FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- Senior Travante Williams picked up a double-double, while Almir Hadzisehovic nearly got one of his own, as the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team collected a 77-72 win over Northwest Nazarene in their Great Northwest Athletic Conference season opener on Thursday at the Alaska Airlines Court.
Williams turned in his third 20-point effort on Thursday night to help the Nanooks (5-2, 1-0 GNAC) win their GNAC opener for the first time since the 2007-08 season. The Anchorage, Alaska native picked up a team-best 21 points and added a game-high 12 rebounds to post his second double-double in a Nanooks uniform. As for Hadzisehovic, he scored a season-best 17 points, while shooting 7-for-12 from the field. The big Serbian just missed out on his first career double-double with Alaska, has he tied his career-best in rebounds with nine.
Hadzisehvoic played a huge roll in the final 4:51 of play, as he recorded nine points and four rebounds, two of which were offensive rebounds. His effort down the stretch helped Alaska battle back from a 61-58 deficit and take a 73-68 lead over the Crusaders (3-1, 0-1 GNAC) with 1:26 remaining in the game. Despite struggling from the free throw line all night, Alaska was able to close out the game by drilling eight of its final 10 attempts over the last 3:25 to seal the 77-72 victory.
"This is kind of what I envisioned with this game. Northwest Nazarene has a brand new coach, a lot of new players, and came in with a lot of confidence and we had to fight to break their spirit, which I think we did over the final minutes," said head coach Mick Durham. "We weren't pretty offensively, but we kept grinding defensively and I thought we wore them down towards the end. We had a ton of offensive rebounds and effort plays in the second half. It wasn't pretty, but we found a way to get it done."
Thursday's contest featured 11 ties and 18 lead changes, as neither team could gain more than a four-point advantage for the majority of the second half. Northwest Nazarene connected on 46.7 percent of their shot attempts on Thursday, but the Nanooks defense stood tall in the closing minutes, as they held NNU to 2-of-6 from the field over the final 2:31 of play.
Senior Isaac Ladines was the only other Nanook in double-figures, as he scored a career-high 12 points on a 5-of-7 performance from the field. Ladines and Hadizehovic's performance helped the Nanooks outscore the Crusaders 36-26 in points in the paint, and 22-10 in second chance points, as Alaska grabbed a season-best 21 offensive rebounds.
The Nanooks also forced 23 Crusader turnovers on Thursday night, as Williams led the team with a game-high four steals. Seniors Joe Slocum and Alex Duncan each collected three steals apiece, as the team posted 13 swipes on the night.
Alaska will be back in action on Saturday night, as they'll take on Central Washington in the second game of a four-game home stand. Tip-off from the Alaska Airlines Court is set for 2 p.m. AKST.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter.
