Jan. 3, 2008
Final Stats
By Bob Eley
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
LACEY, WA- A brilliant comeback effort by the Alaska Nanooks went for naught Thursday night in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball season opener at Saint Martin's University.
Trailing by 15 points with 9 minutes to play, the scrappy Nanooks battled back to tie the score 74-74 on a 3-pointer by Kevin Atkins with 3.9 seconds left on the clock, but Alaska couldn't maintain the momentum in overtime and wound up dropping a 90-86 decision to the Saint Martin's Saints in Lacey, Wash.
It was an incredible performance by the Nanooks considering that five of their nine players eventually fouled out of the game and they finished with just four players on the court, with three of those having four fouls.
Alaska was ticketed for 39 fouls on the night, while the host Saints committed just 20. Saint Martin's was 38-for-50 from the charity stripe, while the Nanooks were 15-for-27 on the game and just 3-for-14 in the first half.
Starters Keven Campbell, Colin Matteson and Mladen Begojevic all finished the game on the bench as did reserves Bobby Pico and Travis Pew.
Despite the foul trouble, the Nanooks battled and battled to get back into the game.
Alaska cut the deficit to 66-65 on a Begojevic 3-pointer with 1:36 to play, but Saint Martin's extended the lead to 74-68 with 22 seconds remaining.
Pico canned a trey with 16 seconds left to pull the Nanooks within three at 74-71. DeRay Carger then fouled Justin Alexender with 14 seconds left and Alexander missed both free throws to give Alaska one last chance to tie the game.
Pico fumbled the ball at the top of the key, but managed to get it over to Atkins, who squared up and drained a trey to knot the score.
The Nanooks forced a jump ball on the ensuing inbound play, but the possession arrow was in favor of the Saints and the clock ran out before a good shot could be released.
The Nanooks led twice early in the extra session, but Saint Martin's went ahead on a pair of free throws with 2:53 remaining and Alaska never got back in the game.
Atkins led five Nanooks in double figures with a 22-point performance that included a game-high nine rebounds. Mike Titus knocked down 18 points and nailed three 3-pointers. Titus also grabbed eight rebounds.
Campbell registered 16 points and had four steals. Pico finished with 13 points and three assists and Begojevic had 11 points.
Jake Linton had a huge game for Saint Martin's with 31 points, five assists and four rebounds. He was 18-for-18 from the charity stripe. Brendan Campbell had 17 points for the winners and Bill Richardson chipped in 10.
The Nanooks return to action on Saturday night at the Western Oregon Wolves in Monmouth, Ore. Western dropped a 68-62 decision to Alaska Anchorage on Thursday night.
