Box Score ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Nanook men trailed by just three at the half against No. 16 nationally ranked BYU-Hawaii, but were unable to hang with the Seasiders, as they fell 81-62 in the opening game of the Seawolf Jamboree on Friday night.
Adam Griffin led the way offensively for the Nanooks (2-6) as he scored 13 points. Ruben Silvas was not far behind as he contributed 11. Meanwhile, Kyle Tomlinson had a team-high six rebounds.
BYU-Hawaii's Daniel Berger led all scorers with 19 points.
"That was a very good team we played tonight, and I'm proud of our effort," said head coach Mick Durham. "They wore us down on the boards. But overall I'm please because that we earned good experience against a very physical and experienced team."
The Seasiders did dominate the boards, as they grabbed 51 total rebounds, including 22 offensive boards, compared to only 25 total rebounds for the Nanooks. Surprisngly, no BYU-Hawaii player had double-digit rebounds, though Scott Friel did lead the game with nine, but rather, it was a team effort as seven players had five or more.
In the first half, the Nanooks shot 50% (6-12) from the three-point line as their outside shooting helped keep the game tight. Silvas and Eric Fongue both went 2-2 from beyond the arc in the opening period, while Griffin and Ashton Edwards each had one. Overall, Alaska's offense was strong in the first half, as they matched their three-point ratio with a 14-28 (50%) mark from the field, while on the defensive side of the ball, Alaska held the Seasiders to just 37.5% from the three-point arc and 40% from the field.
Unfortunately, in the second half, the points dried up for the Nanooks as they would shoot just 2-11 from three and 10-26 overall while BYU-Hawaii began to pull away, shooting 50% from "downtown." Its offensive rebounding was useful as well, as, for the game, it scored 21 second-chance points whereas the Nanooks had zero.
Alaska will look to bounce-back immediately against Humboldt State in its closing game of the Seawolf Jamboree at 5:00 p.m. In tonight's finale, the Lumberjacks defeated Alaska Anchorage by a score of 87-83.
