April 13, 2013
Fossman chosen Seawolf Team MVP
ANCHORAGE – Junior Kyle Fossman was chosen the Alaska Anchorage men’s basketball team’s Most Valuable Player as the Seawolves honored their 2012-13 squad Saturday at their year-end banquet at The Petroleum Club.
Fossman, a 6-foot, 180-pound guard, was a First Team All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference selection after leading the Seawolves in six categories, including scoring (14.8 ppg), three-point percentage (.445), free-throw percentage (.854) and steals (1.2 spg). The Haines High School product finished seventh in the GNAC scoring race and ranked second in three-pointers per game (2.6) as UAA went 18-9 overall and tied for third in the league with an 11-7 mark.
In addition to earning all-tournament honors at both the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout and AT&T Jamboree, Fossman was named the GNAC Red Lion Player of the Week for Jan. 28-Feb. 3 after his performances in home wins over Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene.
Fossman also took home the Jim Hajdukovich Award – presented to the player who best displays physical toughness, endurance and court awareness – with his 36.2 minutes per game ranking No. 3 on UAA’s all-time list. He also averaged the third-most assists (2.6 apg) on the team from his shooting guard spot, and he played three of the final four games with a painful hand injury.
Multiple honors also went to senior center Liam Gibcus, who received the Best Defensive Player award, the Bob Zundel Rebounders award – for the player who best displays the qualities of sportsmanship and leadership toward teammates, coaches, referees, opponents, media and fans – and the Academic Achievement award. Gibcus, a 6-10, 245-pound center, led the Seawolves with 6.6 rebounds per game and became just the second player in program history to earn CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-America recognition. The Lysterfield, Australia, native is on track to graduate in December with a 3.87 overall GPA in civil engineering.
The Most Improved Player award went to redshirt freshman Christian Leckband, who averaged 6.4 points per game and shot 43 percent from three-point range. The 6-6 forward from Nome came on strong during the GNAC campaign, topping out with a career-high 16 points in UAA’s 71-69 road win at Montana State Billings in the regular-season finale.
All three seniors took home awards as center Chris Weitzel earned the nod for Most Inspirational Player. The Gresham, Ore., product overcame multiple knee surgeries – including one for a torn ACL just last winter – to contribute in 12 games late in the season.
The MVP, Most Improved, Best Defensive and Most Inspirational awards were determined by a team vote.
-----UAA-----
Nate Sagan
Sports Information Director
University of Alaska Anchorage
3211 Providence Dr.
Anchorage, AK 9508
(907) 786-1295 / nate@uaa.alaska.edu
GoSeawolves.com
