March 10, 2015
Contact: Bob Guptill ([email protected])
503-305-8756 /www.gnacsports.com
Regional Begins Friday; GNAC Champion SPU Opens With BYUH
GNAC
Western Oregon
Seattle Pacific
Central Washington
Alaska Anchorage
Western Washington
Northwest Nazarene
Simon Fraser
Alaska
Saint Martin’s
MSU Billings
Conf.
W
L
15
3
13
5
12
6
12
6
11
7
11
7
6 12
4 14
3 15
3 15
All
W
23
23
17
16
20
14
11
7
6
5
L
6
7
9
13
11
16
15
19
22
23
H
12-2
10-3
10-2
11-6
13-2
7-4
8-5
6-7
4-8
3-10
A
10-3
7-4
5-5
5-5
4-6
5-8
2-10
1-9
2-9
1-11
The Seasiders are 4-0 against GNAC teams this season.
They also defeated Central Washington at Laie and Alaska
Anchorage and Alaska at Anchorage.
N
1-1
6-0
2-2
0-2
3-3
2-4
1-0
0-3
0-5
1-2
In the first game between the two schools, GNAC
Tournament MVP Cory Hutsen led SPU with 23 points
while Scott Friel paced the Seasiders with 20 points and 11
rebounds.
The first game was not typical of SPU’s season as the
Falcons were outrebounded (27-25) for the only time this
season. SPU leads Division II in rebounding margin
outrebounding its opponents by a margin of 13.3 per
game.
GNAC Championships (March 5-7 at Billings, MT): Thursday - #6
Northwest Nazarene 79, #3 Central Washington 73; #5 Western
Washington 76, #4 Alaska Anchorage 56. Friday - #2 Seattle
Pacific 73, Northwest Nazarene 54; Western Washington 88, #1
Western Oregon 79. Saturday – Seattle Pacific 81, Western
Washington 68.
The Falcons lead the GNAC in field goal percentage
defense this season, allowing its opponents to shoot just
41.8 percent.
NCAA West Regional (March 13-16 at Azusa, Calif.): Friday - #3
Cal Baptist (24-6) vs. #6 Chico State (22-7), noon; #2 BYU-Hawaii
(24-5) vs. #7 Seattle Pacific (23-7), 2:30 p.m.; #4 Dixie State (20-7)
vs. #5 Cal Poly Pomona (23-6), 5 p.m.; #1 Azusa Pacific (24-5) vs.
#8 Western Oregon (23-6), 7:30 p.m. Saturday - Semifinals at 5
and 7:30 p.m. Monday - Championship game at 7 p.m.
The PacWest school, however, shot 62.5 percentage,
making 35 of 56 shots. Only two other SPU opponents
shot 50 percent or better – Academy of Art on Nov. 14
(50.0) and Western Washington on Feb. 5 (55.8).
SPU, WOU Look To Reverse Regular-Season Results
SPU, which has won seven straight games, lost both of
those contests.
PORTLAND, Ore. – GNAC tournament champion Seattle
Pacific opens the 2015 NCAA Division II West Regional
Friday at 2:30 p.m. against BYU-Hawaii at Azusa, Calif.
The Falcons are 2-2 against West Region tournament
teams, defeating Dixie State 76-66 on Dec. 17 at Las Vegas
and splitting two games with Western Oregon, winning at
Brougham Pavilion 83-76 on Jan. 1 and losing 94-84 in two
overtimes at Monmouth on Jan. 31.
The opening round will also feature a 7:30 p.m. game
between host and top-seed Azusa Pacific and GNAC
regular-season champion Western Oregon.
Western Oregon is also 2-2 against tournament teams. In
addition to its two contests with SPU, the Wolves lost 8174 at home on Nov. 21 to Azusa Pacific and defeated Dixie
State 67-52 on Nov. 25 at St. George, Utah.
The winner of the tournament advances to the NCAA Elite
Eight March 25-28 at the Ford Center at Evansville,
Indiana. The championship game will be televised by CBS.
Both games will be the second this season between the
respective teams.
In the loss to APU, WOU shot just 40.6 percent (28-of-69)
and were outrebounded 45-35. APU’s Troy Leaf scored 33
points, making 10 of 15 shots including 5-of-8 threepointers.
BYU-Hawaii defeated the Falcons 87-74 on Nov. 22 at Laie,
Hawaii.
GNAC regular-season MVP Andy Avgi led WOU with 18
points and also had six rebounds and four steals.
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