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FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Junior guard
Dominique Brinson (Juneau, Alaska/College of the Redwoods) drained a three-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime and Alaska shut down Central Washington in the extra period to rally for a 91-80 Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball victory Saturday at the Patty Center.
The victory for the Nanooks (4-9, 1-2 GNAC) marked the first time since March 4, 2006 that they defeated the Wildcats (7-5, 1-3 GNAC), snapping a 10-game losing streak in the series. It was also head coach
Mick Durham's 250th win of his career.
“The thing I remember was in the huddle in overtime, I could tell we were not going to be denied,” Durham said. “You hope at home you have that extra energy and it was a relief just to get to overtime but I'm not sure we could've played any better in overtime.”
Trailing 73-68 with 1:32 to go, senior guard
Nico Matthews (Twenty Nine Palms, Calif./College of the Desert) drove through the lane for the layup to cut the deficit to three. After a missed three by Central, sophomore forward
Stefan Tica (Belgrade Serbia/Panola College) was fouled and made one of two, but Alaska picked up the offensive rebound to maintain possession.
Tica received the inbounds pass, but his three was off the mark and
Trey Gross went to the line for a pair with 17.6 left. Gross missed both free throws and freshman guard
Jesse Ward (North Pole, Alaska/North Pole) nearly tied it with a fast-break layup, but it rimmed out. Gross went back to the line with 8.2 ticks on the clock and after missing the first, he converted on the second to give CWU a 74-71 lead.
On the ensuing possession, Matthews brought it up court and dished it off to Brinson, who fired a leaning three from the right corner and it dropped with 1.1 to go to tie the game at 74-74 to force overtime.
“I saw Nico coming down the court and I'm just glad he came to my side and I was ready for it,” Brinson said. “The defender had his hand in my face, so I had to adjust a little bit, but it went in. Once we got to overtime, we had the mindset that we weren't going to lose. We really wanted to come out with the win. As the game went on, I think we played better and better and in overtime, we just executed.”
“It's one of those things as a coach where some nights it's your night and some nights it's not,” Durham. “We've had shots go against us like that and we've had shots we haven't made. I'll take it because we've had some tough ones.”
In the extra frame, the Nanooks opened on an 8-0 run to lead 82-74 with 2:16 to go. The Wildcats never came closer than six as Alaska shot better than 71-percent (5-7) in overtime and drained 7-8 free throws, while limiting Central to 14.3-percent (1-7) shooting.
Brinson led four Nanook players in double figures with a team-high 20 points, while Tica had 19 points. Sophomore center
Sergej Pucar (Banja Luka, Serbia/Jacksonville College) posted his first double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Matthews also had 16 points to go with seven rebounds.
Alaska shot 47.5-percent (29-61) for the game and did a great job getting to the free throw line, converting 28 of 35 attempts (80%) from the charity stripe. Despite losing the rebounding battle 44-37 and 20-12 on the offensive glass, the Nanooks outrebounded the Wildcats 24-19 in the second half and overtime.
“We had a tough time on the boards all night with Kevin Davis,” Durham said. “He's so long and even if you have him boxed out, he's so quick to go around our guys, plus he has the long arms. Finally in overtime, we got the loose balls and I thought it was better in the second half [than the first].”
For Central,
Kevin Davis posted a double-double with game highs of 23 points and 13 rebounds as well as four blocks. Nine of his 13 boards came off the offensive glass.
Toussaint Tyler fell one assist shy of a double-double with 13 points and nine dimes. Other double-figure scorers included
Lacy Haddock and
Jody Johnson with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
CWU shot 41.2-percent (28-68) from the floor, but struggled from beyond the arc, making only two treys on 12 attempts (16.7%). Another dim point on the stat sheet came from the free throw line, as it made 22 of 33 (66.7%) from the stripe.
“This makes us a way tougher team,” Matthews said of the comeback win. “We know now that we can compete with anyone.”
“Wins like this help you, there's no question,” Durham said. “When you continue to lose tough ball games, there are always questions. Even if we would have lost, I felt much better how we competed than the other night. We played at home the way we needed to play at home. I don't think there's any question this is a big step for this basketball team winning a game like this.”
With the game tied at 7-7 early in the contest, Central scored six straight to grab a 13-7 lead with 13:31 to go. It led 21-14 before Alaska responded with an 8-0 run over the span of 3:27 to take a 22-21 lead. CWU took back the lead, as it turned a 29-28 deficit into a 38-32 lead with just under two minutes left in the first. The Nanooks scored the final four points of the half to trail 38-36 at the break.
With the game tied at 40-40, Central Washington went on an 8-2 run to hold a 48-42 advantage with 14:23 remaining the second. The visitors led for the next 8:25 until the Nanooks got five straight points from a pair of Pucar free throws and an old-fashioned three-point play by Brinson to knot the contest at 61-61 with 6:31 to go. The Wildcats scored eight of the next 11 for a 69-64 lead before Alaska rallied in the closing moments of regulation to force overtime.
The Nanooks return to action Thursday at 6 p.m., as they open up a two-game road trip at Seattle Pacific, followed by a 5 p.m. meeting on Saturday at Montana State-Billings.
