BILLINGS, Mont. -- The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team mounted a late second-half rally to erase a double-digit deficit on Saturday afternoon, but he Nanooks could not complete the comeback, as they fell, 74-69, to Dominican University.
The loss is the second in a row for Alaska, as they go 0-2 at the Montana State Billings Holiday Tournament. The Nanooks (4-2) trailed by 13 points at the 16:11 mark of the second half and continued continue to trail by double figures until the 13:21-mark when Brandon Davis pulled the team within seven after a 3-point field goal. The Nanooks would cut its deficit all the way down to one point at 64-63, after a Joe Slocum trifecta with 3:11 remaining in the game.
Dominican (4-2) quickly pushed its advantage back to five, but Alaska would once again pull within one with 22 seconds left in the game after a Travante Williams 3-pointer. The Penguins went a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe over the final 22 seconds, as they held on to the five-point victory.
"I thought we learned a lot this weekend," said head coach Mick Durham. "I thought both games were winnable, but we didn't play quite as sharp as we needed to. I do think this preseason schedule has us ready for conference play, which opens this upcoming Thursday. We had some close games and had to fight through some adversity in our nonconference schedule, which should really help us inside a an always tough GNAC."
Williams led the Nanooks in scoring, as he tallied 18 points. It is the fifth double-digit scoring performance for the Anchorage native this year, as he hit an even 50 percent (7-of-14) from the field. Fellow senior Joe Slocum was also in double-figures, as he scored 10 points, marking his fifth-straight double-digit scoring outing this year. Williams and Slocum each hit three 3-point field goals in the loss.
Junior Brandon Davis came off the bench and scored a career-high 16 points. The guard connected on six of his 10 field goal attempts on the day. Senior Almir Hadzisehovic rounded out the double-digit scoring for Alaska, as he collected 11 points to go along with five rebounds. Junior Bangaly Kaba nearly missed out on a double-double, as the forward turned in a nine-point, nine-rebound performance.
Alaska will close out 2015 on a four-game home stand which opens on Thursday. Dec. 3. The Nanooks open the home stand with a GNAC game against Northwest Nazarene. Tip-off from the Alaska Airlines Court is set for 7 p.m. AKST.
For more information about the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter.
