Feb. 3, 2007
Box Score
FAIRBANKS, AK - Junior Kenny Barker (San Diego, CA) drilled a three-pointer with just four seconds left to rally Alaska to a 79-76 victory over Western Oregon in a back-and-forth game at the Patty Center Saturday. Barker and senior Jushay Rockett (Long Beach, CA) helped the Nanooks (15-8 overall, 6-3 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) overcome a halftime deficit by combining for 31 points in the second half.
The Nanooks ran a play for Barker, who dribbled around a screen and nailed a 23-foot shot from just to right of the top of the key.
"Anytime you diagram something and then execute it perfectly, you've got to feel good," head coach Frank Ostanik said. "We have a hard time with that at times with just the average play but to do it right at a critical juncture in the game was the difference between winning and losing tonight."
Barker's trey broke the 13th tie of the game and allowed the Nanooks to escape with the win, which moved them into a tie for second-place in the GNAC.
The 6-3 Barker played huge for the Nanooks with 22 points including 4-of-5 threes and 12 rebounds to earn Toyota Player of the Game honors. Rockett, the GNAC's leading scorer and rebounder, was also sensational with 28 points, eight boards, two blocks and three steals in the victory.
Alaska started strong and built a 10-point lead nine minutes into the contest but let the Wolves (7-13, 2-7) claw back. Trailing by two with 3:30 to go, Western Oregon's Ryan Schmidt (five points) and Travis Kuhns (six points) combined for an 11-0 run to put the visitors up 42-33.
The Nanooks only saving grace was a Mike Titus (Fairbanks, AK) three at the halftime buzzer that trimmed the lead to six but Ostanik was not pleased in the lockerroom.
"In my time as a head coach that's probably the most upset I've been," he said. "At halftime I just couldn't believe in such an important game that we would be that bad. It wasn't one person. We lacked focus and when things got tough, we went our separate ways. I let them know that at halftime and I thought they responded the right way."
Alaska started the comeback on the defensive end. The Wolves hot-shooting cooled slightly from 64 percent in the first half to 55 percent in the second but failed to take care of the ball thanks to a pesky Nanook defense. That effort led by junior Barry Barnes, Jr. (Long Beach, CA) forced 11 of Western's 16 turnovers in the final 20 minutes.
"Things don't always show up in the stats but we don't win if Barry Barnes has five steals," Ostanik said. "He had six. You go down the list and everyone did something that won the game for us. We let them shoot 60 percent, so we had to make plays and we made just enough to win."
The 5-8 Barnes had 10 points, four boards, three assists and six steals in 40 minutes, while Titus chipped in 10 points of his own. Sophomore Colin Matteson (Lynnwood, WA) nailed both of his three-point attempts en route to six points.
The Nanooks had a season-low 11 turnovers, while out-rebounding the bigger Wolves 34-27. Facing players five and six inches taller than him, the 6-3 Barker had almost as many offensive rebounds (5) himself, as the entire WOU team did (7).
The trio of Kuhns, Jacob Mitchell and Schmidt led the Wolves with 18, 17 and 15 points, respectively.
Alaska will have less than normal with a Wednesday game against arch-rival the University of Alaska Anchorage on the horizon next week. The Seawolves sit just behind the Nanooks in the league standings but two spots ahead of them in the last NCAA West Region poll. UAA is sixth, while the Nanooks are eighth.
The top eight schools in the final poll will advance to the NCAA playoffs in March, assuming the GNAC and California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) regular season champions are in the top eight.
"The next game is always the most important," Ostanik said of the GNAC schedule. "We're going to play a very deep, talented team on their home floor and it's a rivalry game. It's going to be a challenge for us but I will say our guys have shown great resilience and responded to almost every challenge this year."
