University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Sophomore forward Stefan Tica (Belgrade, Serbia/Panola College) led five players in double figures and Alaska shot better than 50-percent as a team to defeat Portland Bible College 84-69 on Saturday night at the AT&T Alascom Jamboree at UAA's Wells Fargo Sports Center.
 
“We feel good coming here and getting two wins,” head coach Mick Durham said. “This was a unique team [in Portland Bible], they gave us fits the first 10 minutes but then we settled down and figured them out offensively.

Tica scored a game-high 22 points on 10 of 17 shooting to earn the Jamboree's Player of the Game honor.
 
Senior guard Nico Matthews (Twenty Nine Palms, Calif./College of the Desert) and junior guard Dominique Brinson (Juneau, Alaska/College of the Redwoods) both tallied 16 points, while freshmen Jesse Ward (North Pole, Alaska/North Pole) and Daniel Shaw (Cambridge, England/Moulton College) contributed 12 and 10 points, respectively. Matthews also dished out a career-high nine assists and was one rebound shy of a double-double, with nine. Brinson also had a career-best six dimes.

“We had balanced scoring again and had a big lift off the bench from Daniel Shaw and Jesse Ward, both getting in double-figure scoring,” Durham said. “[Stefan] gave everybody confidence tonight. He was aggressive in going to the rim and hit a couple threes, but he and Nico Matthews were definitely leading us. Matthews' stat line for the whole weekend was pretty unbelievable.”

Matthews and Brinson were named to the All-Tournament team following UAA's win over Minot State. Matthews averaged 17.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists, and 4.0 steals, while Brinson 15.0 points and 5.5 assists in the Nanooks' 2-0 weekend.

The Nanooks (3-7), which won for the second straight night, shot 54.5-percent (36-66 FG) for the game and won the rebounding battle for the first time this season by a 33-26 margin, including 11-6 on the offensive glass. They also had 30 assists on the 36 made shots, while PBC only had 15 assists as a team.

The Wildcats (2-8) were led by Doug Noteboom who scored a team-high 21 points, which including an 11 of 12 showing from the free throw line. Tim Mahan had 19 points while Juston Coleman added 10. PBC shot 44.9-percent (22-49 FG) from the floor but turned the ball over 16 times, to Alaska's 11.
 
Portland Bible jumped out to the early 18-11 lead with 13:52 to go in the first, but the Nanooks scored the next nine points to hold a slim 20-18 advantage. Trailing 22-21, PBC went on a 6-0 run to retake the lead at 27-22 just past the halfway point. Alaska got three-pointers from Brinson and Ward to spark an 18-0 run that spanned 5:27 to grab a comfortable 42-29 advantage with just over two to go. UAF led 42-32 at the break.
 
Trailing 48-36, the Wildcats cut it back to seven at 48-41 with 15:33 to go, but the 'Nooks scored the next six points to regain the double-digit lead. Alaska led by as many as 20 on three occasions down the stretch as Portland never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.
 
The Nanooks return to action next Saturday when they face 21st-ranked Alaska Anchorage in the conference opener for both teams. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. in Anchorage and fans can catch all the action on KCBF 820 AM.
 
“Anyone you talk about your conference opener, you want to get off to a good start,” Durham said. “We're going to look forward to a good week, we want to get better for this weekend, but we know what's at stake and know who we're playing. They saw us this week and we saw them, so we're going to be ready to go.”

2011 AT&T Alascom Jamboree All-Tournament Team:
Jonas Berhe, Minot State
Dominique Brinson, Alaska