There were 19 games last week involving PacWest teams as squads continued crossover play. There were some outstanding performances, including Hawai`i Hilo’s Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones’ 28 points and 13 rebounds in a overtime win over Alaska Anchorage. Academy of Art improved to 4-0 and is the Team of Week, in part because of another outstanding pair of games from Defender of the Week Klay Brown.

2022-23 Results/Schedule
2022-23 Standings
2022-23 Statistics
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Hawai`i Hilo’s Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, F, 6-6, 205, Soph., Wellington, New Zealand
Hawai`i Hilo’s Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones had a monster game last week to help his team plant a 87-82 overtime verdict on Alaska Anchorage. The New Zealand native, who has been both the PacWest Newcomer and Freshman of the Year over the past two seasons, had 28 points and 13 rebounds against the Seawolves. He also had three assists, a steal and a blocked shot. He drilled 16-of-21 free throw opportunities, including 4-for-4 marksmanship in overtime after the Vulcans built a small lead.
 
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Academy of Art’s Klay Brown, G, Sr., 6-4, 195, Queens, New York                             
The 2021-22 PacWest Defender of the Year is off to a good start in 2022-23 on both ends of the court, helping lead the Urban Knights to a 4-0 beginning. In a 85-67 win over Cal State East Bay, Klay Brown had 20 points, seven assists, six rebounds and two steals. A few nights later, Brown helped ART U shut down Chico State (84-57), clamping down on the team picked to finish third in the CCAA. Brown had eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals to go with eight points and five assists in the Urban Knight’s first ever win over Chico State. Through four games, Brown lists in the top 10 in five different PacWest categories including steals (2.5), blocked shots (1.3), assists (4.8), rebounds (7.5) and scoring (17.5).

URBAN KNIGHTS CONTINUE ROLL THROUGH CCAA: The PacWest Team of the Week is the ACADEMY OF ART URBAN KNIGHTS. ART U added two more convincing wins to their early season ledger by topping Cal State East Bay (85-67) and Chico State (84-57). Coupled with victories the previous week against San Francisco State (78-68) and Sonoma State (77-70), the Urban Knights are off to a hot start under head coach Scott Waterman. ART U is the only 4-0 team in the PacWest, and have now outscored their opponents by an average of 81-65. With Academy of Art’s first-ever win over Chico State, they also gained a measure of revenge after falling to the Wildcats in the first round of the 2021-22 NCAA tournament.

CROSSING OVER: The PacWest went 10-9 last week in games that were of course all non-conference encounters. In addition to the aforementioned victories for Academy of Art and Hawai`i Hilo, Point Loma thumped GNAC contender Northwest Nazarene (69-52), Azusa Pacific clipped Seattle Pacific (77-70) and Western Washington (86-72), Dominican defeated Stanislaus State (72-61) and Holy Names knocked off Chico State (81-68). In the impressive loss category, Point Loma fell to No. 8 ranked Minnesota-Duluth and Biola dropped a 63-59 contest to CCAA contender Cal Poly Pomona. Concordia lost to three teams in the regional top 10—Western Washington, Seattle Pacific and Cal State Dominguez Hills.

REGIONAL REVIEW: The PacWest had three teams in the D2SIDA West Region Top 10, announced today (Monday). The list, voted on by a panel of Sports Information Directors (two from each conference) looks like this. (1) Cal State San Bernardino 4-0, (2) St. Martin’s 4-0, (3) Academy of Art 4-0, (4) Montana State Billings 4-0, (T-5) Point Loma 3-2, (T-5) Cal Poly Pomona 3-1, (7) Azuza Pacific, (8) Western Washington 3-1, (9) Western Oregon, (10) Northwest Nazarene 2-1.

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Biola trampled Antelope Valley 79-53 behind Alex Wright’s 19 point, seven rebounds and seven assists. Nathan Medina had 19 points, missing just one shot from the field. Daniel Exparza had 18 points in that loss to Cal Poly Pomona, while Maximo Milovich had a double-double with 11 points and 13 boards…Lance Coleman had a big scoring week for Concordia, putting up 25 points each in losses to Cal State Dominguez Hills and Western Washington, and adding another 20 against Seattle Pacific…Point Loma’s Luke Haupt had 25 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in the Sea Lions’ loss to Minnesota-Duluth. Kaden Anderson averaged just over 22 points in three PLNU games last week…Dominican’s Garrett Siebels was perfect in the Penguins’ 72-61 win over Stanislaus State, with 20 points on 7-of-7 shooting, including 4-of-4 from three-point range…Damiri Lindo had 17 points and eight boards in Holy Names’ big win over Chico State…Fresno Pacific’s Isaac Peralta had a PacWest high 30 points against La Verne, which included 11-of-13 shooting from the field…APU’s Ken West had 17 and 19 points respectively in big Cougar victories over Western Washington and Seattle Pacific…In a three-point loss to Cal Poly Humboldt, Dominican’s Marcus McCutchen had 26 points, nine rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.

LOOKING AHEAD: 23 more non-conference games are on tap this week, Tuesday through Sunday. That includes 11 more PacWest vs. CCAA match-ups and also three PacWest-GNAC battles. Azusa Pacific will travel to Nampa, Idaho to take on host Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington, Chaminade hosts region No. 1 Cal State San Bernardino and Hawai`i Hilo begins the first round of the Big Island Classic with games against Central Oklahoma and UC Colorado Springs.