Vanguard moved to 5-0 with a pair of victories over teams from the Pacific Northwest, including a 9-point win over GNAC favorite Central Washington. Academy of Art also won two games last week, taking out a GNAC team and a CCAA squad, thanks in part to Quintin Metcalf's well rounded work. Dominican's Jaayden Bush stole at will with 13 total thefts in three contests to earn Defender of the Week. 

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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Academy of Art's Quintin Metcalf, F, Sr., 6-8, Wurzburg, Germany                     
Academy of Art's Quintin Metcalf laid out winning numbers across the stat sheet to help his Urban Knight team go 2-0 last week. ART U topped Stanislaus State last Wednesday on the road (66-62) with the 6-foot-8 senior providing double-double numbers of 14 points and 10 rebounds. The German native hit 6-of-9 shots against the Warriors and five of his rebounds were on the offensive glass. On Friday at home against Simon Fraser, he added 12 points, six boards and four steals. The second-year ART U player and first year starter is now shooting .576 from the field, is averaging 11.9 points per game and 7.0 rebounds.

DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Dominican's Jaayden Bush, G, Soph., 5-11, 180, Carson, Calif.                    
Dominican's Jaayden Bush was a defensive menace to three opponents last week. The sophomore guard totaled 13 steals in the trio of contests, including six against California Maritime. Bush added four more against Lincoln, and had three against CS Monterey Bay as the Penguins went 2-1 to improve to 5-3 on the season. The Los Angeles native had 16 points against the Otters and had four assists in each of the three contests. The lefty is now tied for third in the PacWest with 3.0 steals per game, with a high of seven earlier this season against CS East Bay. This is the third all-time Defender of the Week award for the Penguin redshirt sophomore. 

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Vanguard Lions                                                                                                            
Vanguard went to San Diego last week to beat a pair of teams from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. On Friday, the Lions rolled past GNAC preseason favorite Central Washington, 85-76, with five players in double figures. Bryson Metz led the way with 15 points, three rebounds and four steals. On Saturday, the first-year PacWest member sailed past Seattle Pacific, 90-67, again behind a balanced attack paced by Leonard Turner, who had 15 points and four steals. Four players were in doubles figures after VU scored 50 second half points. That win against the Falcons boosted the Lions to a 5-0 start, with two GNAC wins and two CCAA victories. The Lions were picked to finish 13th in the PacWest preseason poll. 

THIS WEEK: PacWest play begins this week, with 12 games on tap. That includes a Thursday match-up where Vanguard puts their unbeaten streak on the line at 2023-24 co-champ Academy of Art. Speaking of co-champs, the Urban Knights will host Point Loma on Saturday. To see the complete list, click here.

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Four PacWest teams had just one game last week and all four put a W on their record. Azusa Pacific had one of the most dramatic victories, edging CS San Marcos 70-69 on Michael Sabo's lay-up with six seconds left. Maui Sze had 24 points, seven assists and five rebounds in the victory over the fellow Cougars...Hawai`i Hilo had the other drama packed win, over Adelphi 65-64. The Vulcans outscored the Panthers 37-29 in the second half and didn't claim their first lead until Jake Kosakowski's trey with 1:26 left... Menlo defeated UC Santa Cruz in its lone game of the week, rolling to a 75-58 win behind Landon Seaman's 26 points, eight rebounds and three steals...Biola improved to 6-1 win wins over Stanton (98-68) and La Sierra (86-61). Six players were in double figures against Stanton, and Nathan Medina paced the Eagles versus La Sierra with 21 points and six rebounds...Westmont's Adrian McIntyre put up big numbers again during a win over Life Pacific and a loss to Simon Fraser. In a 78-73 loss to the Red Leafs, the reigning Player of the Week had 19 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals, and in the 78-66 win over Life Pacific the junior guard had 25 points, seven assists and two steals, hitting 11 of his 13 shots from the field...Chaminade split games, first improving to 5-0 with a 105-61 win over Grace Christian before suffering their first loss of the season to Adelphi on Sunday, 86-85. Five players were in double figures against Grace, while Amound Anderson led the Silverswords on Sunday with 21 points off the bench...Hawaii Pacific defeated Adelphi, a Division II school from the NEC-10, 71-58. Jonas Visser had 18 points and Joshua West had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. The Sharks also dropped a close contest to Division I Hawai`i, 67-63. Sherman Brashear had 22 points and seven rebounds for HPU...In a match-up of two of the region's top teams to date, CS San Bernardino edged Concordia, 68-64. The 'Yotes improved to 7-1 and the Golden Eagles dropped just its second game (5-2). CUI trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half before cutting the margin to two points late in the game. Jaden Henderson had 19 points, eight rebounds and three steals, and Jayce Catchings had 16 points and 11 boards...Point Loma split games, topping Seattle Pacific (82-68) behind Luke Haupt's 27 points and falling in a heartbreaker (69-68) to Central Washington. The Sea Lions are now 7-2. Zack Paulsen had 20 to lead PLNU and Wynton Brown doubled up with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

D2 WEST REGION POLL: It's still a very long time until the official NCAA Division II West Region ranking comes out, but until then we have a placeholder in the D2CSC listing. Today's poll (Dec. 2) looks like this: (1) CS San Bernardino (7-2), (2) Point Loma (7-2), (3) Cal Poly Pomona (5-1), (4) St. Martin's 9-2, (5) Biola (6-1), (T6) Western Washington (6-1), (T6) Concordia (5-2), (8) Montana State Billings (7-2), (9) Vanguard (5-0), (10) Central Washington (4-3). RV--Sonoma State, Chaminade, Northwest Nazarene, Academy of Art, Chico State.