Box Score BILLINGS, Mont. - The Alaska men's basketball team was defeated by Montana State Billings by a score of 83-78 in overtime on Thursday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.
Alaska took the lead in the closing seconds of the game, but a late foul at the buzzer, and one made Yellowjacket free-throw forced overtime, where MSUB outscored the Nanooks, 16-9 in the extra period. With the loss, Alaska falls to 5-9 overall and 2-4 in league play while the Yellowjackets improve to 4-5 and 2-5 in the GNAC.
The Nanooks were led offensively by Ashton Edwards and Almir Hadzisehovic, who scored 22 and 20 points, respectively. Edwards also had four assists as he played 40 minutes to also lead Alaska. Hadzisehovich went 9-13 from the field, had three assists and a block
"Ashton and Almir gave us a great inside-outside attack all game long, and it was a great effort by our guys on the road," said head coach Mick Durham.
Both Anthony Reese and Eric Fongue went 2-2 from the 3-point arc, as a team the Nanooks went 7-20 against the top 3-point defense in the GNAC, while Alex Duncan hauled in a team-high six rebounds.
Montana State Billings was led by Jace Anderson who came off the bench to score 27 points and went 5-10 from 3-point land. In total, five Yellowjackets scored in double digits, including Kendall Denham who scored 16 points and hit three 3-point field goals.
Alaska led 26-25 at halftime, with Edwards scoring seven points in the half to lead the Nanooks. Hadzisehovic scored 14 points in the second half, as the game went back and forth throughout the entire 45 minutes.
Edwards and Anderson dueled each other in the overtime period, as the Nanook junior scored 11 points in the extra period, with Anderson scoring nine. However, it was the Yellowjackets who prevailed, as they went 7-for-7 from the free-throw line to seal the game.
The Nanooks now head to Seattle for a Saturday afternoon game against Seattle Pacific. Tip-off is set for 4:15 p.m. AKT.
