UAA men add Aussie to roster

Liam Gibcus, a 6-foot-9, 220-pound post, is the third recruit to bring considerable height and heft to the Seawolves, who didn't have a surplus of inside muscle last season.

Gibcus registered gigantic stats last season in his final season before college: 14 points and 8.2 rebounds as a 53 percent shooter for the Knox Raiders of the SEABL Development League.

"We expect him to contribute right away," UAA coach Rusty Osborne said in a press release.

Osborne has said the same about two other supersized additions -- 6-9, 255-pound Malcolm Campbell, a sophomore Division I transfer from the University of Hartford, and 6-7, 230-pound Ryan Parker, a junior who was at a Division I school (Alabama A&M) as a freshman and a junior college (Sierra College) as a sophomore.

Before the addition of those three, the biggest player on the UAA roster was Casey Robinson, a 6-6 forward who made an impact early last season before an injury sidelined him for months.

In addition to playing with Knox last season, Gibcus was teammates with fellow freshman Bryce Arnott on the Victorian Metro Under-20 State team, averaging 9.5 points and 4 rebounds.

Scott Christiansen, Gibcus's coach on both teams, said the young center was Victoria's most consistent player.

"He is playing a key role as a physical post player and defender so well that his dominance means the opposition almost always double teams him every time he gets the ball, yet he still puts up big numbers each and every game," Christiansen said in a press release.

Gibcus, Campbell, Parker and Robinson give UAA the potential to flex true inside muscle this season. Last season, the Seawolves' main and often lone inside presence was 6-9, 210-pound Jeremiah Trueman, the team MVP who went on to play professionally in New Zealand.

Trueman and guard Kenny Barker were the only seniors on last season's team, but four underclassmen left the team, including a couple key players.

Lonnie Ridgeway, a 6-3 guard from Anchorage who blossomed at the end of his sophomore year, quit the team, and so did Darren Nye, a 6-1 point guard who started several games.

Ridgeway would have been one of UAA's top returners. Not counting the numbers put up by Robinson in a handful of games, Ridgeway was the team's third leading scorer (9.6 points a game) and rebounder (3.7), ranked third in steals (26) and fourth in assists (46), and played in all 29 games.

Others leaving the team were 6-7 Kyle Doerr, who would've been a sophomore, and 6-7 Colin Vorheis, who would've been a junior.

Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4335.