Thursday, October 21, 2021

PORTLAND, Ore. – After lighting up the GNAC with 17.1 points per game in 2019-20 and 17.6 points per game in 2020-21, GNAC coaches think Seattle Pacific’s Divant’e Moffitt will pick up right where he left off in the upcoming season.

The senior guard was named the GNAC Preseason Player of the Year and one of eight unanimous selections to the 15-member Preseason All-Conference Team. Moffitt was named First Team All-GNAC in 2019-20, but his stock has only risen since then. In a 14-game 2020-21 season, Moffitt averaged 17.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game while shooting 46 percent from the field and 42 percent from behind the arc.

Moffitt is joined on the Preseason All-Conference Team by a pair of Falcons teammates who took home conference hardware during the 2019-20 season. Senior guard Harry Cavell was the GNAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year and Second Team All-GNAC and brought in 16.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in 2020-21.

Sophomore forward Shaw Anderson was the GNAC Freshman of the Year and Second Team All-GNAC in 2019-20 as one of the league’s best pure shooters. In his freshman season, he put up 12.8 points per game, shooting 55 percent from the field, 56 percent from three-point range and 81 percent from the line. Anderson did not play in 2020-21.

The unanimous preseason conference favorites, Seattle Pacific was the only school to have three players selected. In a sign of the potential depth and parity of the GNAC this season, all 10 programs had at least one player selected.

Alaska’s do-everything senior guard, Shadeed Shabazz, was selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team after being named the GNAC Player and Newcomer of the Year while sharing the Co-Defensive Player of the Year award with Cavell. Beyond the GNAC, Shabazz was recognized by the D2CCA as First Team All-West Region and Third Team All-American. He averaged 26.6 points per game in 2019-20 with 106 assists, and set GNAC single-season records in total points (798) and steals (114) while leading Division II with 3.8 steals per game.

Senior forward Coleman Sparling joins Shabazz as Alaska’s other selection. Sparling rejoins the GNAC this season after beginning his career at Central Washington and later transferring to Division I UT-Arlington. He averaged two points per game while suiting up 27 times for the Mavericks.

Alaska Anchorage forward Oggie Pantovic is the third and final member of the 2019-20 First Team All-GNAC who returns this season. The 6-foot-7 senior from Serbia tallied 15.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game with an .803 free throw percentage in 2019-20. Junior guard and Anchorage native Tobin Karlberg was the other Seawolf selected after averaging 12.9 points per game and earning Honorable Mention All-GNAC honors.

Western Washington, the defending GNAC champs, saw two Honorable Mention All-GNAC players from 2019-20 selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team. Junior forward Jalen Green averaged 13 points and 5.9 rebounds per game with 54 assists, 41 blocks and 27 steals. D’Angelo Minnis, one of two sophomores selected, averaged 12.3 points per game with 90 assists, 35 steals and a sterling .891 free-throw percentage in 2019-20.

The other sophomore selected was Northwest Nazarene guard George Reidy, who earned his selection after averaging 14 points per game in 2020-21 as the Nighthawks made a surprise run to the West Regional finals.

Forward Jasdeep Singh was Simon Fraser's lone selection. The senior averaged 16.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per game with a 46 percent field goal percentage, earning him Second Team All-GNAC honors in 2019-20.

Western Oregon sharpshooter Cameron Cranston was the Wolves’ representative. An Honorable Mention All-GNAC selection in 2019-20, Cranston averaged 13 points per game that season while shooting nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc.

Central Washington senior guard David Thompson will have an extended opportunity to shine after impressing in only four games during the abbreviated 2020-21 season. Thompson came to the Wildcats from Division I Santa Clara University, where he appeared in 28 games off the bench for the Broncos in 2019-20 with a season-high of six points.

The only total GNAC newcomer to be selected is Montana State Billings’s Damen Thacker. The senior joins the Yellowjackets from Division I Idaho, where he made 23 starts in 2019-20, averaging six points and 2.5 rebounds per game and reaching double figures in eight games. Thacker will have an opportunity to command MSUB’s offense right away after the Yellowjackets lost their entire starting lineup from 2019-20.

The Preseason All-Conference Team is wrapped up with the selection of Saint Martin’s senior Marky Adams. The 6-foot-9 center averaged 6.1 points and 4.7 rebounds per game to go with 16 blocks.

Moffitt, Shabazz, Pantovic, Cavell, Reidy, Singh, Minnis and Green were unanimous selections.

The 2021-22 season begins in the first week of November, highlighted by Seattle Pacific taking part in the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in St. Joseph, Missouri. The Falcons will face Alabama-Huntsville and Northwest Missouri State. The GNAC season begins with an eight-game slate on Thursday, December 2.