Box Score MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Alaska men's basketball team led by ten at half, but were unable to sustain that advantage as it opened up Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with a 67-62 loss to Western Oregon on Thursday night.
Ashton Edwards led three Nanooks who scored in double digits as he followed up an impressive weekend with a 19 point performance tonight. Inside, Almir Hadzisehovic produced 14 points and Alex Duncan had 11.
Andy Avgi was the game's top scorer as the Western Oregon man shot 10-14 from the field and 6-7 from the free-throw line to score 26 points. Jordan Wiley also had a big day with 17 points.
"I really like how we competed and played tonight against a very experienced GNAC team," said head coach Mick Durham. "We just needed a couple shots to go down late in the game."
The Nanooks struggled in two key areas, as they were outrebounded 39-28 and shot only four free-throws for the entire game (2-4). Western Oregon went 10-13 from the line in what was a very cleanly played game (12 fouls for Alaska / nine for WOU).
Kyle Tomlinson and Ruben Silvas were Alaska's top rebounders with five boards each. Silvas also had nine points and two assists, while Tomlinson had three assists and two blocks.
Alaska led, 37-27, at the end of the first half as the Nanooks hit five three-pointers as a team and Hadzisehovic had ten points to lead Alaska. The Nanooks did not attempt a free-throw in the second period as the Wolves would chip away at the Alaskan lead.
Much like the game against Holy Names, the Nanooks would hang on to its lead late into the second half, but Western Oregon's Avgi scored with two minutes to go, to give WOU its first sustainable lead of the game.
Alaska will hope for a quick turnaround as they now travel to face Saint Martin's on Saturday evening, at 6:00 p.m. AKT.
