Wednesday, March 4, 2020

PORTLAND, Ore. – With a combination of dynamic scoring ability and solid defensive stature, Alaska junior guard Shadeed Shabazz has brought a lot of attention to the hardwoods of Fairbanks.

Shabazz certainly impressed conference coaches, taking three of the four special awards to lead the selections to the 2019-20 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball All-Conference Team.

In addition to a first-team selection, Shabazz was named as both the conference’s Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year. He also shares the Defensive Player of the Year award with Seattle Pacific junior guard Harry Cavell.

Seattle Pacific collected the remaining two special awards with forward Shaw Anderson unanimously selected as the Freshman of the Year and Grant Leep selected as Coach of the Year.

Joining Shabazz on the first-team is Seattle Pacific sophomore guard Divant’e Moffitt, Western Oregon senior guard Dalven Brushier, Northwest Nazarene senior guard Jayden Bezzant, Alaska Anchorage junior forward Oggie Pantovic and Western Washington senior forward Trevor Jasinsky.

Shabazz enters the GNAC Championships leading the conference and ranking sixth in Division II with 26 points per game. He has scored 20 or more points in 20 of his 28 games with 11 30-plus point performances. Shabazz notched a pair of 43-point performances against Concordia on December 7 and at Western Washington on February 6, tying him for the 10th-best single-game scoring performance in GNAC history. Shabazz also leads Division II with 3.93 steals per game and is fifth in the GNAC with 3.57 assists per game.

Sharing the Defensive Player of the Year award, Cavell has proven to be a threat for the Falcons on both ends of the floor. The junior is averaging 13.6 points per game and is eighth in the GNAC with 6.7 rebounds per contest. He ranks third in the conference with 5.11 defensive rebounds per game and is among the Falcons’ leaders with 21 steals. Cavell was also named to the all-conference second team.

Anderson earned the unanimous Freshman of the Year selection and Second Team All-Conference honors after starting all 28 games for Seattle Pacific during the regular season. Anderson is averaging 12.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game and ranks seventh in the GNAC with a .554 field goal percentage. He has 17 games with double-digit scoring, led by a 34-point, nine-rebound performance at Western Oregon on Jan. 11.

Leep earned his first Coach of the Year award after leading Seattle Pacific to its first GNAC regular-season championship since 2014. Rebounding from an 0-4 start, the Falcons surged to an 18-2 conference mark and enter the GNAC Championships with a 22-6 overall record. At one point, the Falcons won 14 straight games to fall just short of the conference record for consecutive wins.

Seattle Pacific leads the GNAC and is 16th in Division II with a .497 field goal percentage, is second in the GNAC and sixth in Division II with a .802 free-throw percentage and is third in the GNAC and 18th in Division II with a .402 three-point percentage.

Moffitt, the Falcons’ first-team selection, leads the team and is fourth in the GNAC in scoring at 16.8 points per game. He is sixth in the conference with 3.46 assists per game and ninth with a .817 free-throw percentage. Moffitt scored a season-high 30 points against Montana State Billings on January 18.

Brushier was a key component to lead Western Oregon, picked eighth in the GNAC Preseason Coaches Poll, to the No. 3 seed in the GNAC Championships. Ranked third in the conference in scoring at 18 points per game, Brushier is also second in the GNAC with a .862 free-throw percentage, fourth with 2.69 three-pointers made per game and 10th with a .432 three-point percentage.

Bezzant, a second-team selection last year, helped lead the Nighthawks back to the postseason by averaging 14.3 points per game while ranking fourth in the conference with four assists per game. Making a late start to the season due to injuries, Bezzant scored double-digits in 13 of his 17 regular-season games, led by a 26-point performance against Alaska Anchorage on January 18.

Pantovic has led Alaska Anchorage back to the GNAC Championships for the first time since 2018. The Seawolves’ leading scorer, Pantovic ranks 10th in the GNAC with 15.1 points per game, third with 7.8 rebounds per game and fourth with a .575 field goal percentage. A starter in the Seawolves’ last 13 games, Pantovic has scored double digits in his last 19 games led by his 33 points at Western Washington on February 8.

Jasinsky, the GNAC Preseason Player of the Year, earned his second consecutive first-team selection after leading Western Washington to the No. 2 seed in the GNAC Championships. The senior is averaging 14.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game and leads the Vikings with 80 assists. Jasinsky has a season-high of 30 points against Azusa Pacific on November 16 and has two double-doubles on the season.

Alaska Anchorage, Northwest Nazarene, Seattle Pacific, Western Oregon and Western Washington lead conference schools with three honorees apiece.

2019-20 GNAC MEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Player of the Year: Shadeed Shabazz, Alaska
Coach of the Year: Grant Leep, Seattle Pacific
Defensive Player of the Year: Harry Cavell, Seattle Pacific & Shadeed Shabazz, Alaska
Freshman of the Year: Shaw Anderson, Seattle Pacific
Newcomer of the Year: Shadeed Shabazz, Alaska

* - Unanimous Selection
+ - First Team Selection in 2018-19
# - Second Team Selection in 2018-19
@ - Honorable Mention in 2018-19