University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — From here on out, it's nothing but home cooking for the Alaska men's basketball team.
 
The Nanooks will play its final three games of the regular season at home beginning this week with two 7:30 p.m. tip-offs against Great Northwest Athletic Conference foes. Thursday Alaska hosts Western Oregon and Saturday brings Saint Martin's. Both games will be nightcaps of doubleheaders with the women's team.
 
Saturday night's game against Saint Martin's is part of Alaska's 2014 Military Appreciation event. Military personnel and their families will receive free admission to the game.
 
Alaska (15-8, 10-5 GNAC) pulled off two thrilling road victories last week to end its regular season road schedule with a .500-or-better record for the first time since 2004-05. It took three overtimes on Thursday for the Nanooks to finally defeat Northwest Nazarene 108-104. Saturday the team earned its first regular season sweep over Central Washington since joining the GNAC in 2001-02 by overcoming a 41-15 first-half deficit to win 85-76.
 
Now the Nanooks return home, where they saw their home winning streak end at 11 on Feb. 8 against then-No. 19 Seattle Pacific. Alaska is 9-1 at the Patty Center this season and is outscoring opponents by 9.5 points per game (75.7-66.2) there.
 
Alaska has already matched its conference wins total from a year ago when it qualified for the GNAC tournament with a 10-8 record. The Nanooks are only a 1/2 game out of second place behind Western Washington for a first-round bye in the tournament. One win over their next three games will clinch a tournament berth for the second straight year.
 
Alaska is one of only two teams in the GNAC this week carrying five players with double-digit scoring averages, the other being Western Washington. Senior guard Ronnie Baker (Vallejo, Calif./Communication) leads the Nanooks with 14.6 ppg, followed by senior forward Andrew Kelly (Gilbert, Ariz./Justice) with 13.0 ppg and senior center Sergej Pucar (Belgrade, Serbia/Business Administration) with 12.5.
 
Kelly averaged a double-double last week (17.0 ppg, 12.0 rpg) thanks to a career-high 25 points Thursday to go with 15 rebounds against Northwest Nazarene. Redshirt senior forward Stefan Tica (Belgrade, Serbia/Business Administration) averaged 18.0 ppg in two games last week to raise his season average to 10.9. Tica has scored in double figures in four straight games and six of his last nine, including scoring 20 or more on three occasions.
 
Junior guard Joe Slocum (San Francisco/Communication) is averaging 10.0 ppg, 4.3 assists per game (5th in GNAC) and 2.0 steals per game – second-best in the conference. He is also tied with Baker for the team lead in 3-point shooting percentage at 41.9 percent.
 
Alaska's scoring defense of allowing 68.1 ppg is ranked second in the GNAC behind Seattle Pacific's (66.7 ppg allowed), and is 38th in the NCAA. Part of that stout defense has derived from the Nanooks' ability to control the ball this season. Their total turnovers (40) and turnovers per game (11.1) are ranked among the nation's lowest top 40 marks, and their total steals (185) and steals per game (8.0) are both ranked second in the GNAC and No. 44 in the nation.
 
Game #24: Western Oregon at Alaska – Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. (AKST)
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The Wolves (14-10, 7-7 GNAC) have climbed back into the GNAC Tournament race by winning four of their last five, snapping a five-game losing streak in the process. Western Oregon rides a three-game winning streak into Fairbanks, where they haven't won since 2012.
 
Opponents have had a tough time shooting against Western Oregon this season. The Wolves are tied for first in the GNAC with a 44.3 percent field goal percentage defense. And second chances have been limited thanks to WOU's third-best rebounding offense (34.5 rpg).
 
Western Oregon doesn't shoot the 3-ball often, only making 140 3-pointers this season, the lowest total in the GNAC. Rodney Webster is the Wolves' leading scorer with 14.5 ppg despite only making five starts.
 
Game #25: Saint Martin's at Alaska – Saturday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. (AKST)
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The Saints (8-14, 5-9 GNAC) have lost seven of their last 10 games and two straight following back-to-back wins over Montana State Billings and Northwest Nazarene on Feb. 1 and 6.
 
Saint Martin's owns the GNAC's lowest-scoring offense at 70.1 ppg, but has the third-best scoring defense, allowing 74.2 ppg. The Saints turn the ball over often with 12.6 turnovers per game – third-worst in the GNAC. Evan Coulter ranks ninth in the conference with 15.7 ppg and tied for eighth with 3.5 assists per game. He is third in free-throw percentage at 87.4 percent.