Box Score ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Sometimes a hero derives from the most unlikely of sources.
Down 26 points in the first half and still feeling the fatigue of a triple-overtime win just two days prior, the Alaska men's basketball team was in desperate need of a hero Saturday against Central Washington.
That's when redshirt senior forward
Mike Stepovich (Fairbanks, Alaska/Accounting) stepped up.
Stepovich came in off the bench Saturday and led all players with a career-high 26 points, missing only one of his 10 shot attempts and making four 3-pointers to help lead Alaska all the way back to a nine-point, 85-76 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory.
It was Stepovich's 3-pointer with 7 minutes, 23 seconds left in the game that knotted the two teams up at 65-65, the first time Central Washington (11-11, 7-7 GNAC) did not hold a lead since 3:11 after the opening tip.
Alaska (15-8, 10-5 GNAC) used big run after big run to chop away at its third-largest deficit of the season. A 16-2 run in the final four minutes of the first half cut the 26-point CWU advantage by more than half, down to 12 points at 43-31. Stepovich accentuated the run with a trey four seconds before the halftime buzzer. He scored half of the Nanooks' 16 points during the run.
Central Washington unraveled during the closing minutes of the opening period. The Wildcats shot 66.7 percent from the field during the first 15:36 of the game and took care of the ball with only three turnovers and two fouls during that time.
In the final 4:24 of the first half, CWU went 0 for 5 shooting, committed five fouls and turned the ball over four times. Meanwhile the Nanooks, who had only shot 30 percent in the opening 15 1/2 minutes, went 4 for 5 from the field and 6 for 7 from the free-throw line.
Every hero has a sidekick, though, and Stepovich had his share of help Saturday. Senior forward
Stefan Tica (Belgrade, Serbia/Business Administration) made four 3-pointers of his own and scored a season-high 22 points. Tica, who entered Saturday as a 62.9 percent free-throw shooter, was a perfect 6 for 6 from the line. Alaska went 20 for 26 from the charity stripe, making 11 more free throws on 10 more chances than Central Washington (9 for 16).
Senior guard
Ronnie Baker (Vallejo, Calif./Communication) was the Nanooks' third scorer in double figures with 13 points. He also had a game-high four steals, grabbed three rebounds and notched two assists.
Coming out of halftime, Central Washington seemed to get back on track. The Wildcats maintained their double-digit lead for the first 6:55 of the half thanks in part to their four double-figure scorers in the game. J.B. Pillard led CWU with 19 points and eight rebounds. Jordan Russell had 18 points off the bench, and Kevin Davis chipped in 12.
But Alaska's march towards tying the game began at the 14:44 mark with a 3-pointer from Stepovich. He would later hit the trey that tied it at 65-65 with 7:23 left, capping the comeback.
Alaska went on a 28-12 run over 7:46 to take a two-point lead at 67-65 with under seven minutes to play. The run closed with a 10-2 stretch that included six points from Stepovich.
Alaska shot 64.3 percent in the second half alone and finished the game with a 52.8 percent shooting clip. It was the fourth time in five games the Nanooks shot over 50 percent after only doing so twice in their first 18 games.
The win completed a weekend road sweep for Alaska, who topped Northwest Nazarene Thursday 108-104 in triple overtime. The two road wins gave the Nanooks a 5-5 road record this season and sealed Alaska's first .500-or-better record on opponents' home courts since the 2004-05 season.
The Nanooks matched their conference wins total (10) from a season ago, when they finished the GNAC schedule 10-8 and qualified for the GNAC Tournament for the first time. Alaska's last three games of the regular season are all at home, where they are 9-1 this season.
The Nanooks return home next week for two games in the nightcap of doubleheaders with the women's team. Alaska faces Western Oregon at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, then hosts Saint Martin's at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
