Feb. 29, 2008
By Matias Saari
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
SEATTLE, WA- The Alaska Nanooks jumped out to a 7-0 lead Thursday against Seattle Pacific. Then a 6-foot-10 center for the Falcons imposed his will on an undersized opponent.
Rob Will, that is.
Behind 28 points and a record-setting performance by Will, Seattle Pacific rolled to a 91-77 victory at Royal Brougham Pavilion in Seattle.
"He taught my big guys how to play big," said Alaska head coach Clemon Johnson, a 6-10 former NBA center. "He just simply posted up, and they were determined to go inside to him."
Will made all 13 of his shots, which broke a school record and was one shy of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference record for most field goals converted without a miss.
The Nanooks double- and triple-teamed the 275-pound Will and tried both man and zone defenses, all to no avail.
"We tried fronting him," Johnson said. "It was simple. Once he got the ball in his hands, there was nothing we could do about it."
Will, a senior from Seattle, made nine shots in the first half (for 19 points) before sinking four more buckets after intermission. All of his points came in the first 25 minutes.
Will came in ranked third in the GNAC with a .604 shooting percentage and with his flawless effort improved that to .627.
There was a contributing factor to Will's perfect shooting percentage: A low degree of difficulty. Will netted eight lay-ups, two tip-ins, one dunk and two jumpers. He also made two free throws without a miss.
Will led his team in scoring for the ninth time this season, tallying twice his average of 13.9. He also grabbed seven rebounds in 25 minutes of action.
SPU (18-6 overall, 10-5 GNAC) weathered Alaska's initial flurry as Will scored 13 of his team's first 19 points.
"They started going to Rob and that was the end of it," Johnson said.
Still, the game was tied 25-25 before the Falcons took the lead for good, on Will's only assist of the night -- a feed to forward JoJay Jackson for a 3-pointer with 7:09 left in the first half.
The Nanooks (5-19, 2-3) trailed 43-34 at halftime and then hung around behind the efforts of junior forward Colin Matteson (23 points and 11-for-12 from the free throw line), sophomore forward Kevin Atkins (15 points and eight rebounds) and freshman point guard Keven Campbell (16 points).
A tip-in by Atkins brought Alaska within 69-60 with 11 minutes to go. But in the next six minutes, SPU went on an 18-6 run, capped by a Brandon Larrieu 3-pointer, to bulge their lead to 87-66.
SPU shot 65.5 percent from the field for the game, including an astounding 78.3 percent in the second half.
The Falcons, due in part to their penetrating guard play, outscored Alaska in the paint, 60-26. Marques Echols led the playmaking with 11 assists.
Still, the game was a major improvement from the 96-65 thrashing SPU handed the Nanooks -- behind nine 3-pointers by Echols -- at the Patty Center on Feb. 2.
"If you saw this (Alaska) team play tonight, you would stand up and clap for them," Johnson said.
Johnson said injuries continued to plague an already short-handed squad. Guys like Mladen Begojevic (knee), Mike Titus (shoulder) and Bobby Pico (back) are "barely walking."
"We played hard. We didn't quit," Johnson said. "We played this game all the way through."
The Nanooks, now 1-11 away from Fairbanks this season, will meet Northwest Nazarene on Saturday in Nampa, Idaho. The Crusaders fell to Alaska Anchorage 77-59 on Thursday.
"A victory," Johnson said when asked what he's looking for against NNU. "We're not playing just to finish out the season."
