FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team concluded the 2016-17 preseason on a strong note, as they defeated Portland Bible College 97-49 in their final exhibition contest at the Alaska Airlines Court on Monday night.
"I could see it in our faces a little bit, we were a little worn down from the long trip from El Paso yesterday but we were experimenting some different lineups and split some minutes tonight between guys, which was great because then we weren't wearing anyone down, it was a good game for us," head coach Mick Durham said following Monday's win.
Senior forward Zach Pederson made the most of the Nooks' unofficial home opener at the Alaska Airlines Court, as the Snohomish, Washington native scored a team-high 14 points. Pederson went 5-of-8 shooting from the floor in just 17 minutes of playing time. Pederson also buried all four free-throw attempts and chipped in four rebounds on the night.
"We don't have a lot of returning players from last year but Zach is one of them and I thought he did a good job of getting up and down the court," Durham said of Pederson. "He's not the fastest guy on the court but he made an emphasis tonight of moving both ways. For only 17 minutes of play, he had a very efficient night."
Pederson was one of five Alaska players to score double-digit figures against the Wildcats, as freshman Michael Kluting collecting 11 points (3-of-3 in 3-point attempts) and senior Nahjee Matlock, junior LaDonavan Wilder and redshirt-sophomore Reece Robinson each chipped in 10 points on the night. The balance scoring led to a game-high 16 assists from the Nanooks, as junior Spencer Clark dished out a team-high of three. As a team, Alaska shot 51.3% from the field.
"I thought we were better in the second half offensively, we kind of let them get away from us in a couple things at first but we came back and wore them down a little bit at the end," Durham said of his team. "I think we're still getting our legs back, especially this time of year, after we've been having heavy practices and now getting into games, but I think going forward what's nice about our team is we have depth. We're not going to be the best shooting team but we can get points from a variety of guys, but we're going to use these upcoming non-conference games to help us shape our team a little bit more."
Alaska had a shutdown performance on the defensive side of the ball, as they collected 13steals on the night and forced Portland Bible into 17 turnovers. The effort was led by Wilder, who recorded a team-high three steals and was only one rebound away from a double-double, as he tallied nine rebounds along with his 10 points.
The Wildcats were led by Troy Flanagan, who went 7-of-11 from the field, 5-of-9 in 3-point attempts and 2-of-2 at the free-throw line to lead the entire game with 21 points. Portland Bible's Trey Merriweather chipped in 15 points to help the team's 31.0% shooting percentage from the field.
The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team will pack their bags and travel South to Hawaii to take part in the GNAC/PACWest Challenge this weekend. The Nooks face Hawaii-Pacific on Friday, Nov. 11 (8:30pm AKST) before facing the Chaminade Silverswords on Saturday, Nov. 12 (6:30pm AKST). Before heading back to Alaska, the Nooks will take advantage of the Hawaii trip and play the BYU-Hawaii Seasiders on Monday, Nov. 14 at 8:30pm AKST.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter.
