Box Score
ANCHORAGE, AK – The Alaska Nanooks came up two seconds, and three points short, against the rival Seawolves on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex. The host from Alaska Anchorage escaped with an 81-78 win, sweeping the season series from the Nanooks.
Alaska was able to open up a 5-4 lead on the host before Alaska Anchorage went on a 10-0 run, highlighted by five straight points from Brandon Walker. Alaksa would promptly answer back as they ran off seven straight points, fueled by two Jon Moe (Granite Falls, Washington) baskets and a three-point play by sophomore forward Deante Jones (Las Vegas, NV).
Alaska Anchorage continued to hold a seven point advantage with nine minutes left in the half, but the Nanooks crashed the glass and played strong defense to cut the Seawolves lead to only two, 31-29, before back-to-back steals by Emmanuel Jenkins (Tacoma, WA) and William Edwards (Fairbanks, AK) led to two baskets, and the Nanooks lead at the break.
The stingy Alaska defense produced seven steals and forced eight Alaska Anchorage turnovers in the first half. Kyle Smith (Chicago, IL) came off the bench and proved to be the spark for the defense as he had three steals to compliment four assists and three points.
Joe Powell (Englewood, NJ) led the Alaska offense with eight points, followed closely by Moe with seven, and Nashorn Maynard (Saint Paul's, Saint Kitts), the GNAC's second leading rebounder, pulled down six rebounds.
Alaska Anchorage got eight points from Walker and seven from Liam Gibcus in the first 20 minutes of play.
Halftime proved to be the momentum killer for Alaska coming out of the break. Alaska Anchorage held the Nanooks off the scoreboard for the first two and a half minutes of the half, while going on an 8-0 run to quickly regain the lead.
The Nanooks and Seawolves traded baskets for much of the second half until Alaska Anchorage grabbed seven quick points on two Drew Robinson free throws and five straight points from Casey Robinson with eight minutes left in the game.
With Alaska Anchorage up 11 with only five minutes to go, the Nanooks ran off a 16-7 run to cut the lead to only two with under a minute to play. After Alaska Anchorage hit two free throws to push the lead to four Clayton Edwin (Fairbanks, AK) hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to one.
Robinson then calmly went to the line with 18 seconds left and hit two free throws to set up a frantic finish in the storied rivalry. Jenkins took a three-point attempt and missed off the back iron, fortunately the ball landed out of bounce to set up one more play for Alaska. After an errant inbounds pass Edwin was unable to connect on a half court shot and the Nanooks walked off on the wrong end of an 81-78 decision.
Alaska ended the game shooting 49% (32-of-65) from the field and were led by Powell with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting, while also pulling down eight rebounds.
Jenkins played a strong second half to end with 18 points and knocking down four three-pointers. Jenkins also dished out seven assists, playing the entire 40 minutes. Smith finished the game with 11 points and four assists on 4-of-6 shooting in only 18 minutes of action.
Alaska Anchorage was led by Robinson who scored 18 points, all in the second half, while hitting all of his shots from behind the arc. Drew Robinson chipped in 17 points, as Gibcus led the host with six rebounds.
The Nanooks will return to action Thursday, March 4 when they play host to Seattle Pacific. The Nanooks will then finish the season on Saturday, March 6 when Northwest Nazarene visits the Patty Center. Tip is set for 7:00 p.m. AST both nights.
