FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Despite overcoming an 18-point deficit to battle it out in the second half, the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team fell to the Seattle Pacific Falcons 79-77 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match at the Alaska Airlines Court on Saturday afternoon. The Nooks fall to 6-7 overall and 1-3 in conference play, while the Falcons improve to 6-6 overall, 2-2 GNAC.
The first ten minutes of Saturday's game were not in favor of the Nooks, as they found themselves down nine points in the first five minutes of the game. Alaska's turnovers and missed shots unfortunately continued and the Nooks were down 29-11 at the 8:26 mark of the first half.
Senior forward Zach Pederson turned things up for the Nanooks, as the Snohomish, Washington native drained back-to-back three-pointers and collected a layup to make it a 37-28 game with less than three minutes left in the first. Heading into intermission, a good three-point bucket from senior guard Nahjee Matlock and a free throw from junior guard Spencer Clark pulled the Nanooks to with eight points at the buzzer (40-32).
The Nooks came back to the court on fire, going on a 9-2 run in the first three minutes of the second half to make it a 42-42 game. A timely three-point shot by SPU's Sharif Khan extended the Falcons' lead to 45-41 at the 17:04 mark, but back-to-back free throws by Matlock tied the game at 45 each at the 16:13 mark. A steal by Matlock, which resulted in a good layup but the Las Vegas, Nevada native, gave Alaska their first lead of the game at 49-47 at the 14:31 mark of the second half.
Alaska kept the pressure on, extending to a seven-point lead at the 11:01 mark (57-50), but SPU battled back and the game was tied once again at the 2:58 mark at 70-70. Fouls by the Nanooks eventually cost them, as Seattle Pacific made six free throws in the final three minutes of the game to seal the victory 79-77.
Pederson led the Nanooks in scoring on Saturday afternoon, converting on three of six three-point shots and shooting 7-of-15 from the floor to record 17 points. Pederson also pitched in three offensive rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal to help the Nooks.
Matlock shot 4-of-11 from the floor, 1-of-4 from behind the arc and 4-of-6 free throws to record 13 points against the Falcons and posted five rebounds and a game-high four assists and three steals in a solid 32 minutes on the court.
Senior guard Brandon Davis (12), senior forward Bangaly Kaba (11) and freshman forward Michael Kluting (10) were the only other Nooks to score double-digit figures on Saturday, with Kluting tying Matlock for a team-high five rebounds on the day.
As a team, Alaska shot 42.9 percent from the floor (27-of-63), 41.2 percent from behind the arc (7-of-17) and 72.7 percent from the free throw line (16-of-22). The Nooks recorded 14 points from second chances, 30 points in the paint, 14 points off of turnovers and received 19 points from the bench. On the day, Alaska registered 31 rebounds, including nine offensive rebounds, seven assists and six steals.
The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team hits the road next week, taking on Western Washington and Simon Fraser in two GNAC matches. Alaska will take on the WWU Vikings on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 6pm AKST before traveling to Canada to face the SFU Clan on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 6pm AKST.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks page on Facebook.
