Ognjen Pantovic looking for a big senior season with UAA Seawolves
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — I do not think that Ognjen 鈥淥ggie鈥� Pantovic envisioned Anchorage, Alaska, when he thought of the United States as a child. Pantovic grew up in Kovin, Serbia. He played high school basketball for Branko Radicevic High School and led them to a third-place finish in their district championship in his last year there.
His hard work paid off, and he headed to junior college Utah State University Eastern (USU Eastern) in Price, Utah, to play for their basketball team. Unfortunately, he was not particularly impactful in his freshman season at USU Eastern. He only played 13.5 minutes a game off the bench and averaged 5.9 points and 5.8 rebounds. However, he became a key player for USU Eastern in his sophomore season. He averaged 12.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and earned All-Conference honors.
After his sophomore season, Pantovic took his talents to Anchorage, Alaska, to play for the Division II UAA Seawolves under veteran Coach Rusty Osborne. In his COVID-19 shortened first season at UAA, Pantovic played well and helped his team to a 20-14 record. The 6-foot-7 forward played 24.6 minutes a game in his first season at UAA, averaging 15.4 points and 7.6 rebounds a game. He was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Player of the Week one time and finished the season with first team All-GNAC honors.
Pantovic had some very big games in his first year at UAA. He scored a career-high 33 points in 39 minutes in a game at Western Washington University. He also had one game against the University of Alaska Fairbanks where he could not stop getting to the free-throw line. He made 14 trips to the free-throw line and made 13 free throws. He stepped up in the GNAC Tournament at the end of the regular season. UAA lost the title game, but Pantovic scored 23 points and had seven rebounds.
Unfortunately, UAA did not have a basketball season last year amongst the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the good news is they will have a season this year. Pantovic is expected to be one of the leaders on his team and was named to the preseason All-GNAC team with his teammate Tobin Karlberg. He is probably itching to get back on the basketball court after so much time away, and I cannot wait to see the improvements he has made.
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