Tuesday, February 16, 2016

HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF: Western Oregon won both of it’s games last week to maintain their No. 1 ranking in both the NABC and D2SIDA Division II national polls, but it was not as easy as they would have liked it to be.

The Wolves received quite the scare in their first game as the top team of the land as Western Washington shot 60 percent in the first half to take a 44-34 lead on Thursday at the New P.E. Building. Western Oregon made a spirited comeback in the second half, shooting 56.7 percent from the field and outscoring the VIkings 56-41 to take the 90-85 come-from-behind victory. Andy Avgi led the comeback with a monster double-double of 34 points and 14 rebounds.

Western Oregon pulled away late in the first half of their game with Simon Fraser, building up to a 16-point halftime lead in Saturday’s game, 46-30. The Clan did not back down, though, coming back to within five points with 2:41 left before the Wolves cruised to the 76-67 victory. While Simon Fraser succeeded in shutting Avgi down (eight points), Tanner Omlid stepped up to lead four WOU players in double figures with 17 points and nine rebounds.

Already assured of a spot in the GNAC Men’s Basketball Championships, a combination of two wins and an Alaska Anchorage loss will assure the Wolves the No. 1 seed for the second straight season. The Wolves enter the week leading the GNAC in scoring margin (+10.8), steals (8.75 per game), turnover margin (+5.25) and assist/turnover ratio (1.58) and are second in scoring defense (68.6 points allowed per game). Among Division II teams, the Wolves are second in turnover margin (5.3) and turnovers per game (9.0), third in fewest turnovers (216), seventh in assist/turnover ratio, 23rd in steals per game and 26th in scoring margin.

Individually, Avgi enters the week ranked second in the GNAC in scoring, averaging 22 points per game. Julian Nichols leads the league in assist/tunrover ratio and is ranked seventh in Division II in assists per game (5.00) and Omlid is second in the GNAC and 16th in Division II in steals per game (2.18).

A BETTER EXCHANGE RATE: Simon Fraser’s Oregon road trip last week yieled the long awaited first GNAC victory for first year head coach Virgil Hill.

After a number of near misses throughout the conference season, the Clan hit their stride in a big way with a 90-70 victory at Concordia on Thursday. Simon Fraser shot 49.3 percent from the field for the game and went 9 for 15 from three-point range. Oshea Gairey came off the bench to lead the Clan with 22 points on 8 of 15 from the field to go along with six assists. He led three SFU players to score in double figures, including three with 15 or more points.

Simon Fraser also performed well on Saturday night at No. 1 Western Oregon, coming back from a 16-point first half deficit to come back within five with 2:41 left before WOU claimed the 76-67 victory. Michael Harper led the way with 18 points, making 7 of 14 from the field and 10 rebounds.

The win over Concordia snapped a 17-game losing streak that dated back to a 92-89 win over Colorado Christian on Nov. 21. The skid was unofficially snapped with a 79-72 exhibition win over Univ. of Victoria on Dec. 29, a game which was played under Canadian Interuniversity Sport rules.

THAT ONE STINGS: Montana State Billings was a less than hospitable host to Alaska Anchorage on Tuesday, putting on a first half clinic en route to a big 90-71 win over the Seawolves.

The Yellowjackets blistered the nets to shoot 63.3 percent from the field (19-30) in the opening 20 minutes and 68.8 percent from three-point range (11-16). The MSUB defense was just as effective as UAA shot just 31 percent from the field and 3 of 10 from three-point range in the stanza. Preston Beverly lead the Yellowjackets with a double-double of 25 points and 13 rebounds while making 5 of 8 from three-point range. he led five MSUB players to finish in double figures.

Despite taking a 66-61 loss to Alaska on Saturday, the Yellowjackets find themselves mathematically in the hunt for the sixth and final GNAC Championships spot. They are tied with Saint Martin’s for seventh at 6-10.

KEEPING PACE: Despite each taking a loss last week, Alaska Anchorage and Seattle Pacific did their part to keep pace in the GNAC standings and secure their spots in the GNAC Championships.

After their loss at Montana State Billings, Alaska Anchorage returned home to score a 76-71 victory on Thursday against in-state rival Alaska. Neither team lead by more then nine points and the Seawolves excelled at the free throw line, shooting 23 of 27. Brian McGill led UAA with 28 points on 8 of 16 from the field and 9 of 10 from the free throw line. The win allowed UAA to improve to 12-4, second place in the GNAC.

Seattle Pacific opened the week with a solid 81-71 win at Northwest Nazarene on Thursday. The Falcons finished the night shooting 50 percent from the field (31-62) and 52.6 percent from three-point range (10-19), led by 27 points and seven rebounds from Mitch Penner. Seattle Pacific engaged Central Washington in a close battle on Saturday, but the Wildcats made 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute to take the 71-68 victory. Penner again led the Falcons with 21 points.

With the split, Seattle Pacific enters the week tied with Alaska for third place in the GNAC at 11-5.

ALSO KEEPING PACE: A loss to in-state rival Alaska Anchorage did little to dampen Alaska’s spirits. The Nanooks came back from their loss to the Seawolves on Thursday with a 66-61 win at Montana State Billings. Travante Williams led the Nanooks in both games, earning his second GNAC Men’s Basketball Player of the Week award of the season. He scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds in Thursday’s loss at Alaska Anchorage and then scored 26 on 9 of 18 from the field in the win at Billings. The split allowed the Nanooks to maintain a third place tie with Seattle Pacific at 11-5.

TOURNAMENT FIELD SHAPING UP: Western Oregon (15-1), Alaska Anchorage (12-4), Seattle Pacific (11-5) and Alaska (11-5) have all clinched berths into the GNAC Men’s Basketball Championships, which take place Mar. 3-5 in Lacey, Wash. Central Washington (10-6) needs one win in their final four games to secure their berth. Western Washington (8-8) currently sits in the No. 6 spot. Their fate will be clearer after this week’s games.

MAKING A LATE RUN: Saint Martin's is hoping that they can make a late bid for the sixth and final tournament spot, especially with the GNAC Championships taking place on their home floor. The Saints enter the week having won three straight and four of their last six games.

Saint Martin's opened the week by going overtime with in-state rival Central Washington, but limited the Wildcats to just two points in the extra period to go away with the 84-77 victory. The Saints thrived from beyond the arc, connecting on 13 of 25 from three-point range. Tyler Copp led four SMU players scoring in double figures with 21 points, connecting on 8 of 14 from the field and 5 of 8 from three-point range. The Saints leveled up on Saturday with their biggest win of the year, a 98-68 rout of Northwest Nazarene. Five SMU players scored in double figures, led by a 17-point performance from Victor Ieronymides. The Saints finished the night shooting 60.3 percent from the field (38-63) and 62.5 percent from beyond the arc (20-32).

The Saints, under first year coach Alex Pribble, enter the week tied with Montana State Billings for seventh in the GNAC at 6-10, 12-12 overall.

OTHER TOP INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES: Sekou Wiggs scored 27 points and had seven rebounds for Alaska Anchorage in Tuesday’s loss to Montana State Billings...Naim Ladd led the Wildcats in the game with 24 points on 8 of 14 from the field and 6 of 12 from three-point range while Joseph Stroud added 23 points on 10 of 14 from the field to go along with 11 rebounds...Latrell Wilson led Concordia with 17 points in Thursday’s loss to Simon Fraser...Detwon Rogers collected 25 points and seven rebounds, making 10 of 18 from the field in Northwest Nazarene’s 81-71 loss to Seattle Pacific...Ricardo Maxwell led Western Washington with 35 points on 13 of 19 from the field in the 90-85 loss on Thursday at Western Oregon...Jeffrey Parker paced the Vikings in Saturday’s loss to Concordia with 25 points and eight rebounfd...Riley Hawkin led the way for the Cavaliers with 22 points on 9 of 15 from the field and eight rebounds...Montana State Billings’ Emmanuel Johnson scored 21 points, had seven rebounds and made 9 of 10 free throws in their 66-61 loss to Alaska...Stroud put together another leading scoring effort with 20 points in the victory over Seattle Pacific...Bouna N’Diaye had 18 points for the Northwest Nazarene in Saturday's loss to Saint Martin's.

MORE 30-POINT PERFORMERS: The GNAC added two more 30-point performances last week, bringing the total number up to 22 this season. Ricardo Maxwell of Western Washington notched his second of the season when he scored 35 on Thursday at Western Oregon while Andy Avgi finished with 34 points. 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 Avgi now has three on the season.

IN THE NATIONAL POLLS: In addition to Western Oregon’s No. 1 rankings, Seattle Pacific found themselves ranked No. 25 in both the NABC Division II Poll and the D2SIDA Division II Rankings. The first NCAA regional rankings of the season will be released on Wednesday.

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 this Saturday featuring Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific. 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
Travante Williams
Alaska
F • 6-4 • 200 • Sr. • Anchorage, Alaska

Williams averaged 24 points and seven rebounds in two games. He led the Nanooks with 22 points and seven rebounds in Alaska’s 76-71 loss at Alaska Anchorage on Thursday. He then scored 26 points on 9 of 18 from the field and 6 of 7 from the free throw line and added seven rebounds in the Nanooks’ 66-61 victory over Montana State Billings.

Also Nominated: Andy Avgi (Western Oregon), Tyler Copp (Saint Martin’s), Riley Hawkin (Concordia), Emmanuel Johnson (Montana State Billings), Ricardo Maxwell (Western Washington), Detwon Rogers (Northwest Nazarene).