Western Oregon Opens GNAC Play This Week at WWU, SMU

The Wolves are 5-6 on the year.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

MONMOUTH - Western Oregon opens Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on the road against Western Washington (Thursday) and Saint Martin’s (Saturday).

· Thursday (7:00 PM): Western Oregon (5-6) at Western Washington (6-4), Bellingham, Wash. (Sam Carver Gymnasium)

· Saturday (7:00 PM): Western Oregon at Saint Martin’s (3-8), Lacey, Wash. (SMU Pavillion).

Last week:

Western Oregon won two games at the Red Lion Inn Wolfpack Classic, defeating North Dakota (74-72) and Shepherd of West Virginia (84-81).

The Wolves shared the classic title with Central Washington, who also defeating those same two teams.

Directions to WWU:

Take I-5 North through Seattle to Bellingham. Take the Samish exit. Turn left and continue to Samish Way Drive. Turn left and proceed across overpass to Bill McDonald Parkway.

Turn left and proceed past Sehome High School to South College Drive.

Turn right and continue to end of South College Drive. Turn right and curve around to parking lot 17G. Follow sidewalk between Ross Engineering Building and Art Building to Carver Gym.

Directions to SMU:

From Portland, take I-5 North to Olympia area and take exit 108 and follow signs to College Street. At the stoplight, take a right and go to the second light (Pacific Avenue). Take a left onto Pacific, then another left at the first light into the Pavilion parking lot.

Let The Games Begin:

With all pre-season work behind them, 16 GNAC games now await the Wolves and the eight other teams in the conference.

Alaska Anchorage came out of the non-conference portion of the schedule with the best record, sitting at 9-2.

In the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches poll (Dec. 19th), Seattle University lists 13th, while Seattle Pacific is 30th.

Vikings And Saints:

2006 GNAC runner-up Western Washington has a total rebuilding job to do, after losing all five starters from a squad that finished 23-7 last winter and came one game away from advancing to the NCAA Elite Eight.

’06 back-up center Lukas Henne (Sr., 6-7) has stepped into the leadership role thus far for the Vikings, averaging 18.9 points per game and 7.2 rebounds.

He also leads WWU with a ..561 field goal percentage and has dished 4.3 assists per game.

Two of the four Viking losses (6-4) have come to nationally ranked teams, as WWU suffered narrow tournament losses to Cal Poly Pomona (#22) and Cal State San Bernardino (#24).

Western Washington has won the last four games played between the Vikings and Wolves, and WWU leads the all-time series, 29-11.

Saint Martin’s comes into conference play with a 3-8 overall mark but well-rested.

They have not played since a Dec. 20th win over George Fox (78-67).

The Saints have won two in a row, after also defeating NAIA nationally ranked Warner Pacific (94-84).

SMU returns six players with starting experience from a year ago, and Jake Linton (So., 5-10) currently leads the balanced squad with 17.2 points per game and 4.5 assists per contest.

Brendan Campbell (Jr., 6-5) adds 12.3 ppg and 8.7 rebounds.

Western Oregon has won the last three games played between the two schools, but Saint Martin’s leads the all-time series, 22-21.

Schmidt Shines Again:

Junior forward Ryan Schmidt earned Co-GNAC Player of the Week honors for the second time in three weeks for his efforts at the Red Lion Inn Wolfpack Classic last weekend.

The 6-7 Keizer native (McNary HS) hit for 33 points in the 84-81 win over Shepherd, including a three-point tiebreaker with 30 seconds left.

On Friday in the 74-72 win over North Dakota, Schmidt had 16 points, 14 of them in the second half.

He hit 59 percent from the floor over the weekend (16-27), and also had seven rebounds and nine assists. Schmidt was also named the Classic MVP.

Probable Starters:

F- 24 Jacob Mitchell (6-7, 235, Sr., Olympia, Wash.)

F- 30 Travis Kuhns (6-8, 200, So., Salem, Ore.)

F- 3 Ryan Schmidt (6-7, 210, Jr., Keizer, Ore.)

G- 5 Alex Swerzbin (6-0, 190, Sr., Portland, Ore.)

G- 20 Dominque DeWeese (6-3, 175, Sr., Portland, Ore.)

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