecting on 10 of 15 from the field and 5 of 7 from three-point range. Mitch Penner led Seattle Pacific with 23 points and eight rebounds. Most of his points came from the free throw line, hitting 13 of 15.

NANOOK, NANOOK: With Seattle Pacific taking their Saturday loss to Western Oregon, Alaska’s road sweep allowed the Nanooks to keep pace with the Falcons for third place in the GNAC standings.

Alaska succeeded in holding off Simon Fraser in a game that was closer than they would have liked, pulling away late for the 78-68 victory. The Nanooks led by just a 36-33 margin at the half, but used a late run to take a 17-point lead with 2:42 left in the game. Almir Hadzisheovic led Alaska with 24 points, hitting 9 of 12 from the field and 6 of 9 from three-point range. The Nanooks finished the night shooting 50.8 percent from the field (30-59).

Alaska made a solid first half performance hold up at Western Washington on Saturday as they beat the Vikings 78-64. The Nanooks had another strong shooting night, connecting on 55.4 percent from the field (31-56). Travante Williams had the hot hand for the Nanooks with 29 points, connecting on 10 of 16 from the field, to go along with eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.

OTHER TOP INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES: Gary Jacobs turned in 17 points and pulled down seven rebounds in Central Washington’s 73-60 win on Tuesday at Northwest Nazarene...Joel Devastey led the Crusaders in that game with 13 points and seven boards...Simon Fraser’s Michael Harper scored 23 points with six rebounds in Thursday’s loss to Alaska, connecting on 7 of 11 from the field and 7 of 8 from the free throw line...Andy Avgi led Western Oregon with 18 points, nine rebounds, three steals and five blocks in the Wolves’ 74-62 win on Thursday at Saint Martin’s...Cole Preston led the Saints in that contest with 17 points...Mitch Penner scored the fourth 30-plus point performance on Thursday, dumping in 37 on 14 of 16 from the field to go along with eight rebounds in Seattle Pacific’s 76-54 win over Concordia...Ricardo Maxwell led Western Washington with 16 points and five assists in the Vikings’ Saturday loss to Alaska...Brian McGill capped his Player of the Week beffort with 34 points on 11 of 15 from the field and 11 of 11 from the charity stripe in Alaska Anchorage’s 86-66 win at Simon Fraser on Saturday...Gibran Sewani paced the Clan in the contest with 16 points on 7 of 9 from the field...Marc Matthews paced Montana State Billings with 25 points on 10 of 18 from the field with six rebounds and four assists in the Yellowjackets’ 75-54 win over Northwest Nazarene on Saturday...Saint Martin’s Trey Ingram scored 28 points, hitting on 10 of 15 from the field and 4 of 8 from three-point range, in the Saints’ 81-64 Saturday win over Concordia...Drew Martin led the Cavaliers in the contest with 25 points on 8 of 16 from the field and 7 of 11 from the free throw line to go along with 12 rebounds.

MORE 30-POINT PERFORMERS: The GNAC added five more 30-point performances last week, bringing the total number up to 20 this season. Three of those performances came in the double-overtime Alaska Anchorage/Western Washington game on Thursday. The Vikings’ Kyle Impero poured in 37 points. Sekou Wiggs scored 33 points for Alaska Anchorage while Brian McGill added 31 points. McGill made it back-to-back 30-plus performances when he scored a career high 34 points in the Seawolves’ win at Simon Fraser. Mitch Penner provided the fifth performance on Thursday, scoring 37 points in Seattle Pacific’s win over Concordia. To date, 13 different players have turned in the GNAC’s 20 30-plus point performances. Wiggs lead the list with five of those performances while McGill, Penner and Andy Avgi have two apiece.

IN THE NATIONAL POLLS: In addition to Western Oregon’s No. 1 rankings, the Wolves are also No. 1 in the final D2SIDA West Region Rankings. The regional poll will end this week with the announcement of the first NCAA West Regional Rankings next week. Seattle Pacific slipped in both polls, dropping to No. 19 in the NABC Poll and No. 23 in the D2SIDA Poll. In the regional poll, Seattle Pacific dropped to No. 5, Alaska Anchorage climbed to No. 7 and Alaska remained at No. 10.

THEY LOVE FREEBIES: Alaska Anchorage enters the week as one of the top free throw shooting teams in Division II. The Seawolves are ranked second in the nation with an .803 free throw percentage and lead the nation with 559 free throws made on 696 attempts. Over their last two games, Alaska Anchorage made 84.5 percent from the line (71-84). Brian McGill was a perfect 26 of 26 over the weekend and set a GNAC record when he made 15 of 15 against Western Washington on Thursday. He enters the week having made his last 29 free throws. Sekou Wiggs is ranked third in Division II with 188 free throws made and 246 attempted. Corey Hammell is 11th in Division II with 180 free throws attempted and 12th with 148 free throws made.

SOLID DEFENSE: Seattle Pacific continues to rank as one of the most solid defensive teams in the nation. The Falcons lead Division II in rebound margin at 12.9, are second in three-point percentage defense (.273), eighth in both field goal percentage defense (.396) and scoring defense (64.9 points allowed per game) and 23rd in scoring margin (11.4).

GNAC GAME OF THE WEEK ON ROOT SPORTS: Five GNAC Games of the Week will air on ROOT SPORTS this season will air this season, with the final regular season game coming up on Sat., Feb. 20. Brad Adam will once again provide the play-by-play descriptions while Francis Williams will serve as the color analyst.

The three men’s games join two women’s contests to air on ROOT SPORTS and seven GNAC contests that will be featured on television this season. In addition to the ROOT SPORTS schedule, the championship doubleheader of the GNAC’s postseason tournament on Sat., Mar. 5, will be carried live throughout the country as part of the Division II Basketball National Showcase on the American Sports Network. The men’s game tips off at 5:30 p.m. PST and will be followed by the women’s title game at 7:30 p.m. PST.

In all, the GNAC will be featured either regionally or nationally three times in January, twice in February and twice in March. The 2015-16 campaign marks the seventh consecutive season in which the GNAC will have a presence on ROOT SPORTS, the premier regional sports network in the Pacific Northwest, and the third consecutive year in which the conference has featured a “Game of the Week” series on the network.

“The GNAC is extremely pleased to continue our Game of the Week series on ROOT SPORTS,” said conference commissioner Dave Haglund. “This has been a successful and long-standing association and helps expose our great brand of basketball to fans in our conference footprint and beyond. And we are looking forward to featuring our conference tournament championship games on the DII basketball showcase and reaching an even wider audience for the GNAC.”

GNAC Men’s Basketball Games On ROOT SPORTS
Sat., Jan. 9: Saint Martin’s at Western Oregon, 9 p.m. (Pacific)
Sat., Jan. 23: Western Washington at Central Washington, 6 p.m. (Pacific)
Sat., Feb. 20: Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific, 9 p.m. (Pacific)

For satellite subscribers, ROOT SPORTS can be found on DirecTV channel 687 and Dish Network channel 426.

GNAC PRESEASON POLL - WESTERN WASHINGTON PICKED TO WIN: For the second year in a row, Western Washington is picked as the team to beat by conference coaches in the annual Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll.

The Vikings received five of 11 first place votes and a total of 114 points, finishing just ahead of defending regular season champion Western Oregon. The Wolves netted four first place votes and a total of 106 points.

Seattle Pacific, who finished second in the conference last year and won the GNAC Tournament championship, is picked third with a total of 100 points. The Falcons received the remaining two first place votes.

After a successful start in their non-conference schedule, Western Washington stumbled to lose seven of their first 10 GNAC games. The Vikings rebounded to win eight straight to end the regular season, tying for fifth to claim a spot in the GNAC Tournament. The Vikings went on to beat Alaska Anchorage and Western Oregon to claim a spot in the tournament final, where they lost to Seattle Pacific. Western Washington finished the season with a 20-11 overall record.

PRESEASON ALL-GNAC TEAM, AVGI PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Western Oregon forward Andy Avgi, the defending GNAC Player of the Year, added another award to his preseason arsenal as he was selected by the league’s head coaches as the GNAC Preseason Player of the Year. The senior was a unanimous selection for the honor, receiving 10 first place votes in the balloting (coaches could not vote for their own players).

Avgi was one of eight unanimous selections to the squad and is the only player on the list to be selected for a third year in a row. Joining him as a repeat selection on the 15-man squad were Western Washington forward Jeffrey Parker, WWU guard Ricardo Maxwell, Alaska Anchorage guard Brian McGill and Alaska guard Joe Slocum.

Other unanimous selections to the team include Parker, Maxwell, McGill, Western Oregon guard Julian Nichols, Seattle Pacific forward Mitch Penner, Montana State Billings guard/forward Momir Gataric and Central Washington center Joseph Stroud.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS: The following GNAC players have been selected to all-tournament teams during the 2015-16 season:
GNAC/PacWest Crossover (Nov. 13-14, Fairbanks): Travante Williams, UAF (Most Valuable Player).
Seawolf Jamboree (Nov. 21-22, Anchorage): Sekou Wiggs, UAA (Most Outstanding Player); Bangaly Kaba, UAF; Travante Williams, UAF.
Sodexo Classic (Nov. 21-22, Seattle): Gary Jacobs, CWU (Most Valuable Player); Joseph Storud, CWU; Bryce Leavitt, SPU.
GCI Great Alaska Shootout (Nov. 25-27, Anchorage): Sekou Wiggs, UAA.
Oak Harbor Freight Lines Classic (Dec. 11-12, Seattle): Mitch Penner, SPU (Most Valuable Player); Gilles Dierickx, SPU; Preston Beverly, MSUB.

GNAC TOURNAMENT UPCOMING: The 2016 GNAC Basketball Championships will take place Mar. 3-5 at Marcus Pavilion on the campus of Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Wash. Advanced ticket sales are now available by logging on to the GNAC’s ticket sales page on EventBrite.com. Ticket discounts are available on advance sales for single session passes and full tournament passes. Military members will also receive a 25 percent on tickets, but must show valid military ID at the gate.

Both the men’s and women’s championship games on Saturday night will be aired as part of the American Sports Network’s Division II Showcase. The men’s championship game will be on Sat., Mar. 5, at 5:30 p.m.

2016 GNAC MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE
Thurs., Mar. 3
Game 1: No. 6 Seed vs. No. 3 Seed, Noon
Game 2: No. 5 Seed vs. No. 4 Seed, 2:15 p.m.

Fri., Mar. 4
Game 3: Winner of Game 1 vs. No. 2 Seed, Noon
Game 4: Winner of Game 2 vs. No. 1 Seed, 2:15 p.m.

Sat., Mar. 5
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 5:30 p.m.

THIS WEEK'S GNAC MEN'S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Brian McGill
Alaska Anchorage
G • 6-2 • 185 • Sr. • Clackamas, Ore.

McGill turned in back-to-back 30-plus point performances to lead the Seawolves to a pair of road wins. He scored 31 points to go along with two assists and three steals in Thursday’s 108-105 double-overtime win at Western Washington. McGill then scored a career-high 34 points on 11 of 15 from the field in UAA’s 86-66 win at Simon Fraser on Saturday. McGill went a perfect 26 of 26 from the free throw line in the two games, with his 15 of 15 on Thursday setting a UAA single game record.

Also Nominated: Andy Avgi (Western Oregon), Kyle Impero (Western Washington), Trey Ingram (Saint Martin’s), Gary Jacobs (Central Washington), Drew Martin (Concordia), Marc Matthews (Montana State Billings), Gonzo Santana (Northwest Nazarene), Travante Williams (Alaska).