The Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament is the annual conference basketball championship tournament for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The tournament has been held annually since 2011. It is a single-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records.
The winner, declared conference champion, receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Championship.
Tournament format Since its establishment in 2011, the GNAC tournament began as an 8-team tournament but has since decreased in size to six teams. The eight-team tournament, played during 2011 and 2012, featured all teams contesting the initial quarterfinal. Meanwhile, the six-team tournament, played since 2013, gave the two top-seeded teams a bye into the semifinals while the remaining teams played in the preliminary quarterfinal round.
Aside from the inaugural tournament in 2011 which was played only on team campuses, the remaining tournaments have been played at rotation amongst the members.
Results YearChampionsScoreRunner-upMVPVenue 2011 Central Washington 83–71 Alaska Anchorage Jamar Berry, Central Washington Nicholson Pavilion (Ellensburg, WA) 2012 Montana State Billings 74–70 Alaska Anchorage Robert Mayes, Montana State Billings Marcus Pavilion (Lacey, WA) 2013 Seattle Pacific 72–70 Western Washington David Downs, Seattle Pacific Marcus Pavilion (Lacey, WA) 2014 Seattle Pacific 65–62 Western Washington David Downs (2), Seattle Pacific Marcus Pavilion (Lacey, WA) 2015 Seattle Pacific 81–68 Western Washington Cory Hutsen, Seattle Pacific Alterowitz Gymnasium (Billings, MT) 2016 Western Oregon 78–71 Alaska Devon Alexander, Western Oregon Marcus Pavilion (Lacey, WA) 2017 Western Washington 71–69 Western Oregon Taylor Stafford, Western Washington Marcus Pavilion (Lacey, WA) 2018 Western Oregon 65–55 Saint Martin's Vince Boumann, Western Oregon Alaska Airlines Center (Anchorage, AK) 2019 Seattle Pacific 78-66 Western Oregon Coleman Wooten, Seattle Pacific Sam Carver Gymnasium (Bellingham, Washington) 2020 Western Washington 81–78 Alaska Anchorage Trevor Jasinsky, Western Washington Royal Brougham Pavilion (Seattle, Washington) 2021 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2022 Alaska 72–57 Central Washington Shadeed Shabazz, Alaska Marcus Pavilion (Lacey, WA) 2023 Northwest Nazarene 65-57 Saint Martin's Ryzin "Biggie" Bergersen, Northwest Nazarene Carver Gym (Bellingham, WA) 2024 Central Washington 78–69 Alaska Anchorage Samaad Hector, Central Washington Nicholson Pavilion (Ellensburg, WA) 2025 Seattle Pacific 72–61 Central Washington Mason Landdeck, Seattle Pacific Marcus Pavilion (Lacey, WA) 2026 Saint Martin's 72–62 Alaska Anchorage Patrick Kilfoil, Saint Martin's Carver Gym (Bellingham, WA)
Championship records School Finals Record Finals Appearances Years Seattle Pacific 5–0 5 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2025 Western Washington 2–3 5 2017, 2020 Central Washington 2–2 4 2011, 2024 Western Oregon 2–2 4 2016, 2018 Saint Martin's 1–2 3 2026 Alaska 1–1 2 2022 Montana State Billings 1–0 1 2012 Northwest Nazarene 1–0 1 2023 Alaska Anchorage 0–5 5 Simon Fraser has not yet qualified for the finals of the tournament. Concordia (OR) never qualified for the tournament finals as a GNAC member
See also Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament
References