Wednesday, February 21, 2024
by Evan O'Kelly, Assistant Commissioner For Communications

PORTLAND, Ore. – Three teams are in and three spots are up for grabs as the 2024 GNAC Men’s Basketball Championships grows near.

Montana State Billings (19-6, 13-2 GNAC) is alone at the top of the GNAC standings, while Saint Martin’s (20-4, 10-4) and Northwest Nazarene (14-8, 10-4) are the other two conference teams to have punched their ticket to the postseason. Central Washington (15-8, 8-6), Alaska Anchorage (17-8, 7-7) and Seattle Pacific (14-14, 7-8) hold the other three GNAC Championships berths entering this weekend’s games, while Western Washington (14-12, 6-9) and Alaska (7-15, 5-9) are on the bubble.

‘JACKETS HAVE EYES ON 1ST-EVER GNAC TITLE: Montana State Billings became a member of the GNAC in the 2007-08 academic year, and the closest it has come to winning a GNAC men’s basketball regular-season title was last year when it finished second in the standings to Saint Martin’s. MSUB earned a GNAC trophy after winning the 2012 GNAC Championships tournament as the No. 5 seed, and the Yellowjackets are in the driver’s seat to collect their first of the regular season with three games left on their schedule. A win on Saturday against Seattle Pacific would guarantee first-year head coach Luke Fennelly at least a share of the title, and the ‘Jackets could clinch the title outright with a win and losses by both Saint Martin’s and Northwest Nazarene this week. Two wins in the Yellowjackets’ final three games of the season also guarantees the outright regular-season title.

MSUB is led by point guard Jalen Tot, who ranks fifth in the GNAC in scoring (15.8), seventh in assists (3.2 apg), seventh in steals (1.6 spg) and is No. 16 nationally with a 3-point field-goal percentage of 45.0. Daniel Moody is third in the conference in rebounding with 8.2 boards per game and 11th in scoring with 14.0 points per game.

The ‘Jackets will travel to Seattle for their lone game this week, where they’ll face a Falcon team that will be hungry to keep their name within the top-six in the standings. SPU would clinch a GNAC-record 12th conference tournament berth by winning its final three games – any losses keep the door open for both WWU and Alaska to climb back into the race. After hosting the first-place ‘Jackets Saturday, SPU closes its regular season at the Alaska schools.

Shaw Anderson, the league’s second-leading scorer at 21.0 points per game, scored 42 points last week which propelled him to No. 6 in GNAC history with 1,896 career points. Anderson enters the week 52 points shy of the SPU all-time record held by Loren Anderson, who scored 1,948 points in a career that spanned from 1955-58. Anderson is 104 points shy of becoming the fifth man in GNAC history to reach 2,000 career points.

SAINTS MUST WIN TO KEEP 3-PEAT DREAM ALIVE: No. 17 Saint Martin’s still has a chance for a feat that has only been achieved once in the conference’s history, but if the Saints are to win their third conference title in-a-row there is little margin for error. SMU needs to win at least three of its final four games to catch the Yellowjackets, who control their own destiny in the title race. The Saints will look to the friendly confines of Marcus Pavilion in a big matchup against Alaska Anchorage on Thursday night, before hosting the playoff-hunting Nanooks on Saturday night.

Kyle Greeley is SMU’s leading scorer and rebounder, ranking third in the GNAC with 17.1 points per game and sixth in the GNAC with 7.0 rebounds per game. Tyke Thompson is seventh in the conference in rebounding with 6.4 boards per game, Shakeem Alcindor is shooting a league-third best 56.9 percent, and Jaden Nielsen-Skinner leads the conference with 4.7 assists per game.

SEAWOLVES HAVE CRUCIAL ROAD CONTESTS: Looking to make the GNAC tournament for the 11th time in its 13-year history, which would be tied for the most of any GNAC team, Alaska Anchorage has a pair of key road contests this week at No. 17 SMU (Thursday, 7:30 p.m. PT) and at Western Oregon (Saturday, 4:15 p.m. PT). A pair of gutsy victories last week kept the Seawolves’ playoff hopes in good standing, as they topped Simon Fraser 83-81 in double overtime before holding off Western Washington 71-69 on their home court.

UAA’s Tyson Gilbert has been one of the league’s top players all season, ranking seventh in scoring with 15.0 points and second in steals with 1.9 per game. Dillon Barrientos ranks fourth in the GNAC with 3.7 assists per game, and Sawyer Storms is the team’s top rebounder ranking eighth in the conference with 6.2 boards per game.

Read More: Critical Road Finales On Tap At #17 SMU, WOU (UAA Preview)

Like their in-state travel partner, the Alaska Nanooks will face the same two opponents with everything to play for this week. The Nanooks must win a minimum of two of their remaining four games and will likely need more than that to claim a conference tournament berth over the final two weeks of the regular season. Alaska grabbed important wins over both WWU (94-82) and SFU (74-71) at home last week to keep its playoff hopes alive. The Nanooks are led by Abdullahi Mohamed, who is fourth in the GNAC in scoring (16.2 ppg), ninth in rebounding (6.2 rpg) and fourth in blocked shots (1.0 bpg).

Read More: Alaska Has Big Road Trip (UAF Preview)

WITH PLAYOFFS ON THE LINE, RIVALRY MEANS MORE: Western Washington will play host to Central Washington on Saturday in the second round of the rivalry between the longtime Washington foes. The Vikings are just one game out of a playoff spot entering the week, making Thursday’s contest against NNU (7 p.m. Pacific) and Saturday’s against CWU (7 p.m. Pacific) of utmost importance. Kai Johnson leads the GNAC and ranks 12th nationally with 21.6 points per game, as he looks to become just the second Viking to win the league’s scoring title after Ryan Diggs in 2005-06 (21.6 ppg). Nic Welp is WWU’s top rebounder, ranking fifth in the GNAC (7.5 rpg), and Will Wilson is sixth in the conference in scoring with 15.3 points per game.

NIGHTHAWKS HAVE SIGHTS ON REPEAT: For the sixth year in-a-row, Northwest Nazarene has punched its ticket into the GNAC tournament ahead of its road games against WWU Thursday and Simon Fraser Saturday. The reigning GNAC tournament champions will have a chance to become just the second team in conference history to hoist back-to-back conference tournament trophies, after Seattle Pacific won three straight from 2013-15. En route to its first conference tournament title last season, NNU became just the second lowest seed to claim the crown since the tournament was founded during the 2010-11 season.

NNU’s Tru Allen is as good as they come at the guard position, as his 2.63 steals per game rank him fifth in Division II. Allen is also the team’s leading scorer with 13.2 points per game, while Ryzin Bergersen is close behind with 13.1 points per game. Gabriel Murphy is one of the conference’s top big men, ranking fourth in the GNAC with 7.5 rebounds per game and sixth in the GNAC with a field-goal percentage of 55.4.

Read More: Nighthawks Stifle Wildcats For Big GNAC Victory (NNU Recap)

TOURNEY HOSTS 2 WINS AWAY: Central Washington, this year’s tournament host, enters the week needing to win two of its final four games to secure a conference tournament berth for the third consecutive season. After playing at Simon Fraser and Western Washington this week, the Wildcats close the regular season at home against No. 17 Saint Martin’s and Western Oregon. Samaad Hector leads the way for CWU, leading the GNAC in rebounding (8.6 rpg) and blocked shots (1.4 bpg) while chipping in 13.1 points per game. Anjaylo Lloyd is an offensive weapon at 13.2 points per game for CWU.

Read More: Wildcats Embark On Final Road Trip (CWU Preview)

Maui Sze – Seattle Pacific

The second-year Falcon guard has been at the forefront of Anderson’s historic scoring season, entering the week ranked third in the GNAC with 4.0 assists per game. Sze is coming off eight assists in last week’s game against Saint Martin’s – one off his season high – and six assists in the team’s 82-69 win over Western Oregon. Sze also reached double figures in scoring for the fourth time this season, chipping in 13 points to put him over 1,000 in his collegiate career including his time at Bellevue College. Sze doesn’t shoot the 3-ball often, averaging 3.32 attempts per game from the arc, but when he does he’s as accurate as they come with a 3-point field-goal percentage of 46.0.

Read More: Sze Reaches Milestone In SPU Win (SPU Recap)

Montana State Billings received votes in both national polls for the first time this season after its win over Saint Martin’s. Both the coaches and media agreed that SMU is the No. 17 team nationally, while MSUB leapfrogged SMU in the final D2CSC regional rankings checking in at No. 2. It also marked the second time this season that five GNAC teams appeared in the unofficial regional rankings.

The initial Bevo Francis Award top-100 list featured the name of Saint Martin’s senior guard Kyle Greeley. The award honors the top player within small college basketball annually, and will be refined later in the season as the field of candidates is narrowed down.

With non-conference play having concluded for the 2023-24 season, the GNAC realized notable success among the three NCAA Division II west region conferences. GNAC schools went 29-23 (.558) against CCAA and PacWest opposition during early season competition. Saint Martin’s led the way going 5-0 against the PacWest and 2-0 against the CCAA, while Central Washington went 4-2 against regional foes.

Read More: GNAC Post Winning Marks Against CCAA, PacWest Hoops Opposition (GNAC Commissioner’s Corner)

Through games Feb. 20.