FAIRBANKS, AK - Junior guard
Parrish West (Chicago, IL, Highland CC) poured in a game-high 20 points and collected a team-best six rebounds but the Alaska Nanooks came up short of the Montana State Billings Yellowjackets, 82-68, in their Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener Thursday night at the Patty Center.
Strong rebounding and offense on the inside proved the difference in the game, as MSUB outscored Alaska 44-22 in the paint, which included 21 points off second chances. The visitors out rebounded the Nanooks 39-29. Also contributing to the loss was cold night of shooting for the home team, who was 26 of 62 from the field and 3 of 13 behind the arc.
The Blue and Gold led by four points in the first half and trailed by just three as the teams headed to the lockerroom at the half, but MSUB came on strong in the second half and outshot Alaska by a 55.6 to 38.5 percent margin. The Nanooks pulled within one point twice in the opening minutes but allowed the Yellowjackets a 10-1 run in the minutes that followed: a deficit that proved too great as they would never draw any closer than seven points for the remainder of the game.
Three other Nanooks chipped in double-digit performances with
Nashorn Maynard (Saint Paul's, Saint Kitts) contributing 17 to go with five rebounds, and seniors
Emmanuel Jenkins (Tacoma, WA, Tacoma CC) and
Jon Moe (Granite Falls, WA, Everett CC) adding 12 and 11, respectively.
Seeing action for the first time as a Nanook were big man
Joe Powell (Englewood, NJ, Merritt CC), who pulled down four boards in 23 minutes of action, and rookie
Mason King (King Salmon, AK), who hit one jumper in four minutes of play.
MSUB was led by DeAndre Chambers with 18 points, while fellow guard DaVell Jackson added 15. Defensively, Brad Hodge led the game with eight rebounds.
Alaska returns to GNAC action next weekend when they venture to Washington to take on the Central Washington Wildcats (Jan. 14) and the Western Washington Vikings (Jan. 16).
