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Photo by John Wagner

The Alaska Nanooks men debuted a lot of new faces this past season, but two familiar ones took home their top honor.

Senior guard Mike Titus and junior forward Colin Matteson were named as the team’s Most Valuable Players on Saturday at the team banquet.

Titus, a staple in Alaska’s lineup during his four-year tenure, averaged 9.2 points per game this season for the Nanooks, despite battling through numerous injuries for a good part of it.

The Lathrop High School product had a career-best 23 points early in the season against Simpson University and dropped 22 points in his next-to-last game at the Patty Center against Western Oregon.

Titus tallied 25 steals, second best on the team, and averaged 3.1 rebounds per game. His 763 career points left him 33rd on the school’s all-time list.

Matteson gave the Nanooks some much-needed consistency last season as one of just two players to start all 27 games for the injury-plagued Nanooks. His 13.7 points per game led the Nanooks, and the 6-foot-8 forward from Lynnwood, Wash., scored in double figures in 15 of the team’s 18 Great Northwest Athletic Conference games.

Matteson, who was asked to be a bigger force in the post this season than he had been in years past, tallied his first career double-double against Montana State Billings with 20 points and 14 boards, and he scored a career-high 31 points in the team’s final game against Saint Martin’s.

Matteson’s 146 rebounds were good for second on the team, as were his 40 assists.

While Titus and Matteson received MVP honors, junior Mladen Begojevic was tabbed with the Most Inspirational Award.

Playing this season on two bad knees, the Serbian wing averaged 11.4 points per game on a team-best 45.8 percent shooting.

Eagle River native David Cannamore was named the team’s Most Improved Player, and Barrow’s Bobby Pico earned the coach’s Most Heart award.

Pico emerged to give the Nanooks much-needed point guard play off the bench despite battling a back injury all season. The freshman averaged 19.6 minutes, five points and 2.3 rebounds per game.

Sophomore forward Kevin Atkins received the best rebounder honor, and freshman Nash Maynard took home the Sixth Man award.

Maynard, who joined the team in January, had a season-high 10 points off the bench against Western Washington and grabbed 17 rebounds in a game against Saint Martin’s.

Freshman Mike Anderson rounded out the evening with the Perseverance Award.

Alaska’s Jerome tapped

Alaska ski oach Scott Jerome will be serving more than just the university the next four years.

He’ll be giving the NCAA a helping hand as well.

Jerome, who also coaches Alaska’s cross country squads, was appointed as a member of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Skiing Committee, according to a university press release issued Saturday.

As a member of the committee, Jerome will be responsible for reviewing the sport’s rules and regulations as well as helping select those who will participate in the NCAA Championships.

“Basically, on the committee, you are making sure that the sport of skiing is healthy and that it continues to grow,” Jerome said. “Our job is twofold: we are there to look out for the sport of skiing as a whole and to make sure that student-athletes’ best interests are kept in mind.”

Jerome will serve as one of two committee members representing Nordic skiing, replacing Michigan Tech’s Joseph Haggenmiller as the committee’s Division II representative.