Three Yellowjackets Named to GNAC All-Conference Team

SPOKANE, Wash. – Three Montana State Billings men’s basketball players were included in the 2009-2010 Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Conference team, the conference office announced Monday.  Junior guard DeAndre Chambers was a second team selection as was senior forward Derrick Wright and senior guard DaVell Jackson earned honorable mention honors.

Seattle Pacific’s Chris Banchero was named Player of the Year and first year Seattle Pacific head coach Ryan Looney was named Coach of the Year.  Newcomer of the Year went to JC Cook of Central Washington and Freshman of the Year went to Tarance Glynn of Western Oregon.

The first team was led by unanimous selections in Banchero and Morris Anderson of Western Washington. Joining them on the six-member team was SPU’s Brandon Larrieu, Western Washington’s Derrick Webb and Blake Poole from Saint Martin’s.

Chambers, Cook and Wright joined Blair Wheadon of Western Oregon, Drew Eisinger of Northwest Nazarene and Chris Sprinker of Central Washington on the second team.  Jackson joined Emmanuel Jenkins of Alaska Fairbanks, Jon Clift of Central Washington, Rob Diederichs of Seattle Pacific, Casey Robinson of Alaska Anchorage, Rico Myles of Western Oregon, Nashorn Maynard of Alaska Fairbanks and Zach Bruce of Western Washington on the honorable mention team.

Chambers led the Yellowjackets in scoring this season at 15.2 points per game helping MSUB to its first winning season since the 2005-06 with a 15-10 record.  The 9-7 record in conference play was the first winning conference record since MSUB joined the GNAC in 2007.  Chambers led the team in field goals made (133), 3-pointers made (65) and was third in rebounding at a 4.3 clip with 107 rebounds.  Chambers finished seventh in the league in scoring, eighth in 3-point field goal percentage at a .414 clip and led the league averaging 2.6 made 3-pointers a game.  His 65 triples were good for third-most in the league.

Wright had another solid season as he is the lone MSUB returning all-conference selection.  He was an honorable mention selection last year.  Wright finished third on the team in scoring at 12.5 points per game.  He was third in made field goals with 103 and led the team with a .551 field goal percentage. He also led the team averaging 5.6 rebounds per game and was second to Chambers with 11 blocks.  He finished his career ranked 10th in school history in career blocks with 29.  In the league, he was 11th in rebounding and eighth in field goal percentage.

Jackson finished second on the team in scoring at 13.3 points per game.  He finished second on the team in made field goals with 109 and made a team-high 93 free throws.  He was third on the team in rebounds at a 4.4 average and led the team with 142 assists to just 70 turnovers.  He also led the team with 55 steals.  Jackson was 14th in the league in scoring, second in the league in assists at a 5.9 average, third in steals at a 2.3 clip and third in assist/turnover ratio at a 2.0 average.

2009-10 GNAC ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

FIRST TEAM: +Chris Banchero, Seattle Pacific (G, 6-0, Jr., Seattle, WA); +*Morris Anderson, Western Washington (G, 6-3, Sr., Federal Way, WA); Brandon Walker, Alaska Anchorage (G, 6-3, Jr., Hayward, CA);  Brandon Larrieu, Seattle Pacific (W, 6-0, Sr., Puyallup, WA); Derrick Webb, Western Washington  (F, 6-3, Sr., Port Orchard, WA); +Blake Poole, Saint Martin’s (F, 6-5, Jr., Eugene, OR).   +Unanimous  *Repeater

SECOND TEAM: JC Cook, Central Washington (G, 6-1, Jr., Canby, OR); DeAndre Chambers, MSU Billings (G, 6-2, Jr., Monroe, NC); Blair Wheadon, Western Oregon (G, 6-2, So., Junction City, OR); Derrick Wright, MSU Billings (F, 6-7, Sr., Brooklyn, NY); Drew Eisinger, Northwest Nazarene (W, 6-3, Jr., Mill Creek, WA); Chris Sprinker, Central Washington (C, 6-9, Jr., Tacoma, WA). 

HONORABLE MENTION: Emmanuel Jenkins, Alaska Fairbanks (PG, 6-0, Sr., Tacoma, WA); DaVell Jackson, Montana State Billings (PG, 6-1, Sr., Las Vegas, NV); Jon Clift, Central Washington (G, 5-10, Sr., Spokane, WA); Rob Diederichs, Seattle Pacific (W, 6-8, Sr., Shoreline, WA); Casey Robinson, Alaska Anchorage (F, 6-6, Jr., Manila, UT); Rico Myles, Western Oregon (F, 6-7, Sr., Los Angeles, CA); Nashorn Maynard, Alaska Fairbanks (F, 6-5, Jr., St. Paul, St. Kitts); Zach Bruce, Western Washington (C,  6-8, Sr., Oceanside, CA).     

SPECIAL AWARDS: Player-of-the-Year – Chris Banchero, Seattle Pacific.   Newcomer-of-the-Year – JC Cook, Central Washington.  Freshman-of-the-Year – Tarance Glynn, Western Oregon (F, 6-6, Fr., Molalla, OR).  Coach-of-the-Year – Ryan Looney, Seattle Pacific.