McNally & Noisat feted

From Dave Albee comes the news of Pac West Conference honors for both Xander McNally and Jacob Noisat of Dominican University.

The Brothers McNally

Xander and Oliver McNally, Branson School graduates, were on the same wavelength on Saturday despite being on different coasts. The following is from Dave Albee, Associate Director of Public Relations at Dominican University:

  * On Saturday night, Xander McNally, in the final game of his Dominican career, had five steals for the Penguins in a upset win at California Baptist, allowing Xander (104 steals in 26 games) to top the nation and NCAA Division II men's basketball in that category this season. The Penguins, picked to finish last in the 10-team Pacific West Conference under first-year head coach Booker T. Harris (a member of the USF Dons' last NCAA tournament team), finished fourth and was the only team to defeat PacWest champion Dixie State in league play.

* On Saturday, Xander's brother Oliver scored 17 points and sank four clutch free throws at the end to help Harvard win a share of the Ivy League title. If Princeton defeats Penn on Tuesday night, Harvard will win the Ivy League title outright and earn its first berth in the NCAA Division II tournament since 1946.

Dominican University wins again

Brandon Davis recaps the big night for Dominican University basketball and especially so for Xander McNally.

Dominican falls on the road

In Honolulu, Dominican University dropped a 64-52 matchup to Hawaii Pacific. In 27 minutes of play, Connor Haysbert put up 16 points and six boards. Xander McNally pilfered six steals.

The Family McNally

From Dave Albee, the Associate Director of Public Relations ar Dominican University comes these intriguing three paragraphs:

"Xander McNally, a 6-foot-2 Dominican University of California senior guard out of San Francisco, had a game-high seven steals last night in 88-year-old Kezar Pavilion (the former home of Bill Russell, K.C. Jones and the NCAA champion USF Dons) in a Pacific West Conference win over Academy of Art of San Francisco to take over the nation's lead in steals in NCAA Division II men's basketball. He is currently averaging 3.94 steals per game and has 14 in his past two games.

Xander's parents, Rich and Vicki, were at the game last night but they are not going to Xander's game this Saturday in Belmont against Notre Dame de Namur. They're flying back east again to see their younger son, Xander's brother Oliver, play for 23rd ranked Harvard against Cornell and Columbia this weekend. Oliver is Harvard's team captain. Xander and Oliver led The Branson School in Ross in Marin County to their first ever state Div. V championship in 2006.

So you've got one McNally now playing for a nationally-ranked NCAA Div. I team in Boston and another McNally leading the nation in steals in NCAA Div. II 3,0000 miles away here in San Rafael and their parents criss-crossing the country to see them both play in their senior years"

A honor for Dominican's Xander McNally

Dominican University men's basketball player Xander McNally, a Branson School graduate, was named to the PacWest Conference weekly top 10 honor roll for the first time this season on Monday.

McNally scored a season-high 15 points with six steals and three assists on Thursday at Cal State Stanislaus. His team-best four steals per game would lead the PacWest if he had played enough games to be among the conference's statistical leaders, but he sat out the first four games of the season with a back injury.

In his last two games, McNally, who helped lead Branson to a state title in 2007, has 10 steals and nine assists with one turnover.