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GFU looks for consistency, NWC title
Anderson sets new record for CST
Sharks
Powers, Burger voted to first team
in the Pac-9
Bigger
Bruins have
GFU expecting wins |
The men's basketball team added several tall players
to a team that was in need of height |
By B. Scott Anderson, Newberg
Graphic sports editor
E-mail Scott at banderson@eaglenewspapers.com
|
 Finally,
the Bruins are big.
For years the George Fox University men’s basketball team has had some
of the best guards in the Northwest Conference. The thing that always hurt the Bruins was
they didn’t have many players over 6-foot 5-inches. That’s changed for the
Bruins this year, though.
Scott Szalay, a 6-7 sophomore post, has been a major addition to the program,
said GFU coach Mark Sundquist.
“Scott Szalay is going to be huge,” he said. “He’s as
good a post player as there is in the league and he’s only a sophomore, which is
nice. He’s a great kid who is unselfish, athletic and is a great free-throw shooter
for a big guy.
“He just gives us that inside presence that we’ve needed all along.
With guards, we’ve always been as good as anybody, but now, finally, we can compete
with anybody in our league.”
Sundquist recruited Szalay out of high school but Szalay instead went to
North Seattle Community College. He played a year there and didn’t return for his
second season. Sundquist said after obtaining his two-year degree, Szalay contacted
Sundquist to see if he was still interested in having him play for the Bruins.
“He’s going to make us that much better,” Sundquist said.
“He basically sat out two years but things are coming back to him. He’s going to
get better as the season goes on and he’s already playing well.”
Rebounding and defense have always been problems for the Bruins, but
Sundquist said he doesn’t think that will the case this season.
“Two areas we need to improve on are defense and rebounding,” he
said. “We gave up the most points (last season), yet we were third in the league in
scoring, and rebounding has always been our downfall and most of that is because of our
lack of size. They would either get second or third shots and we just couldn’t
rebound.”
The Bruins scrimmaged with Western Baptist Wednesday, a team that has two
players at 6-8 and one at 6-9. The Bruins held their own at rebounding, giving up three
offensive rebounds.
“That for us is huge and we won’t ever see a team that big,”
Sundquist said. “So, we’re getting a lot better.”
The Bruins have no where to go but up; George Fox went 7-18 overall and 1-15
in the NWC last season. Szalay’s addition will partially offset the Bruins loss of
two of their best guards, Nate Tyler and Trevor Person. Tyler averaged 12.8 points per
game and was the team leader. He transferred to Western Oregon University.
“Nate got married and that was a big part of it, and financially they
were living on their own and it’s a less expensive thing to go to Western Oregon than
it is to go here,” Sundquist said. “He hated to leave, but we’re happy for
him. We miss his tenacity and his leadership, but we’ve picked up a lot in both of
those areas because some of his good characteristics have rubbed off on the guys who are
back.”
Person, a freshman point guard last season, transferred to Lower Columbia
Community College.
Despite those losses Sundquist sees improvement in point guard Ben Melvin, a
sophomore guard who played in 16 games last season for a total of 139 minutes and averaged
2.4 points in a reserve role.
“We gave him a summer workout program and he lived in the weight
room,” Sundquist said. “His body is 10 times now what it was. He’s more
athletic than Trevor and he’s a better scorer. He’s quick and he’s playing
with a lot of confidence right now.”
The Bruins also return seniors Brett Yeager (6.7 points per game and 4.0
rebounds) and Bryan Wadlow (8.6 points and 3.4 rebounds), sophomore Aaron Schmick (10.0
points and 2.0 assists) and junior Mark Gayman (15.7 points and 7.1 rebounds).
“Those returning four are as good as anyone in the league,”
Sundquist said. “(Gayman’s) role isn’t going to change in the fact that
he’s our go-to guy and he knows that. What Mark has bought into is that with guys
like Scott and Aaron, his numbers may be smaller but his role is as important, if not more
important, because he is going to carry some of that leadership that we need.”
Sundquist didn’t just get new players this year. He got a new assistant
coach. Brad Crosby, who coached at Gladstone High School for eight years, is the new
assistant.
“He’s a little more intense than I am and he’s kind of our
defensive guy and he likes that,” Sundquist said. “We’re almost kind of
co-coaches in some ways, which is nice. Plus, he builds up a whole new network of coaches
who I don’t know, so I can recruit. He knows a lot of people I don’t and vice
versa.”
Sundquist said this season is probably the best year for parity in the
league.
“There’s not one super-dominant team,” he said. “I think
it’s just going to be a logjam and I don’t think there’s a team that’s
going to run away with it.”
Sundquist said Whitworth is a strong contender to win the conference title
because not only did the Pirates win the NWC a year ago, but they return the league’s
most valuable player, Bryan Depew. UPS is another strong choice to win the NWC, along with
Willamette, Lewis & Clark and Linfield.
“I think we’re going to get our share of wins,” Sundquist
said. “We need to have a good preseason and carry over some of that confidence.”
The Bruins kick their season off with a 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21 home game against
Northwest College. |
|
From Nov. 15,
2003, Newberg Graphic
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