Tuesday, December 16, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. -  After a busy 21-game week and then a 10-day break for the holidays, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference  men’s basketball race resumes on Jan. 1 with four conference games.

Perhaps the biggest Jan. 1 contest will be at Brougham Pavilion where Western Oregon (8-2, 2-0) will take on defending champion Seattle Pacific (7-3, 1-1).

The Wolves have won seven in a row and will likely take a nine-game win streak into the contest.  Pre-season favorite Western Washington (6-3, 1-1), meanwhile, will be in Fairbanks to take on the Alaska Nanooks.

The New Years Day schedule will also feature Simon Fraser  (5-3, 1-0) and Alaska Anchorage in Anchorage and Saint Martin’s (3-6, 1-1) and MSU Billings in Billings (1-9, 0-2). 

Central Washington (6-2, 2-0) will be idle prior to hosting Northwest Nazarene (2-8, 1-1) on Jan. 3.

This week’s schedule includes six games in Las Vegas (two each by SPU, WWU and SMU), two in Hawaii (MSU Billings) and two in California (Northwest Nazarene) and nine home games.

None of the nine home games are against NCAA schools.

Western Oregon Ranked 4^th in D2SIDA Region Poll

Western Oregon maintained its No. 4 ranking in this week’s D2SIDA West Regional men’s basketball poll.

The poll is unofficial and will have no impact on which teams qualify for the West Regional tournament next March.

Central Washington is the only other GNAC team ranked in the poll coming in at No. 9 for the second week in a row.

Simon Fraser (12^th overall) and Seattle Pacific (13^th) are among “others receiving votes.”

In this week’s two national polls, Western Oregon and Seattle Pacific are among “other teams” receiving votes.  The Wolves are 37^th in the NABC Coaches poll and 36^th in the D2SIDA media poll.  Seattle Pacific is 40^th in the NABC poll.

D2SIDA West Regional Poll – 1. BYU-Hawaii (8-0); 2. Azusa Pacific (9-1); 3. Cal Baptist (7-1); 4. Western Oregon (8-2); 5. Cal Poly Pomona (5-2); 6. Chico State (6-2); 7. Point Loma (6-2);  8. Sonoma State (5-1); 9. Central Washington (6-2); 10. Chaminade (3-4).

Simon Fraser Still On Top In Five Categories

Simon Fraser remains as the national leader in five team statistical categories including scoring (126.1), three-pointers (15.1). assists (22.5), steals (18.8) and turnover margin (13.0).

In individual categories, SFU’s Sango Niang ranks fourth in steals (3.25) and assists (7.4) and Anye Turner of Western Washington ranks fifth in blocks (3.50).

Player of the Week -  Mitch Penner, Seattle Pacific (F, 6-5, Jr., Seattle, WA – Kennedy) scored 26 points and also had 11 rebounds, three steals and two blocks to lead the Falcons to a 100-67 win over George Fox.  Penner, who made 7-of-12 field goal attempts, was perfect from the foul line connecting on 11-of-11.

2014-15 ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS:  Seattle Pacific (Nov. 14-15) – Cory Hutson, SPU; Mitch Penner, SPU; Jordan Russell, CWU; Joseph Stroud, CWU.  Dominican (Nov. 14-15) – Antoine Hosley, MSUB.  Sonoma State (Nov. 14-15) – Brian McGill, UAA.  Western Washington (Nov. 14-15) – Jeffrey Parker, WWU (MVP); Anye Turner, WWU; Joey Schreiber, WWU; Erik Kinney, NNU.  Alaska (Nov. 20-22) – Ruben Silvas, Alaska.  WOU  (Nov. 21-22) – Trey Ingram, SMU; Lewis Thomas, WOU.   Great Alaska Shootout (Nov. 26-29) – Travis Thompson, UAA*.  (*UAA played Shootout games as exhibitions). UAA Seawolf Jamboree (Dec. 12-13) – Kalidou Diouf, UAA; Travis Thompson, UAA.

Team Notes

Alaska: Adam Griffin had 28 points and Ruben Silvas had 26 points and a team-high 11 rebounds in losses to BYU-Hawaii and Humboldt State in the UAA Jamboree at Anchorage.  Ruben made 10 of 20 shots, including 5-of-7 three-pointers. 

Alaska Anchorage: Travis Thompson and Kalidou Diouf were selected to the all-tournament team in the UAA Seawolf Jamboree. Thompson scored 36 points, three-quarters of them from the arc where he made 9-of-19.  Diouf had 25 points and a team-high 13 rebounds.  Brian McGill scored 24 points and also had 16 assists.

Central Washington: Dom Williams scored 18 points. converting on 7-of-14 shots, including 4-of-7 three-pointers in a 82-49 win over Quest.  Freshman center Caleb Dressler scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 11 minutes on the court.

Montana State Billings: Kendall Denham had seven of MSUB’s 15 assists in its 72-62 loss to Montana Western.   Antoine Hosley led the Yellowjackets with 18 points.  Marc Matthews had 14 points and Austin Hudson finished with 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Northwest Nazarene:  Kevin Rima and Aubrey Ball each had 13 points in NNU’s narrow 12-point loss at Idaho State.  Rima also had eight rebounds and four assists.  He needs one more rebound to become the 35^th player in GNAC history to record 500 career caroms.

Saint Martin’s:  The Saints head to Las Vegas for a pair of games this week against Rollins and Dixie State Wednesday and Thursday before finishing off their 2014 schedule Saturday at home against Northwest Indian.

Seattle Pacific:  Cory Hutsen became the 59^th member of the GNAC 1000-point club reaching that figure exactly in Friday’s 100-67 defeat of George Fox.  Hutsen made 6-of-10 shots and finished with 15 points.  Mitch Penner led the Falcons with 26 points.

Simon Fraser:  The Clan hosts Capilano Tuesday in their final game of 2014 before returning to conference action on Jan. 1 against  the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Western Oregon: Devon Alexander and Julian Nichols each had 12 points and were among six players in double figures in a 35-point win over Camosun, B.C.  Twelve players logged between 11  and 28 minutes in the contest.

Western Washington:  The Vikings take on Tarleton State and Cal State San Bernardino in Las Vegas Thursday and Friday to close out the 2014 portion of their schedule.