SPOKANE, Wash. – Seattle Pacific junior Chris Banchero received the Player of the Year Award and the Falcons’ Ryan Looney was named the Coach of the Year when the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men’s basketball awards were announced Monday by Commissioner Richard Hannan.
In his first season, Looney directed the Falcons to a 22-5 record and their fourth championship in the nine-year history of the GNAC. No other coach has led the SPU men to either a conference title or postseason berth in his inaugural season. Looney took charge of the program after compiling a 95-55 record in five seasons at his alma mater, Eastern Oregon University.
“Coaching has a lot to do with what type of players you have on your team and we obviously have some pretty talented ones who have allowed us to win a lot of games,” Looney said. “To me it’s more of an award for everybody involved. We won a conference championship and this award is a reflection of that.”
The Falcons, who posted a 13-3 GNAC record to claim their first outright league title since 2006, will make their sixth straight NCAA Division II Tournament appearance. SPU plays a first-round game on Friday at Western Washington’s Carver Gymnasium in Bellingham.
A 6-foot-1 point guard from Seattle’s O’Dea High School, Banchero was the league’s leading scorer in conference games with a 21.2-point average. He ranked second overall among GNAC scorers with 19.5 points per game. Banchero also ranked 11th in the conference in field goal percentage (52.7) and assists (3.0) and 13th in steals (1.33).
“He’s worked his tail off all year both during the season and prior to the season starting,” described Looney. “Chris has been big for us in a number of games this year. At his position in our conference, there’s not anybody I would rather have.”
Banchero led all SPU players in scoring on 17 occasions, including two 30-point performances and 15 games of 20-or-more points.
Joining Banchero on the six-man All-GNAC first team was senior teammate Brandon Larrieu (Puyallup, Wash./Franklin Pierce HS). The 6-foot wing player was the Falcons’ second-leading scorer at 15.8 points per game.
“I’m excited for Brandon to be recognized. He and Chris together have provided us with a backcourt as good, if not better, than anybody in our conference,” Looney said. “For both those guys to be recognized as two of the top six players in the league, that is definitely justified.”
The GNAC first team also included Morris Anderson and Derrick Webb from Western Washington, Brandon Walker from Alaska Anchorage and Blake Poole from Saint Martin’s.
Banchero and Anderson were the only unanimous first-team selections. Banchero was a second-team all-conference pick last year and Larrieu was an honorable mention honoree.
This season’s honorable mention squad included SPU senior Rob Diederichs (Shoreline, Wash./Shorewood HS), the league’s assist leader. Diederichs averaged 6.2 assists per game and his total of 167 ranks No. 5 among the Falcons’ all-time single-season leaders. The 6-foot-8 wing player averaged 4.5 points per game on 51-percent shooting from the field.
“Rob has sacrificed himself for the team this year in regards to being more of a distributor than a scorer,” explained Looney. “It’s nice that people have recognized that and haven’t just rewarded people for how many points they scored.”
Western Oregon’s Tarance Glynn was named the 2010 GNAC Freshman of the Year and Jon Clift of Central Washington was the Newcomer of the Year.
The last time SPU had the GNAC Player of the Year was 2007 when Dustin Bremerman shared the award. That same season, the Falcons' Jeff Hironaka was named the co-Coach of the Year.
The Seattle Pacific men will participate in the NCAA Tournament for the 21st time. They advanced to the national semifinals in 2000 and 2006, finishing third both times.
Tickets for the West Regional games in Bellingham go on sale Tuesday at 11 a.m. They can be purchased by calling the Western Washington ticket office at 360-650-2583 or by going on-line at
www.wwuvikings.com. Reserved tickets are $10, general admission is $8 and student tickets are $5. Tickets are good all day on multiple-game dates.
2010 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Awards
Player of the Year -- Chris Banchero, Seattle Pacific
Coach of the Year -- Ryan Looney, Seattle Pacific
Freshman of the Year -- Tarance Glynn, Western Oregon
Newcomer of the Year -- JC Cook, Central Washington
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
(+Unanimous pick, *Repeat selection)
First Team
+ Chris Banchero, Seattle Pacific (G, 6-1, Jr., Seattle, Wash.)
+ * Morris Anderson, Western Washington (G, 6-3, Sr., Federal Way, Wash.)
Brandon Walker, Alaska Anchorage (G, 6-3, Jr., Hayward, Calif.)
Brandon Larrieu, Seattle Pacific (W, 6-0, Sr., Puyallup, Wash.)
Derrick Webb, Western Washington (F, 6-3, Sr., Port Orchard, Wash.)
+Blake Poole, Saint Martin’s (F, 6-5, Jr., Eugene, Ore.)
Second Team
JC Cook, Central Washington (G, 6-1, Jr., Canby, Ore.)
DeAndre Chambers, MSU Billings (G, 6-2, Jr., Monroe, N.C.)
Blair Wheadon, Western Oregon (G, 6-2, So., Junction City, Ore.)
Derrick Wright, MSU Billings (F, 6-7, Sr., Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Drew Eisinger, Northwest Nazarene (W, 6-3, Jr., Mill Creek, Wash.)
Chris Sprinker, Central Washington (C, 6-9, Jr., Tacoma, Wash.)
Honorable Mention
Emmanuel Jenkins, Alaska Fairbanks (PG, 6-0, Sr., Tacoma, Wash.)
DaVell Jackson, Montana State Billings (PG, 6-1, Sr., Las Vegas, Nev.)
Jon Clift, Central Washington (G, 5-10, Sr., Spokane, Wash.)
Rob Diederichs, Seattle Pacific (W, 6-8, Sr., Shoreline, Wash.)
Casey Robinson, Alaska Anchorage (F, 6-6, Jr., Manila, Utah)
Rico Myles, Western Oregon (F, 6-7, Sr., Los Angeles, Calif.)
Nashorn Maynard, Alaska Fairbanks (F, 6-5, Jr., St. Paul, St. Kitts)
Zach Bruce, Western Washington (C, 6-8, Sr., Oceanside, Calif.)