Friday, March 15, 2024
by Evan O'Kelly, Assistant Commissioner For Communications

PORTLAND, Ore. – Ahead of Friday afternoon’s NCAA West Region Championships clash with Chico State, Jalen Tot of Montana State Billings was named the D2CCA West Region Player of the Year.

Tot and the Yellowjackets, who earned the No. 3 seed into the regional championship tournament, will square off against No. 6 seed Chico State on Friday at noon Pacific in Los Angeles.

Tot is the first Yellowjacket men’s player to earn the top regional award, and was among four total all-region selections from the GNAC. Seattle Pacific’s Shaw Anderson and Western Washington’s Kai Johnson joined Tot on the first team, while Saint Martin’s senior Kyle Greeley was a second-team selection.

Tot led the Yellowjackets to their first-ever GNAC regular-season title in 2023-24, as MSUB went 20-9 overall and 14-4 in league play to claim the trophy. Tot led the team in scoring with 15.4 points per game, while ranking sixth in the GNAC in assists with 3.3 per game, fifth in steals with 1.5 per game and leading the conference with a 3-point field-goal percentage of 44.9. Tot became the third player in GNAC history to earn the D2CCA West Region Player of the Year award, joining Western Oregon’s Andy Avgi (2016) and Western Oregon’s Tanner Omlid (2018). He also became the third Yellowjacket to garner first-team all-region since the school joined the GNAC in 2007-08, as he followed 2023 selection Carrington Wiggins and 2012 pick Antoine Proctor.

Anderson wrapped up a stellar career with the Falcons with a school-record 1,959 points, ranking him fifth all-time on the GNAC leaderboard. Anderson led SPU into the GNAC Championships as the No. 5 seed, as the team went 17-15 overall and 10-8 in conference play. The senior’s 2023-24 campaign featured a GNAC-second leading 21.3 points per game, including five 30-point performances. Anderson became the fifth player in SPU history to garner first-team all-region accolades, and the first since David Downs claimed the honor in back-to-back seasons in 2013-14.

The league’s premier scorer in 2023-24, WWU’s Johnson led the conference with an average of 21.6 points per game. Johnson’s scoring clip ranked 12th in Division II, and ranked third in WWU single-season history. Johnson reached double figures in scoring in all 29 of WWU’s games, and he had a pair of 30-point games including a season-high 36 against George Fox on Dec. 17. Johnson is the 10th Viking to claim first-team all-region honors, and the first since Trevor Jasinsky earned the award in 2018-19.

Greeley wrapped up his standout collegiate career with the Saints as one of the conference’s top all-around players. In 2023-24, he ranked third in the GNAC in scoring (16.5 ppg), sixth in rebounding (6.8 rpg), and sixth in assist-turnover ratio (plus-2.6). Greeley helped SMU to back-to-back GNAC regular-season titles in 2022-23, and finished his three-year SMU career with 1,297 points for an average of 14.9 points per game. Greeley is the fourth Saint to take home D2CCA all-region honors, and the first since Luke Chavez earned back-to-back second-team recognition in 2018-19.