FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Sophomore forward
Stefan Tica scored a game-high 24 points and senior guard
Jarrett Miller tallied 21 points to lead Blue past Gold 73-56 in Alaska's men's basketball scrimmage Friday night at the Patty Center.
“You want to see how the players react in a game situation,” head coach
Mick Durham said. “Then you're checking different combinations, even though I know in my mind the combinations I like. More than anything, you want to see what type of slippage have when you put them in game-like situations.”
Despite trailing 35-32 at the break, Blue came out in the second half and outscored Gold 41-21 to capture the intrasquad victory.
Tica drained four 3-pointers to go with his five rebounds to take home top honors. Miller, who split time between both squads, combined for 27 points after scoring six first-half points for Gold. Sophomore center
Sergej Pucar recorded a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds in the win.
On the Gold side, junior guard
Dominique Brinson led the team with 12 points and three treys. He also scored six points early on for Blue. Freshman forward
Jesse Ward had 10 points and seven rebounds, while freshman center
Daniel Shaw added seven points and seven boards, respectively.
The Nanooks open the season Nov. 12-13 at the Carl's Jr. Mac Martin Invitational in Chico, Calif. They first play host Chico State on the 12th before facing San Francisco State the following day. Alaska opens the home slate Nov. 17-19 when it hosts the GCI Alaska Invitational.
“Hopefully the way we're going to play will give us a chance to get some wins,” Durham said. “Fan-wise, we have to be classy, put on a good show each time we play in the Patty and hopefully people that show up will mention it to others and we get more the next time. Tonight was critical even though we didn't care how many showed up, but we hope those who did come left with a good impression of us.”
“It's amazing to get out here in front of other people, not as many as we would've liked to have, but it's great to come out and compete with one another,” Tica said. “I want to invite everybody who can come to make it out for the Alaska Invitational and see our three games. We're going to try and give people a show and play the best we possibly can.”
“It's been a year since I've played in front of a crowd being at a JUCO, so it was nice to get in front of people again and get that game atmosphere,” Brinson said. “It's great to see people cheering for the Nanooks and that's pretty cool.”
NOTE: The men's basketball scrimmage was played with two 16-minute halves, three media timeouts per half and an automatic 1-and-1 every foul following the under 8-minute timeout.
