Friday, November 21, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. -  Central Washington and Seattle Pacific are in Hawaii and Western Oregon and Alaska host tournaments to highlight the second weekend of action for GNAC men’s basketball Friday and Saturday.

Through Thursday conference teams have a  combined record of 12-16.

The Wildcats (2-0) and Falcons (2-1) take on BYU-Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific in the BYU-Hawaii Classic.

Friday’s games match HPU and SPU at 5 p.m. (Hawaii time) and CWU and BYUH at 7:30.  The teams then switch opponents Saturday.

Saint Martin’s (0-3) will join Western Oregon (1-1) in Monmouth Friday and Saturday to compete in the WOU Doubletree Shootout.

The opponents for the two GNAC teams are Colorado Christian from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and Azusa Pacific of the PacWest. 

Friday’s schedule matches the Saints and Colorado Christian at 5  and the Wolves and Azusa Pacific at 7.

Alaska made its official debut Thursday defeating Black Hills State 68-66 in the opening round of the GCI Invitational.

Kyle Tomlinson hit a three-pointer with nine seconds left to give UAF the win.  The Nanooks play West Alabama Friday and Minnesota Moorhead Saturday.

Simon Fraser (3-0) plays its first NCAA opponent Friday taking on Academic of Art in San Francisco.  Academy Art split two contests last week with GNAC teams, defeating SPU before losing to CWU.  The Clan complete the week Saturday at Dominican. 

Alaska Anchorage (0-4) hosts Northwest Indian for a pair of games Friday and Saturday before hosting the Great Alaska Shootout next week.

Meanwhile, Northwest Nazarene (1-1) entertains Montana Northern Friday and Westminster Saturday.  Both games will be played in Caldwell, Idaho on the campus of College of Idaho beginning at 5 p.m. as NNU is hosting the NCAA West Region volleyball tournament on its campus.

Western Washington (2-2) completes its three-game road trip to Puerto Rico with an exhibition game against American University – Puerto Rico.  The Vikings lost the first two games of the trip to fall to 2-2.

Montana State Billings  (0-4)  lost games at Dixie State and to Rocky Mountain earlier this week and is off until Tuesday when it hosts Great Falls.

Offense A Plenty For Clan

Though they haven’t played a NCAA team yet, Simon Fraser has put up historic offensive numbers in its first three games.

The Clan has produced three of the top four point totals in GNAC history, including 160 and 135 against Northwest Indian and 147 against Douglas College.  The old record was 136 by Northwest Nazarene against Multnomah in 2008.

The Clan has also had the three highest field goal totals (62. 62 and 56) in GNAC history.  SFU has launched 334 shots (111.3 per game). 

Only once previous has a GNAC team taken more than 95 shots in a game. 

GNAC Men’s Basketball Players of the Week

Nov. 10-16 – Jeffrey Parker, Western Washington (F, 6-6, So., Richmond, CA – Salesian) and Joseph Stroud, Central Washington (F, 6-8, Jr., Las Vegas, NV – Sierra Visa/Pierce College) ... Parker scored 43 points and also had 18 rebounds leading the Vikings to two wins in the 13th Chuck Randall Classic.  Parker made seven of 17 3-pointers and shot 51.7 percent overall, cashing in on 15-of-29.  He was named the tournament’s MVP ... Stroud earned all-tournament honors leading the Wildcats to two wins in the Seattle Pacific Sodexo Tip-Off tournament.  He  came off the bench to score 24 points, making nine of 10 shots.  He also led CWU in rebounds (11) and blocked shots (7).  His last basket with one second half came on a dunk to break a 68-68 tie in Saturday’s 70-68 win over Academy of Art.

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 Randall (Nov. 14-15) – Jeffrey Parker, WWU (MVP); Anye Turner, WWU; Joey Schreiber, WWU; Erik Kinney, NNU.

Team Notes

Alaska: After splitting a pair of exhibitions with Trinity International last weekend, the Nanooks will be the last GNAC team to officially open its 2014-15 season this week when they host the  GCI Alaska Invitational.

Alaska Anchorage: Brian McGill earned all-tournament honors at Rohnert Park, scoring 35 points and passing  for seven assists.  The Seawolves also got 28 points from Travis Thompson in the Sonoma State Invitational.  Thompson now has 1,251 career points, ranking 34^th in GNAC history.

Central Washington: Jordan Russell scored 28 points, 24 of them from the arc (8-of-17), as the Wildcats debuted with two victories.   Joseph Stroud made nine-of-10 and had 24 points and seven blocks.  His dunk in the final second after a steal was the difference in Saturday’s 70-68 win over Academy of Art. Both players earned all-tournament honors.

Montana State Billings: The Yellowjackets lost a pair of single-digit decisions in the Dominican GNAC/PacWest Challenge.  Antoine Hosley earned all-tourney honors scoring 34 points.

Northwest Nazarene:  Erik Kinney earned all-tournament honors in the WWU Chuck Randall Classic scoring 34 points and hauling in 15 rebounds as the Crusaders split two contests.  Kinney made 10 of 21 shots and 14 of 18 free throws.  Mike Wright had 14 assists for NNU.

Saint Martin’s: Tyler Copp scored 29 points and three other players – Will Bond, Isaac Bianchini and Ryan Rogers – each scored 18 as the Saints opened their season with two losses.  Trey Ingram led the Saints with 11 assists and Rogers had 11 rebounds.

Seattle Pacific:  The Falcons lost their season opener for the first time in nine years, but bounced back from a 70-67 loss to Academy of Art to earn a split in the Sodexo Classic at Brougham Pavilion.  Cory Hutsen and Mitch Penner earned all-tournament honors as both players scored 31 points.  Riley Stockton had 17 rebounds.  SPU outshot its opponents 51.4 to 39.6 and had a 72-49 rebound advantage.

Simon Fraser:  Sango Niang  had 40 points and 19 rebounds and was one of eight players to average in double figures in the  Clan’s two record-setting wins over Northwest Indian.  SFU’s 160 points in Friday’s win eclipsed the GNAC single-game scoring record by 24 points.

Western Oregon: Andy Avgi led the Wolves with 33 points and 14 rebounds as WOU earned a split at Point Loma defeating Fresno Pacific 69-68 after losing its season opener to the host Sea Lions 64-54.  Julian Nichols had 16 points and also had team-highs for rebounds (16) and assists (10), accounting for two-thirds of the latter for WOU.

Western Washington:  Jeffrey Parker was the MVP in the Chuck Randall Classic scoring 43 points and hauling in 18 rebounds in two Viking victories.  Joining Parker on the all-tournament team were teammates Joe Schreiber, who had 39 points, and Anye Turner, who had 19 points, 15 rebounds and 12 blocks.  WWU outblocked its two opponents 20-4.