Tuesday, January 20, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. –   As the Great Northwest Athletic Conference basketball race approaches the halfway point this weekend, there is perfect symmetry to the conference standings.

One team – Western Oregon – is 6-1 and one team is 1-6.  One team – Seattle Pacific – is 6-2 and one team is 2-6. Three teams – Central Washington, Alaska Anchorage and Northwest Nazarene – are all 5-2 and three others are 2-5.

With five teams separated by just one game – and the three 5-2 teams squaring off in Alaska – it could be a big weekend as the teams begin jostling for the six playoff positions.

Western Oregon (14-3, 6-1) takes its ½ game lead over Seattle Pacific (14-4, 6-2) north for games with Simon Fraser (6-9, 1-6) Thursday and Western Washington (9-8, 2-5) Saturday.

Seattle Pacific (14-4, 6-2), meanwhile, has Thursday off before playing at Montana State Billings (4-14, 2-6) in its travel partner game Saturday.

Alaska Anchorage (9-8, 5-2) hosts Central Washington (10-4, 5-2) Thursday and Northwest Nazarene (7-10, 5-2) Saturday as the teams jockey for third place.

The weekend schedule will also feature games between Alaska (5-10, 2-5) and NNU and CWU and between Saint Martin’s (5-12, 2-5) and Western Washington and Simon Fraser.

Western Oregon Slips Past SPU In D2SIDA Poll

The top four teams in this week’s D2SIDA West Regional poll all come from the PacWest Conference led by No. 1 Cal Baptist.

Western Oregon is in fifth after leapfrogging over No. 6 Seattle Pacific this week.  The Wolves were seventh in last week’s poll.

The poll is unofficial as the NCAA will beginning producing its own official NCAA regional poll beginning next month to determine which five at-large teams will eventually join the GNAC, PacWest and CCAA champions in the regional playoffs.

In this week’s NABC National poll, both Western Oregon and Seattle Pacific were among ‘’others receiving votes” and are 28^th and 33^rd overall.

The NBAC poll is also unofficial and will have no impact on the selection of playoff teams.

D2SIDA West Regional Poll (records through Jan. 19) – 1. Cal Baptist (14-1); 2. Azusa Pacific (15-2); 3. BYU-Hawaii (11-2); 4. Point Loma (13-3); 5. Western Oregon (14-3); 6. Seattle Pacific (14-4); 7. Cal Poly Pomona (11-4); Western Oregon (13-3); 8. Cal State Stanislaus (11-4); 9. Dixie State (10-5); 10. UC San Diego (9-5).

Niang 4th In Assists, 6th in Scoring

Simon Fraser guard Sango Niang continues to post some impressive numbers and currently ranks sixth in NCAA Division II in scoring (24.6) and fourth in assists (7.3).

He has all but wrapped up the GNAC statistical titles in both categories.

In two games last week, he scored 71 points, including a near GNAC-record 46 against Central Washington.  He also had 11 assists.

His point total is the 10th highest back-to-back total in GNAC history.  Niang also ranks 10th in assist/turnover ratio (3.21).

The only other two GNAC players ranked in the Top 10 in a category are Anye Turner of Western Washington (6th, 325) and Joseph Stroud of Central Washington (7th, 2.93) in blocked shots.

Stroud had nine in two games last week.  Turner, who played in just eight minutes because of a sprained Achilles, had just one.  Turner is expected back this week.

In team categories, Simon Fraser continues to rank No. 1 in scoring (116.7), three-pointers (13.9), steals (14.7) and turnover margin (11.0)  and second in offensive rebounds (16.5).

Seattle Pacific ranks second in rebound margin (13.6) and third in field goal percentage (52.4).  Western Washington ranks third in blocks (6.4).

Team Notes

Alaska: Almir Hadzisehovic had 36 points on 15-of-24 shooting in two road losses, including an overtime defeat to MSU Billings.  Anthony Reese added 30 points, making 12 of 19 shots. Hadzisehovic made a basket with three seconds left in regulation to give UAF a one-point lead at Billings Thursday before MSUB tied it making 1-of-2 free throws to force overtime.

Alaska Anchorage: Travis Thompson had 31 points and Dom Hunter had 28 as the Seawolves earned a road split at Seattle and Billings.    Sjur Berg had a team-high 13 rebounds.  The Seawolves, however, were outrebounded 63-49 and outshot 51.4 percent to 43.2.

Central Washington:  Dom Williams scored 31 points and had 13 assists to lead the Wildcats to a home sweep of Western Washington and Simon Fraser.  Joseph Stroud added 38 points, 12 rebounds, nine blocks and five steals  and Joey Roppo, who averages 7, had 31 points and six assists. Williams’ long three-pointer with 3.8 seconds left snapped a 71-71 tie in Wednesday’s ROOT SPORTS game against WWU.  CWU had 7 blocks – and just 7 turnovers - in the victory.

MSU Billings:  Jace Anderson, who came into the weekend averaging just 4.2 points and 10.8 minutes, scored 46 points as the Yellowjackets split two games.  Anderson had 27 points including seven in overtime, as the Yellowjackets beat Alaska 83-78 Thursday, then added 19 more in a 70-62 loss to Alaska Anchorage.  Anderson made 15 of 26 shots, 8-of-17 from the arc.

Northwest Nazarene: The Crusaders shot 55.9 percent from the floor (57-of-102) and made 62-of-82 free throws  in sweeping Simon Fraser and Western Washington.    NNU blocked 11 SFU shots and made 26 of 28 free throws against WWU compared to 16-of-27 by the Vikings.  Erik Kinney had 32 points in the two wins.

Saint Martin’s: Tyler Copp tied his career high with 19 points, making 4-of-6 three-pointers in a 14-point road loss at Monmouth.  Trey Ingram had seven assists and Tyler Idowu blocked three shots.

Seattle Pacific: Mitch Penner had 33 points, including 21 against Alaska Anchorage as the Falcons ran their home win streak against the Seawolves to 11.    SPU also got 18 points from Cory Hutsen and 13 points and 10 rebounds from Riley Stockton against UAA.  Will Parker came off the bench to lead SPU against Alaska with 14 points.

Simon Fraser: Sango Niang’s two-game point total of 71 (See Player of the Week notes) is the 10th highest two-game point total in GNAC history.  The Clan also got 25 points from Roderick Evans-Taylor and 23 from Justin Cole.  SFU had 17 shots blocked in shooting for a 41.9 percentage.

Western Oregon: Jordan Wiley made 5-of-8 three-point shots and scored 21 points as the Wolves maintained its narrow lead in the conference race defeating Saint Martin’s 82-68.   Devon Alexander had six steals moving into 15th place on  the GNAC career list with 151.

Western Washington:  Ricardo Maxwell scored 44 points in losses at Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene.   He had 29 in the latter game. The Vikings led 45-34 at halftime against CWU and 37-29 at the break against NNU.  Anye Turner played just eight minutes in the two contests before sustaining an Achilles injury Thursday at Ellensburg. He is expected back Thursday,

GNAC Players of the Week

Kevin Rima, Northwest Nazarene (F/C, 6-7, Sr., Fairbanks, AK -  Hutchison) and Sango Niang, Simon Fraser (G, 6-0, Sr., Paris, France – Chaffey CC) … Rima, who is averaging 12.2 points per game, scored 47 points and also had 19 rebounds to lead the Crusaders to their fourth and fifth wins in their last six games.  He had 18 points and 12 rebounds, recording his 13th career double-double, in a 107-103 victory against Simon Fraser Thursday.  On Saturday, he tallied 29 points and grabbed seven rebounds in a 80-73 conquest of Western Washington.  Rima, who made 18 of 25 field goal attempts and 11 of 13 foul shots, helped rally NNU from double-digit second-half deficits in both games … Niang scored 71 points, including 46 in a  104-95 loss Saturday at Central Washington.  That is the second highest single-game point total in GNAC history trailing only Western Washington’s Ryan Diggs who scored 47 in 2006.  Niang made 18 field goals equaling the GNAC single-game record set by Gerrit Eades of Saint Martin’s in 2002.  In two games, he made 27 of 46 field goal attempts and also had 11 assists.

GNAC WEEKLY (PDF version)