The Alaska men's basketball seniors are a mixed bag. Of the four, none played four years with the team.
Boe Edwards is a local kid who transferred from Haskell Indian Nations University.
Aaron Kohring was a walk on who quickly became a presence in the post.
Kyle Smith and
Parrish West, both from Chicago, transferred in two years ago.
That class played its last game on the Patty Center floor together Tuesday night.
But the Nanooks (8-16, 5-12 GNAC) came up short against Alaska Anchorage (20-8, 12-5 GNAC) in a 74-65 loss, and there was suddenly a little less to celebrate with just one more game to play to determine if the team will make playoffs.
West led all scorers with 18 points. His night got off to an exciting start when Smith saved a ball from going out of bounds on a wild lunge to West. In classic form, West threw off his defender and dunked the ball.
The Nanooks kept the game tight throughout that first half.
Mason King put them up 31-30 with 3:34 to play on a beautiful three-point basket and broke a 31-31 tie with another arcing jumper a minute later, but the Nanooks headed to halftime down 34-33.
The Seawolves were able to take control in the second half and led by as much as 14 points. The Nanooks cut that lead to six with an 8-0 run led by a couple of baskets from
Brett Barkman.
The deficit climbed back to 12 points before successful layups from West and
Jarrett Miller, but Alaska couldn't come back.
King ended the game with 16 points, including four from outside the arc. Miller ended with 11 points off the bench.
Barkman fell just short of a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds.
West and Kohring both finished with six rebounds.
Because Montana State Billings was able to top Simon Fraser Tuesday, the Nanooks have to win in Anchorage Wednesday night to keep playoff hopes alive. Tipoff is at 7 p.m., and the game can be seen on FSN Northwest.
