Tuesday, January 7, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. - Western Washington slipped five positions, falling from 15th to 20th in this week's NABC Division II basketball poll after splitting two games last week in Alaska.

The Vikings return to Sam Carver Gymnasium this Saturday to begin a three-game homestand against Simon Fraser.  WWU has won a GNAC-record 35 straight home games, including 18 conference contests. 

That is the second longest streak among Division II schools.  Top-ranked West Liberty, W.Va., has won 37 consecutive home games.

WWU (9-3, 3-1) goes into the week tied for first place in the GNAC with Western Oregon (10-4, 3-1), which defeated Montana State Billings and previously 11th-ranked Seattle Pacific last week to earn GNAC Team of the Week honors. 

The Falcons lost two games last week to fall completely out of the NABC Top 25.  They are among "others receiving votes" this week and are 26th overall.

The Wolves, who have won six straight, travel to Nampa Thursday to take on Northwest Nazarene.  They are among four teams, along with Alaska Anchorage (9-5, 2-1) and Alaska Fairbanks (7-4, 2-1), who begin the week all with one conference loss.  Five other GNAC teams have two conference losses.

Alaska Anchorage, which received two ballots points and is 44th overall in the NABC poll, plays at MSU Billings Thursday, while Alaska Fairbanks heads to Seattle to take on Seattle Pacific.  Completing Thursday's schedule is a game in Ellensburg, which matches Saint Martin's (5-7, 2-2) and Central Washington (5-6, 1-2).

The Saints are coming off a 73-69 home win over Seattle Pacific last Saturday.  That was just their third win in 13 years against the Falcons.  Central Washington defeated Northwest Nazarene 80-71 to earn its first conference win of the season as Mark McLaughlin led the way with 34 points and 10 rebounds, recording his third 30-point game of the season and his first double-double of the season.

McLaughlin Ranks Fifth in Scoring

McLaughlin currently ranks fifth nationally in scoring averaging 25.0 points per game.  He is one of six GNAC players ranked in the Top 10 in a national category.

Alaska Anchorage guards Kyle Fossman and Travis Thompson  rank No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, in three-pointers made, averaging 4.07 and 4.00, respectively.  Thompson also ranks ninth in free throw percentage, shooting 91.8 percent.

David Downs of Seattle Pacific ranks fifth in three-point percentage (56.0).  UAA's Brian McGill is seventh in assists, averaging 7.1, and JB Pillard of Central Washington ranks eighth in field goal percentage, shooting 68.5 percent.

In team categories, Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington are the highest ranked teams.  The Vikings are second in blocked shots (6.8).

Alaska Anchorage ranks in the Top 10 in six different categories, including second in two categories - free throw percentage (81.5) and assist/turnover ratio (2.13).  They're also third in three-pointers (13.8), fifth in fewest turnovers (9.1), sixth in scoring (92.1) and eighth in assists (19.4).

Seattle Pacific ranks fourth in fewest turnovers (9.1) and ninth in assist/turnover ratio (1.57).  Alaska Fairbanks ranks ninth in fewest fouls (15.6).

NCAA NATIONAL STATISTICS (Top 30)

Team:  Scoring – 6. Alaska Anchorage 92.1; 12. Western Washington 90.4.  Scoring Margin – 14. Alaska Anchorage 16.6.  Field Goal PCT. – 17. Seattle Pacific 50.7. Three-Pointers – 3. Alaska Anchorage 13.8; 18. Simon Fraser 9.8; 28. Northwest Nazarene 9.3.  Three-Point PCT. – 14. Seattle Pacific 41.9; 19. Alaska Anchorage 41.3.  Three-Point PCT. Defense – 16. Western Washington 28.3.   Free Throw PCT. – 2. Alaska Anchorage 81.5.   Assists – 8. Alaska Anchorage 19.4; 29. Simon Fraser 17.1.  Assist/TO Ratio – 2. Alaska Anchorage 2.13; 9. Seattle Pacific 1.57; 14. Alaska Fairbanks 1.52; 21. MSU Billings 1.49.  Steals – 22. Western Oregon 9.3.  Blocked Shots – 2. Western Washington 6.8.  Fewest Turnovers – 4. Seattle Pacific 9.1; 5. Alaska Anchorage 9.1; 15. Alaska Fairbanks 9.9; 16. Central Washington 10.0; 20. MSU Billings 10.3.  Turnover Margin – 11. Alaska Fairbanks 5.5; 18. Central Washington 4.5; 28. Alaska Anchorage 3.9. Fewest Fouls – 9. Alaska Fairbanks 15.6; 13. Seattle Pacific 15.9; 17. Northwest Nazarene 16.3.  

Individuals: Scoring – 5. Mark McLaughlin, CWU, 25.0; 25. Travis Thompson, UAA, 21.5.  Field Goal PCT. – 8. JB Pillard, CWU, 68.5; 22. Marwan Sarhan, WOU, 62.8; 26. Andrew Kelly, UAF, 62.2.  Three-Point FGs – 3. Kyle Fossman, UAA, 4.07; 4. Travis Thompson, UAA, 4.00.  Three-Point PCT. – 5. David Downs, SPU, 56.0.  Free Throw PCT.. – 9. Travis Thompson, UAA, 91.8; 23. Sergej Pucar, UAF, 88.9.  Assists – 7. Brian McGill, UAA, 7.1; 13. Kalob Hatcher, MSUB, 6.4. Blocked Shots – 27. Austin Bragg, WWU, 2.33.  Assist/TO Ratio – 12. Riley Stockton, SPU, 3.53; 24. Brian McGill, UAA, 3.23; 29. Kyle Fossman, UAA, 3.13.

GNAC RED LION PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Riley Carel, Saint Martin’s (G, 6-2, Jr., Enumclaw, WA) and Andrew Kelly, Alaska Fairbanks (F, 6-7, Sr., Gilbert, AZ – Chandler-Gilbert) ... Carel scored 29 points, including 17 in the Saints’ 73-69 win over nationally 11th ranked Seattle Pacific as the Saints beat the Falcons for just the third time in the 13-year history of the conference.  Carel also had career highs for assists (8) and steals (5) in the win, while also grabbing six rebounds and making seven of 12 shots.  Kelly scored 26 points and also had 19 rebounds and three blocked shots in wins over Simon Fraser (67-58) and nationally 15th ranked Western Washington (65-61) as the Nanooks beat the Vikings at The Patty Center for the second year in a row.

HONORABLE MENTION: Austin Bragg, Western Washington (C, 6-9, Sr., Longview, WA – Clark CC) had 46 points and 23 rebounds and recorded a pair of double-doubles – his league-best fifth and sixth of the year – as the Vikings split two games in Alaska ... Rodney Webster, Western Oregon (G, 6-1, Sr., Hanford, CA – Fresno City CC) scored 44 points and also had six assists and five steals as the Wolves ran their win streak to six with victories over 11th ranked Seattle Pacific and Montana State Billings ... Mark McLaughlin, Central Washington (G, 6-6, Sr., Bothell, WA – Inglemoor & Tacoma CC) had 34 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Wildcats past Northwest Nazarene, recording his third 30-point game and his first double-double of the season.

MORE MENTIONABLES: David Downs, Seattle Pacific (G, 6-2, Sr., Kirkland, WA – Bellevue Christian) tallied 52 points and also had eight assists in two four-point road losses ... Kyle Fossman, Alaska Anchorage (G, 6-0, Sr., Haines, AK) scored 44 points and had 12 rebounds and seven assists as the Seawolves split two contests ... Mario Donaldson, Northwest Nazarene (G, 6-3, Sr., Rockton, IL), returning from a five-week absence due to an injury, had 20 points and seven rebounds in a nine-point loss to CWU.

MILESTONES: Richard Woodworth scored 24 points Thursday in a 104-89 road win at Anchorage becoming the 24th player in Western Washington school history and the 55th in GNAC history to score 1,000 career points.  Woodworth finished the weekend with 1,017.  Next up to join the 1,000-point career club is Kyle Fossman of Alaska Anchorage, who currently ranks 60th with 976 points.

GNAC GAMES ON ROOT SPORTS: Eight regular-season GNAC games, including six men’s contests will be televised this winter on ROOT SPORTS. Handling the play-by-play will be Brad Adam and Bob Akamian. Dave Harshman will provide color for the all eight contests. 

GNAC GAMES ON ROOT TV SCHEDULE: MEN: Wednesday, Jan. 15 – Seattle Pacific at Western Washington, 7 p.m.  Thursday, Jan. 23 – Alaska Fairbanks at Saint Martin’s, 9 p.m.  Saturday, Feb. 1 – Alaska Anchorage at Western Washington, 9 p.m.  Saturday, Feb. 8 – Northwest Nazarene at Western Oregon, 5 p.m.  Saturday, Feb. 22 – Central Washington at Western Washington, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26 – Simon Fraser at Western Oregon, 7 p.m.  WOMEN: Saturday, Jan. 11 – MSU Billings at Seattle Pacific, 3 p.m.  Saturday, Mar. 1 – Simon Fraser at Western Washington, 3 p.m.

TEAM NOTES

Alaska Anchorage: Kyle Fossman scored 30 of his 44 points from the arc as he made 10 of 18 three-pointers in games against Western Washington and Simon Fraser.   Fossman, who has 976 career points, ranks 15th in GNAC history  in three-pointers made with 201.  He ranks sixth in three-point percentage, converting on 46.0 percent (201-437).  UAA’s Travis Thompson ranks 20th  with 163.  Brian McGill had 39 points and 13 assists and Teancum Stafford had 38 points and a team-high 16 rebounds in UAA’s two games.

Alaska Fairbanks:  The Nanooks beat Western Washington  (65-61) Saturday for the second year in a row at The Patty Center allowing WWU just 61 points, more than 30 points below its season average of (93.1).  On Thursday, UAF held an opponent to less than 60 points for the fourth time this season in a 67-58 win over SFU.  Sergej Pucar led the Nanooks with 30 points, while Ronnie Baker, Andrew Kelly and Joe Slocum each scored 26 points.  Slocum also had a team-high eight assists.  The Nanooks are 6-0 at home, its best home start in 11 years and have won eight straight home games.

Central Washington: Kevin Davis, who ranks 10th in GNAC history with 106 career blocks, ranks second in conference history in blocks per game averaging 2.16.  Brannon Stone of Seattle Pacific (1998-02) is the all-time leader in total blocks (269) and blocks per contest (2.26). Davis had 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in CWU’s road win at Nampa Saturday.

Montana State Billings: Jonathan Mesghna scored 34 points and also led the Yellowjackets with 15 rebounds as they split two road games, losing in double overtime at Western Oregon (98-90).  Kalob Hatcher had 25 points, 14 rebounds and 1 2 assists, while Chase Miller had 23 points and Devon Wallace had 21  point, 12 assists, nine rebounds and two steals.

Northwest Nazarene: Joining Donaldson in double figures in the Crusaders’ home loss to Central Washington were Michael Loomis (18 points), Grayson Moore (14) and Kevin Rima (10).  Rima made five of six shots before following out, while playing just 18 minutes. 

Saint Martin’s: In addition to Riley Carel (See Red Lion GNAC Player of the Week honors), the Saints  were led by Ryan Rogers with 27 points and 10 rebounds as they split two games, including a four-point win over Seattle Pacific.  Evan Coulter had  18 points.  SMU’s only two previous wins in the series with SPU during the GNAC era (since 2001-02) were 91-68 on Feb. 21, 2008 and 85-72 on Feb. 28, 2009.

Seattle Pacific: David Downs accounted for 37.4 percent of the Falcons’ points in a pair of four-point losses at Western Oregon and Saint Martin’s, netting 55 points.  Downs made seven of 14 shots and also had a team-high eight assists.  The Falcons played both games without Patrick Simon who has a hand injury.  Simon, who ranks ninth in the GNAC in scoring (16.6) and has now missed three games, is listed as day-to-day.

Simon Fraser: Taylor Dunn shot 52.2 percent (12 of 23) and scored 31 points in the Clan’s two games in Alaska.  Justin Cole added 29 points and David Gebru had 24.  Ibrahim Appiah had 15 rebounds increasing his career total to 486, which ranks 36th  in GNAC history.  He is the career active leader in the conference in that category.

Western Oregon: Rodney Webster scored 44 points, 27 in a double-overtime win over MSU Billings, and also had six assists and five steals in leading the Wolves to their fifth and sixth consecutive wins, including a 74-70 victory over 11th ranked Seattle Pacific. Among his points against MSUB were two free throws with three seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game and a three-pointer with seven seconds left in the first overtime, to force a second extra period. Those two victories earned WOU GNAC Team of the Week honors.  The Wolves also got 32 points (on 12 of 20 shooting) and a team-high 14 rebounds, eight at the offensive end, from Marwan Sarhan.  Sarhan made his first shot Thursday extending his streak of field goals without a miss to 16.  That’s the third longest streak in GNAC history.

Western Washington:  Alaska Fairbanks beat the Vikings Saturday (65-61) for the second year in a row at The Patty Center.  Those are WWU’s only two conference losses in their last 24 GNAC games dating back to a 89-82 road loss at Ellensburg on Feb. 18, 2012 ... WWU did earn a split on their trip to Alaska defeating Alaska Anchorage 104-89 as Austin Bragg (46 points, 23 rebounds) and Joey Schriber (40 points) led the way.