Parity in PacWest pumps up race
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
At the midway point of the Pacific West Conference basketball season, all four Hawai'i Division II teams have chances at advancing to postseason.
Nineteenth-ranked Brigham Young-Hawai'i (13-2 overall, 7-1 PacWest) leads the six-team conference, followed by Hawai'i-Hilo (14-6, 6-2), Chaminade (9-11, 4-4), Montana State-Billings (12-6, 5-4), Hawai'i Pacific (13-7, 2-6) and Western New Mexico (3-16, 1-8).
"It's a great race," said BYUH coach Ken Wagner, who is in his first year as a member of the West Region committee. "On a given night anyone can beat any of the other teams. It makes for an interesting conference."
In the NCAA II West Regional Rankings released yesterday, BYUH remained No. 3, UH-Hilo moved up one spot to No. 6 and HPU remained No. 10. Cal State-San Bernardino (15-4) is ranked first.
The regional rankings determine which teams are invited to the NCAA II Regional Tournament in March. Eight West Region teams are selected. The champions of the PacWest, the Great Northwest Conference and the California Collegiate Athletic Association earn automatic berths to the tournament. The remaining five at-large teams are determined by the regional rankings.
The regional rankings are based on four criteria: overall strength of schedule, strength of schedule in the West Region, win-loss record in the West Region and overall win-loss record.
Wagner believes the PacWest championship will be determined in the next two weeks, starting when BYUH plays at Hilo Feb. 21 and 22.
"We're in a position where we control our destiny," Wagner said. "If we win, we can be in a position to win the league the next week. If not, it's going to be up for grabs."
Wagner said HPU and Chaminade can still make it to postseason, although Chaminade might have to win the remainder of their games.
"I think Chaminade, if they won out, they would be right there," Wagner said. "There's not much (power ranking) difference between Hawai'i-Hilo and ourselves, or Hawai'i-Hilo and Hawai'i Pacific. It's a pretty narrow margin."
The winner of the Pacific West Conference will need at least 10 victories out of 15 games, according to Wagner.
Last season, BYUH and Montana State-Billings both finished with 10-5 records and were declared co-champions. BYUH won the automatic berth to the tournament and Montana State-Billings earned an at-large bid.
"It will probably depend on what Hilo does and how we do," said Wagner on the amount of needed victories. "If both of us beat everyone the rest of the way, you're going to have to win a lot more. But if we lose some on the way, you'll probably win it with 10 again."
• Foyle Dynasty on ESPN: The ESPN Web site poked fun at BYUH's Alexus Foyle and his cousin Adonal Foyle, who plays for the NBA's Golden State Warriors, saying that the two combined to score 42 points on Jan. 31. Actually, Alexus scored 40 against UH-Hilo and Adonal scored two against the Utah Jazz. For more, visit http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=gsw.
• BYUH tennis rolls: The top-ranked Brigham Young-Hawai'i women's tennis team opened the season Tuesday with a 9-0 win over Chaminade in La'ie.
The defending national champion Seasiders got singles victories from the nation's top-ranked player Adrienn Hegedus, Judy Weng, Anna Anakinova, 16th-ranked Jing (Amy) Sun, Trisha Piercy and Chelsea Smith.
In a battle of two-sport athletes, Smith defeated Chaminade's Audrey Brady, 6-4, 6-3, in No. 6 singles. Smith runs cross country and Brady plays volleyball.
The Seasiders also swept the three doubles matches behind Hegedus and Weng, Anakinova and Sun, and Piercy and Smith.
The third-ranked BYUH men's team notched its second win of the season by beating Chaminade, 9-0.
Top-ranked Jan Krejci downed Kieran McCartney in No. 1 singles and teamed with 11th-ranked Peter Madarassy to blitz McCartney and Albert Yakakuwa, 8-0, at the top double slot. Madarassy, J. W. Yoon, Hong-Tae Kim and W. L. Cheng all won their singles matches. Eddie Merc won by default at number six singles as Chaminade only had five players. The number three doubles was defaulted as well by Chaminade.
Last Week's Basketball Results
Hawai'i-Hilo 83, Hawai'i Pacific 67*
Montana State-Billings 102, Great Falls 61
Brigham Young-Hawai'i 94, Chaminade 71*
This Week's Basketball Schedule
Tuesday's Results
Montana State-Billings 87, Chaminade 71*
Hawai'i-Hilo 81, Western New Mexico 59*
Yesterday's Result
Brigham Young-Hawai'i 70, Hawai'i Pacific 61, OT
Today's Games
Chaminade at Montana State-Billings*
Hawai'i-Hilo at Western New Mexico*
Saturday's Games
Chaminade at Western New Mexico*
Hawai'i-Hilo at Montana State-Billings*
Last Week's Softball Results
Brigham Young-Hawai'i 9, Gustavus Adolphus 0
Western New Mexico 8, New Mexico State 0
Chaminade 7, Gustavus Adolphus 2
Gustavus Adolphus 2, Chaminade 0
Hawai'i Pacific 5, Gustavus Adolphus 2
Hawai'i Pacific 6, Gustavus Adolphus 0
Hawai'i Pacific 7, Brigham Young-Hawai'i 1
Hawai'i Pacific 10, Brigham Young-Hawai'i 1
Western New Mexico 2, New Mexico State 0
Western New Mexico 11, New Mexico State 0
This Week's Softball Schedule
Yesterday's Result
Brigham Young-Hawai'i at Chaminade, late
Saturday's Games
Brigham Young-Hawai'i at Hawai'i Pacific*, noon at HPU Windward field
Hawai'i-Hilo at Chaminade, noon at Palolo Field
Western New Mexico vs. New Mexico Highlands
Sunday's Games
Hawai'i-Hilo at Hawai'i Pacific*, 11 a.m. at HPU Windward field
Western New Mexico vs. New Mexico Highlands
*—Pacific West Conference game
