Tuesday, December 10, 2013

PORTLAND, Ore. - Western Washington completes an eight-game homestand with non-conference games Saturday against Multnomah and next Tuesday (Dec. 17) against Thompson Rivers (BC) before heading to Las Vegas to compete in the Las Vegas South Point Holiday Hoops Classic Dec. 21-22.

The Vikings will take a perfect 6-0 record into Saturday's contest, which is part of a light schedule in the GNAC. It is just one of four counting games on this week's schedule due to final exams at most of the conference's universities. 

WWU held on to its No. 5 ranking in this week's NABC national poll after opening its conference season with home wins against Western Oregon (67-66) and Saint Martin's (87-75) last week, extending its home winning streak to a school and GNAC-record 33.  They've won 18 straight conference home games, two shy of the GNAC record.

Seattle Pacific (9-2) also won two games last week to extend its conference home win streak to 10 and move up two positions to No. 14 in the NABC poll.

Alaska Anchorage (6-4) also opened its GNAC campaign with a 96-76 win over Alaska Fairbanks and is among "others receiving votes" and 26th overall in this week's national poll.

Point guard Brian McGill had a 29-point, 10-assist performance to lead UAA to its victory and earn GNAC Player of the Week honors.  McGill's 29-point effort equaled the fifth highest point total in GNAC history in which the player also recorded at least 10 assists.

McGill  ranks 18th nationally in assists averaging 6.2 per game.  Kalob Hatcher of MSU Billings ranks 11th, averaging 6.6 per contest.

Three GNAC players rank in the Top 10 in this week's NCAA Division II national statistical report.

Mark McLaughlin of Central Washington ranks third in scoring averaging 26.5 points per game.  Austin Bragg of Western Washington ranks fifth in blocked shots, averaging 3.5 per game.  The Vikings rank first as a team in that category averaging 7.7.

David Downs of Seattle Pacific ranks 10th in three-point percentage, shooting 55.2 percent.

In addition to blocked shots, Western Washington also ranks third in three-point defense, allowing its opponents to shoot just 22.7 percent.

Alaska Anchorage ranks fourth in three-pointers made (11.6), sixth in fewest turnovers (9.0),seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.84) and eighth in free throw percentage (79.2). Seattle Pacific ranks fifth in fewest turnovers (8.7).

NCAA NATIONAL STATISTICS (Top 30; Through Dec. 8):  Team:  Field Goal PCT. – 25. Seattle Pacific 51.1.  Three-Pointers – 4. Alaska Anchorage 11.6; 18. Simon Fraser 10.0.  Three-Point PCT. – 19. Seattle Pacific 42.2.  Three-Point PCT. Defense – 3. Western Washington 22.7.   Free Throw PCT. – 8. Alaska Anchorage 79.2; 20. Alaska Fairbanks 76.9.   Assist/TO Ratio – 7. Alaska Anchorage 1.84; 14. Seattle Pacific 1.64; 17. Alaska Fairbanks 1.60; 20. MSU Billings 1.56.  Blocked Shots – 1. Western Washington 7.7.  Fewest Turnovers – 5. Seattle Pacific 8.7; 6. Alaska Anchorage 9.0; 13. MSU Billings 9.8; 21. Alaska Fairbanks 10.3.  Turnover Margin – 23. Alaska Fairbanks 4.5.  Fewest Fouls – 11. Seattle Pacific 15.8; 16. Alaska Fairbanks and Northwest Nazarene 16.3.   Individuals: Scoring – 3. Mark McLaughlin, CWU, 26.5.  Field Goal PCT. – 16. JB Pillard, CWU, 66.7; 27. Andrew Kelly, UAF, 65.6.  Three-Point FGs – 15. Kyle Fossman, UAA, and Travis Thompson, UAA, 3.7.  Three-Point PCT. – 10. David Downs, SPU, 55.2.  Free Throw PCT.. – 29. Travis Thompson, UAA, 92.2.  Assists – 11. Kalob Hatcher, MSUB, 6.6; 18. Brian McGill, UAA, 6.2. Blocked Shots – 5. Austin Bragg, WWU, 3.5. 

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE: College of Idaho plays at Northwest Nazarene tonight (Tuesday), but that is the only game this week prior to Saturday when Multnomah plays at Western Washington, Saint Martin's visits Pacific Lutheran, Capilano plays at Western Oregon and MSU Billings entertains its Alumni. SMU also travels to Missoula on Sunday for an exhibition game with the University of Monta.

MILESTONES: Seattle Pacific coach Ryan Looney recorded his 100th and 101st  career wins with the Falcons with Thursday’s 73-54 victory against Northwest Nazarene and Saturday’s 80-67 win against Central Washington.  Looney, who has lost 30, is the fourth SPU coach to reach 100 and accomplished it in the fewest number of games. Including five seasons at Eastern Oregon, Looney now has a career record of 196-85.

DOUBLE DOUBLES (Through Dec. 8): 3 – Austin Bragg, WWU. 2 – Kevin Davis, CWU; Austin Hudson, MSUB; Kevin Rima, NNU. 1 – Eight with. 

TEAM NOTES

Alaska Anchorage: In addition to McGill’s 29-point effort, Travis Thompson scored 20 points and Teancum Stafford had 12 rebounds to lead the Seawolves to a 96-76 win over Alaska Fairbanks extending their win streak in their series with the Nanooks to 16 games.

Alaska Fairbanks: Ronnie Baker scored 21 points and Andrew Kelly had 12 points and 12 rebounds in the Nanook’s road loss at Anchorage.  Joe Slocum had 11 points and seven assists.

Central Washington:  Mark McLaughlin scored 47 points and also had 12 rebounds and five assists in road losses at MSU Billings (82-67) and Seattle Pacific (80-67).  The Wildcats were also led by JB Pillard who had 29 points and 10 rebounds.  Pillard converted on 12 of 16 shots.

MSU Billings: Jonathan Mesghna had 24 points and 12 rebounds and Austin Hudson chipped in with 22 points and 13 rebounds as the Yellowjackets split two home games.  Kalob Hatcher had 16 assists, including seven in an 82-67 win over Central Washington and nine in a two-point loss to Northwest Nazarene.

Northwest Nazarene: Michael Loomis scored 33 points as the Crusaders split two road games.  Loomis made 11 of 23 shots from the floor, five of 15 from the arc.  He was perfect from the foul line, making all six of his attempts.  Derek Isaak scored 25 points, all but four from beyond the arc where he made seven of 12 attempts.

Saint Martin’s: Ryan Rogers scored 42 points and also had 14 rebounds and three steals as the Saints split two games, getting their first win of the season Thursday at Simon Fraser (78-62).  Evan Coulter added 35 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.  Coulter made 11 of 17 shots, including three of four three-pointers.

Seattle Pacific: David Downs scored 33 points and Patrick Simon had 28 points and 16 rebounds in double-digit wins over Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington.    Downs made 11 of 19 shots, including five of 10 treys, while Simon made 10 of 21, converting on seven of 15 three-pointers.  Downs was hampered by an ankle injury Saturday, but still scored 26 points in 24 minutes against the Wildcats.

Simon Fraser: Taylor Dunn netted 44 points in a pair of losses, including 25 in Saturday’s game at Western Oregon.  Dunn made 18 of 33 shots, six of 10 from the three-point line.  Justin Cole added 31 points, making six of 13 three-pointers.

Western Oregon: Andy Avgi scored 33 points and Rodney Webster added 32 as the Wolves split two games, nearly ending Western Washington’s long home win streak before losing 67-66 and then defeating Simon Fraser 87-83.   Avgi made 13 of 22 shots and also had 12 rebounds.  Webster converted on 12 of 24 field goal attempts.  Marwan Sarhan chipped in with 30 points.

Western Washington: Austin Bragg scored 35 points and also had 20 rebounds, five assists and five blocks as the Vikings extended their home win streak to 33 games with victories over Western Oregon and Saint Martin’s.  Richard Woodworth hit two free throws with 1.9 seconds left and Robert Harris scored a game-high 23 points in Thursday’s 67-66 victory over the Wolves.