• News
• |
• Schedule
• |
• Roster
• |
• Stats
• |
• Archives

March 9, 2009

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Washington University guard Ira Graham and Viking head coach Brad Jackson have been selected the 2008-09 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player-of-the-Year and Coach-of-the-Year, respectively.

Western Washington, which placed two players on the first-team all-star team, nearly made a clean sweep of the special awards as guard Morris Anderson was selected the GNAC Newcomer-of-the-Year. Western Oregon guard Blair Wheadon was voted the GNAC Freshman-of-the-Year, receiving all but one first-place vote.

Graham, Anderson and Jackson led the Vikings to a 21-5 record and their first outright GNAC championship in the eight-year history of the conference. Western Washington, which shared the GNAC title in 2002 and 2005, is the No.2 seed and will host one of two sub-regional tournaments beginning Friday at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Jackson earned his 10th career 20-win season with two victories last week and the 1975 Washington State graduate now has a career record of 445-256.

It is the seventh time Jackson has been selected a Coach-of-the-Year in his 24 seasons in Bellingham. He won the GNAC Coach-of-the-Year award in 2005 and also earned Coach-of-the-Year awards five times (1988, 1989, 1990, 1994 and 2001) prior to the formation of the conference.

Graham finished third in the conference in scoring this winter averaging 18.7 points per game and also ranked 10th in steals, averaging 1.2 per game. He made 53.3 percent of his shots.

Anderson ranked 20th in scoring (12.9), 14th in rebounding (5.6), first in steals (2.8), second in assists (6.3) and eighth in free throw percentage (82.5). Wheadon averaged 12 points and three assists per game and also made 46 of 112 three-pointers in his freshman season.

Western Washington and Central Washington placed two players each on the GNAC first team all-star team. Representing the Vikings on the six-man squad were Graham and Anderson. Jake Beitinger and Matt Penoncello were CWU's representatives.

Completing the first team was Kenny Barker of Alaska Anchorage and Jake Linton of Saint Martin's. Barker was the lone unanimous selection. Linton, who led the GNAC in scoring this winter with a 23.0 average, was voted to the first team for the third year in a row.

Linton is only the third player in GNAC history, joining Austin Nichols and Fred Hooks of Humboldt State, to win first team honors three times. In addition to Linton, Beitinger and Graham were the only repeat selections from a year ago.

Six players - Chris Banchero and Casey Reed of Seattle Pacific, Brandon Foote of Central Washington, Travis Kuhns of Western Oregon, Calin Schell of Western Washington and Bill Richardson of Saint Martin's of Saint Martin's - were named to the second team. Eleven more players were honorable mention selections.

2009 Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Star Team

Player-of-the-Year - Ira Graham, Western Washington

Newcomer-of-the-Year - Morris Anderson, Western Washington

Freshman-of-the-Year - Blair Wheadon, Western Oregon (G, 6-2, Fr., Junction City, OR)

Coach-of-the-Year - Brad Jackson, Western Washington

First Team - +Kenny Barker, Alaska Anchorage (G, 6-3, Sr., San Diego, CA); *Ira Graham, Western Washington (G, 6-1, Sr., Fontana, CA); **Jake Linton, Saint Martin's (G, 5-10, Sr., Lynnwood, WA); Matt Penoncello, Central Washington (G, 6-5, Sr., Moscow, ID); Morris Anderson, Western Washington (G, 6-2, Jr., Federal Way, WA); *Jake Beitinger, Central Washington (F, 6-8, Sr., Port Orchard, WA). *Repeater **Two-time Repeater +Unanimous.

Second Team - Chris Banchero, Seattle Pacific (G, 6-1, So., Seattle, WA); Brandon Foote, Central Washington (F, 6-3, Sr., Bellingham, WA); Travis Kuhns, Western Oregon (F, 6-8, Sr., Salem, OR); Calin Schell, Western Washington (F, 6-7, Jr., Chelan, WA); Casey Reed, Seattle Pacific (F, 6-5, Sr., Canby, OR); Bill Richardson, Saint Martin's (C, 6-8, Sr., Shelton, WA).

Honorable Mention - Jeremiah Trueman, Alaska Anchorage (F, 6-9, Sr., Stratford, New Zealand); Emmanuel Jenkins, Alaska Fairbanks (G, 6-0, Jr., Tacoma, WA); Johnny Spevak, Central Washington (G, 6-3, Sr., Edgewood, WA); Travis Bunker, MSU Billings (F, 6-6, Sr., Beaver, UT); Derek Wright, MSU Billings (F, 6-7, Jr., Brooklyn, NY); Michael Hall, MSU Billings (G, 6-0, Sr., Dayton, OH); Brian Barkdoll, Northwest Nazarene (C, 6-10, So., Portland, OR); Kendall Gielow, Northwest Nazarene (F, 6-7, Jr., Medford, OR); Blake Poole, Saint Martin's (F, 6-5, So., Eugene, OR); Brandon Larrieu, Seattle Pacific (G, 6-0, Jr., Tacoma, WA); Rafael Moreira, Seattle Pacific (C, 6-9, Jr., Brasilia, Brazil).