Seasiders Aim For NCAA Spot
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usThe Brigham Young-Hawaii men’s basketball team is plainly on “Upset Alert” this week as the Seasiders make a final pitch to be included in the field for the NCAA Division II Tournament.
The team was to play the most critical game of its season last Saturday in Honolulu against Hawaii Pacific University, which had held a half-game lead over BYUH along with Dixie State in the Pacific West Conference race. The league champion earns an automatic berth in the tournament, which begins March 12 with Regionals.
Regardless of the outcome, the Seasiders would seem in good position to secure a so-called “at-large” berth. Above all, they are clearly playing their best basketball when it counts the most - with an eight-game win streak heading into last weekend.
First up, BYUH (16-5 overall, 10-2 in league play entering last weekend) has to make sure it doesn’t stumble on the road this week in its final three PacWest games against Dominican (CA) Tuesday, Academy of Art (CA) Thursday and Notre Dame de Namur (CA) Saturday - all teams that entered the weekend a combined 8-32 in the league. The more difficult of these was unquestionably Dominican. The Penguins were 6-7 as of last weekend. Academy of Art and Notre Dame de Namur were 0-13 and 2-12, respectively, entering the final week of the season. Wins against all three teams would give the Seasiders a 19-5 record, with the result of the HPU contest not even taken into account. BYUH is ranked sixth in the latest NCAA II West Regional poll. The top eight teams from the region are invited to the post-season tournament.
The Seasiders opened the season ranked No. 1 in the nation by the Division II Bulletin back in October and were favored to take the DII national title. A glance at BYUH’s season to date follows:
Signature Wins
BYUH has fared well against PacWest’s top teams, defeating HPU 89-88 in the best game of the year, a thriller on Jan. 23 at home. (They also won a game versus HPU in December in the Chaminade-hosted Hawaii Challenge Tournament.) The Seasiders posted an impressive 91-74 win over Dixie State at home Feb. 18, avenging a road loss to the Red Storm from early January. Although Chaminade has a young roster, BYUH’s 80-74 road win at McCabe Gym also looks good on their resume - as does their home win (80-59) over the Silverswords Feb. 12.
Bad Losses
None. The Seasiders have been in every game this season
The “Jet” Takes Off
The Seasiders have been buoyed by the return of sophomore guard TsungHsien “Jet” Chang from a broken arm suffered in December. He was thought to be lost for the season. Since he was medically cleared to play again, BYUH is 4-0 and has averaged 86 points per game, while winning its games by an average of 20 points. Chang had a team-high 20 points in his first game back, an 80-59 runaway over Chaminade at Cannon Activities Center, and he has been at the top of his game since. A native of Yilan, Taiwan, Chang was the MVP at the Seattle Pacific Tournament in December.
Getting Offensive
BYUH leads the nation in field-goal percentage among (270) Division II schools, making good on 51.7 percent of its shots. They shot 58.6 percent in the second half of last Thursday’s win over Hawaii-Hilo to finish that game at a 48.3 clip.
The Alves Factor
Division II preseason Player of the Year Lucas Alves has continued to move up the school’s all-time scoring charts, where he is currently rated third behind Rick Barker (1,745) and David Evans (2,053). Heading into the weekend, and with four games left in the regular season, Alves had totaled 1,694. Alves missed the first month of the season with a knee injury but has hit his stride lately and should finish strong.
Balancing Act
The Seasiders have six players - Chang (19.2), Alves (12.8), Anthony Reilly (12.8), Virgil Buensuceso (12.7), Marques Whippy (11.8) and Rory Patterson (11.0) - averaging in double-figures.
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