University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

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LACEY, Wash. — An early second half surge Thursday was not enough to overcome a strong Western Washington team, as the third-seeded Alaska men's basketball team fell to the second-seeded Vikings 73-52 in the semifinals of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championship Tournament at Marcus Pavilion on the campus of Saint Martin's University.
 
After shooting just 15.6 percent in the first half and scoring 14 points, the Nanooks (18-10) trailed 38-14 at halftime. But they came out of the locker room in the second half with energy, going on a 13-1 run in just 3 minutes, 33 seconds, to cut their deficit in half from 24 points to 12 at 39-27 with 16:27 still to play in the game.
 
Senior center Sergej Pucar (Belgrade, Serbia/Business Administration) got the run started with a 3-pointer 40 seconds into the half after grabbing a rebound on the other end. Alaska made defensive stop after defensive stop during the first 5 1/2 minutes of the second, forcing Western Washington to go 0 for 7 from the field and cough up the ball on five occasions with five steals.
 
But misses would come back to haunt Alaska. The team would miss its next four shots, all layups, while Western Washington (20-7) would make six straight field goals, including three 3-pointers, to push its lead back to 23 points at 54-31.
 
Senior guard Ronnie Baker (Vallejo, Calif./Communication) led Alaska with 18 points. He made four treys, collected five rebounds and grabbed four steals while dishing three assists. Pucar finished with 12 points and three boards.
 
The semifinals loss to Western Washington marks the second straight year Alaska has fallen to the Vikings in the GNAC Championship Tournament. WWU eliminated the Nanooks from last season's tournament in the semifinals as well.
 
Western Washington's Jeffrey Parker led all scorers with 21 points. Joey Schreiber had 14 points and four rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench, and Robert Harris had 10 points and nine boards. The Vikings outrebounded the Nanooks 43-29, including a 34-19 advantage on the defensive glass.
 
Alaska started the game on a 2 for 19 cold streak that included two different stretches of 0 for 6 and 0 for 8 shooting. The Nanooks got their first field goal of the game 3:53 into the game, and their 0 for 8 stretch spanned 6:56. Western Washington did not fare much better out of the gate, going 5 for 14 in the game's first 10:44 and making four free throws for a 15-5 lead midway through the first half.
 
The Nanooks made a game of it at the 5:36 mark of the first thanks to a 9-2 run, pulling within five at 19-14. Senior forward Stefan Tica (Belgrade, Serbia/Business Administration) scored seven points in 2:28 to help the Nanooks get back in the game, but his layup with 5 1/2 minutes on the clock would be the Nanooks' last before halftime.
 
Alaska went cold again before the break, going 0 for 10 from the field. That allowed Western Washington to go on a 19-0 run on 7 for 9 shooting and push its lead to 24 points. It was Alaska's largest halftime deficit this season. The Nanooks' 14 points scored in the first half marked the first time they failed to score at least 20 in the first stanza since Nov. 21, 2009, when they scored 19 against California (Pa.).
 
The Nanooks shot 43.3 percent in the second half, much closer to their season average of 44.5 percent entering the game, and outscored the Vikings 38-35 – more than doubling their points output from the first half. Senior forward Andrew Kelly (Gilbert, Ariz./Justice) scored all eight of his points in the second half after going 0 for 6 in the first. Baker scored 16 of his 18 after halftime, going 6 for 9 from the field, including 4 for 5 from downtown.
 
Alaska would finish the game with a 29 percent shooting clip overall. It was its lowest team shooting percentage in a game since Feb. 16, 2012, when it shot 28.6 percent versus Western Oregon.