Jan. 27, 2007
BELLINGHAM, WA - The Alaska Nanooks had a huge second half and defeated Western Washington 73-64 on the road Saturday evening in Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Alaska (13-8, 4-3) shot a solid 57 percent from the field and outscored the Vikings (9-8, 3-4) by 12 in the final half to earn a much-needed road sweep.
The win moves the Nanooks to 4-0 against teams ranked above them in the debut NCAA West Region poll released Wednesday. Western was ranked ninth, one spot ahead of the Nanooks. The top eight schools in the final poll will advance to the NCAA playoffs in March. The win also moves Alaska above .500 in the GNAC.
"It's enormous. It puts us in a position to stay in the race," head coach Frank Ostanik said. "It gives us another great opportunity. Our season is about opportunities and what you make of them. Now we get to go home, get great support from the community and hopefully take care of business."
Five Nanooks hit double figures led by junior Kenny Barker (San Diego, CA) with 20 points and nine rebounds. Junior post Steven Sandles (Vallejo, CA) chipped in a career-high 14 points and eight boards, while senior forward Jushay Rockett (Long Beach, CA) had 13 points and five rebounds despite early foul trouble.
"He played well," Ostanik said of Sandles. "He was really great defensively tonight as well."
Western was led by Lukas Henne's 16 points and 11 boards, while Ira Graham and Brett Weisner chipped in 13 and 12, respectively.
Alaska jumped to a 17-10 lead at the 13:08 mark of the first half on a three by sophomore Colin Matteson (Lynnwood, WA) but Rockett picked up his second foul two minutes later. Western outscored the Nanooks the final 10 minutes of the half 25-15 to take a 35-32 lead into the break. Alaska shot a paltry 35 percent in the half but Ostanik was pleased for a coach down at halftime.
"I was pretty upbeat. I certainly wasn't down on them at all," he said. "We talked about rebounding better and reinforced that we need to take care of the ball better. I told them Shay only played nine minutes and we missed a ton of great looks from the perimeter. As long as we're getting good shots, I feel comfortable over the course of 40 minutes that we can win."
In the second half the same shots the Nanooks missed in the first half started to fall, while the Vikings went cold. Barry Barnes, Jr. (Long Beach, CA) hit trey at the 19:05 mark to tie it at 35 and start the Nanooks on a game-changing 18-2 run.
Sandles hit a lay-up at the 17:46 mark to put Alaska up 37-35, a lead they would never relinquish. A Matteson three gave the Nanooks a 14-point advantage at 51-37 to cap the run and give Alaska their largest lead of the game.
Every Nanook seemed to involved in the offense during the run, while the team defense stingier and scrappier than the first 20 minutes. Much of the credit for the fluid offense must go to Barnes, who broke out of slump with 12 points, seven assists, four steals and just two turnovers in 35 minutes. The 6-8 Matteson came off the bench for just the fourth time all year to add 10 points including 2-of-3 threes.
Alaska withstood a late Western run thanks in large part to a defense that limited the Vikings offense to tough looks each trip. Western shot just 37 percent in the half including 2-of-10 on threes when they needed them most.
Now Alaska heads home for a pair of GNAC games against first-place Saint Martin's and Western Oregon at the Patty Center. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. AST each night. The games will be available on PPV video at AlaskaNanooks.com.
