Tuesday, December 3, 2013

PORTLAND, Ore. - The Great Northwest Athletic Conference's 13th men's basketball campaign begins Thursday with two-time defending regular-season champion Western Washington hosting Western Oregon at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

The Vikings have gone 33-3 in GNAC games over the past two seasons and will bring a 16-game home win streak in conference contests into Thursday's opener.

Overall, WWU has won a school and GNAC-record 31 straight at home including a 72-69 win over previously top-ranked Metro State last Saturday. 

Center Austin Bragg, who was selected the Red Lion GNAC Player of the Week, keyed that win with game-highs of 20 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots as the Vikings improved to 4-0 on the season.  All four wins have come at home.

WWU moved up from seventh to fifth-place in this week's NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) national poll with that victory.  Metro State, meanwhile, tumbled from first to sixth place.

Seattle Pacific fell from ninth to 16th, after splitting two games in the Chico Mac Martin Invitational, losing to the host Wildcats 73-70 Saturday after beating San Francisco State 101-96 Friday.

The Falcons, who were picked to win the conference title in the GNAC Coaches' pre-season poll, slipped to 7-2 with their loss.  SPU also opens its league schedule at home against Northwest Nazarne and brings an eight-game conference home win streak into their contest.

Elsewhere Thursday, Central Washington makes its conference debut at Billings against MSU Billings and Simon Fraser, which is off to a 6-1 start and has won five straight, hosts Saint Martin's in its debut.  The Clan has already matched its entire 2012-13 win total.

Alaska Anchorage, which fell out of the NABC Top 25, after losing three games to Division I opponents in the Great Alaska Shootout, is idle Thursday before hosting Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday.

The Seawolves, who were ranked 19th last week, are "among others receiving votes" this week and are 26th overall.

Bragg, Vikings Among National Leaders in Blocked Shots

Led by Bragg, Western Washington is the team leader in blocked shots in NCAA Division II averaging 9 1/2 per contest.  Individually, Bragg ranks second averaging four per contest.

The Vikings have also shown the ability to play defense on the outside as well as they rank third in three-point percentage defense, allowing its opponents to shoot just 20.5 percent from the arc. They also rank eighth in steals (11.0).

On the offensive side, Alaska Anchorage ranks seventh in three-pointers made (11.4) and eighth in assist/turnover ratio (1.83).  They are tied for seventh with Seattle Pacific for fewest turnovers (8.9 per game).

Mark McLaughlin of Central Washington ranks third in scoring, averaging 28 per game. Andrew Kelly of Alaska Fairbanks ranks 10th in field goal percentage (70.0).

Webster MVP In Capital City Classic

Rodney Webster of Western Oregon earned MVP honors in the Capital City Classic at Monmouth, scoring 31 points in wins over Willamette and Corban. 

Webster made 10 of 13 field goal attempts, including his only three-point attempts.  He also converted on 10 of 13 free throws.

Joining Webster on the all-tournament team was teammate Marwan Sarhan who had team-highs of 33 points and 14 rebounds.  Sarhan made 13 of 18 shots. 

Six of his rebounds came off the offensive glass as the Wolves outrebounded their two opponents 66-51.

Simon, Downs All-Tourney at Chico State 

Patrick Simon and David Downs of Seattle Pacific were selected to the all-tournament team at the Chico State Mac Martin Invitational.

Simon scored 48 points, connecting on 11 of 17 three-pointers, as the Falcons split two contests.  Downs received his fourth tournament award of the season, scoring 37 points and contributing 11 assists. 

He previously was MVP at the CCA Division II Tipoff Classic before earning all-tourney honors at the SPU Sodexo Tipoff Classic and at the CWU GNAC/PacWest Challenge.

Simon made a GNAC-record tying 10 three-pointers in a 101-96 win over San Francisco State Friday, including his first seven attempts.

He matched the conference record 10 set by Isaac Gildea of Humboldt State in 2002 and equaled by Derrick Webb of Western Washington in 2010 and Brandon Walker of Alaska Anchorage in 2011.

As a team the Falcons made 19 of 24 three-point shots against the Gators.  Its 19 treys equaled the fourth best total in GNAC history. Only Northwest Nazarene, which has had totals of 24, 22 and 20, has made more. 

The Falcons’ 79.2 percentage was the third best in conference history and best among teams attempting at least 20 attempts.

Thompson Scores 50 in Great Alaska Shootout 

UAA’s Travis Thompson made 10 of 22 three-point shots and scored 50 points to earn all-tournament honors in the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout. 

Thompson, who netted 50 points, also converted on 10 of 10 foul shots. Earlier this season he had a streak of 19 in a row.  

TEAM NOTES

Alaska Anchorage: Kyle Fossman scored a team-high 51 points in the Seawolves’ three games in the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout, matching Thompson’s 10 of 22 performance from the three-point line.  He was also perfect from the foul line (9 of 9).  Teancum Stafford led UAA, which lost three games by an average margin of 6.7 points, in rebounds (19) and Brian McGill had  a team-high 17 assists.

Alaska Fairbanks: Andrew Kelly scored 30 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in losses to Azusa Pacific and Cal Baptist in the Cal Baptist Invitational.  Kelly made 11 of 15 shots.  Joe Slocum had 26 points and a team-high eight assists.  Ronnie Baker scored 25 points and had nine rebounds and a team-high four steals while connecting on four of seven three-pointers.

Central Washington:  Jeff Budinich came off the bench to score 18 points and also had six rebounds and blocked two shots in the Wildcats’ 82-60 home win over Walla Walla.  All five CWU starters – forwards JB Pillard and Jalen Peake, center Kevin Davis and guards Joey Roppo and Joshua Lord – scored exactly 10 points in the contest.

MSU Billings: The Yellowjackets open conference play hosting Central Washington Thursday and Northwest Nazarene Saturday after taking the Thanksgiving Week off.

Northwest Nazarene: Mario Davidson had 28 points and 11 rebounds and Michael Loomis contributed 24 points as the Crusaders dropped two games in a tournament at Cal Baptist.  NNU shot just 37.1 percent and was outrebounded 80-61 in the two contests.

Saint Martin’s: The Saints made 13 of 28 three-pointers, but were outshot 35-8 from the foul line and had 11 more turnovers (20-9) in a 94-77 loss to top-ranked Metro State Friday in a neutral site game at Bellingham.  Evan Coulter led five Saints in double figures with 14 points.  Tyler Copp converted on four of five treys.

Seattle Pacific: Seattle Pacific’s Mitch Penner missed his first foul shot of the season Friday as his streak dating back to Jan. 26 ended at 28.  Penner finished the tournament with 27 points, while Corey Hutsen had 25 as they combined with Simon and Downs for a total of 137 of SPU’s 171 points.  Riley Stockton led SPU with 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

Simon Fraser: Simon Fraser ran its win streak to five games – all at home - with a 82-62 win over Kwantlen.  Justin Cole had 15 points and David Gebru had 12.  The Clan outrebounded Kwantlen 47-35 and had 10 fewer turnovers (19-9).  Cole also had five steals.

Western Oregon: Led by Sarhan and Webster, Western Oregon shot 53.4 percent (55-103) as a team in the   Capital City Classic winning its fourth tournament title in the past four years.  Sarhan, who had a team-high 14 rebounds, made 13 of 18 shots (72.2 percent).  Webster converted on 10 of 13 (76.9). Adams Hasting shot 66.7 percent (10-15) in scoring 22 points.

Western Washington: Bragg was one of five players in double figures as the Vikings earned their first-ever win against a No. 1 nationally ranked team with Saturday’s home win against Metro State.  Also in double figures were Colby Mitchell with 13 points and Anye Turner, Richard Woodworth and Robert Harris with 11 points each.