BILLINGS, Mont. -- Senior Travante Williams hit a pair of back-to-back 3-point baskets in final minute of play to help the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team to a 66-61 victory at Montana State Billings on Saturday afternoon.
The win secures a berth into the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament for the Nanooks, as they return to the tourney after a one-year absence. Alaska is now 11-5 on the year in GNAC play and 17-7 overall on the year. For Montana State Billings, the loss drops them to 6-10 in league games, as they are now 9-15 overall.
"I'm really proud of our guys, especially coming off a rivalry game on Thursday night and traveling to Montana the next day," said head coach Mick Durham. "It was a great effort. Not a lot of pretty things about today's game, but we found a way to get it done. We had a great defensive effort down the stretch, and Travante hit a couple of big three's that sealed the game for us. This was a great road trip, and we found out a lot about ourselves on this trip. We're going to come back to Fairbanks, regroup a bit and get ready for Western Oregon next Thursday."
Saturday's win caps off a season-long four-game road trip for the Nooks. They finish the season-long excursion at 3-1.
Williams had yet again another signature moment for the Nanooks this season, as he scored seven of the team's final eight points on the night, which included back-to-back 3-point field goals to turn a one-point Nooks advantage into a five-point lead with 31.6 seconds remaining. The senior scored a game-high 26 points to mark his ninth 20-point-plus outing of the year. Williams also extended his double-digit scoring streak to 14 games. The Anchorage, Alaska native pulled down seven rebounds against MSUB, as he has now grabbed seven-or-more caroms in 12 of his last 13 games.
It was a balance score sheet for Alaska on Saturday, as eight of the nine players who played scored. Redshirt senior Joe Slocum followed Williams with nine points, while juniors Bangaly Kaba and Brandon Davis each had eight. Seniors Almir Hadzisehovic and Isaac Ladines each had five points apiece, while Hadizehovic also pulled down a game-best 10 rebounds, tying his career-best for boards in a game.
The Nanooks defense put a halt to a hot-shooting Yellowjackets team, who was coming off a league-high 17 3-point field goals made against Alaska Anchorage on Tuesday. Alaska yielded just four trifectas to MSUB, and limited them to just 32.3 percent shooting performance from the field on Saturday.
Alaska led by as many as 11 points through the first half of play. The Nanooks almost took a nine-point advantage into the break, but Montana State Billings would get a trifecta from Marc Matthews with six seconds remaining in the half to cut the Nooks lead to six.
The Nanooks controlled the early portion of the second half, but a 14-3 run by MSBU tied the game up at 43-43 with 12:32 left in the game. Alaska used a 13-2 run over the next six plus minutes to reclaim a nine point lead after a free throw from Slocum at the 6:22 mark.
Montana State Billings continued to chip away at Alaska's lead, and cut the deficit to one point with 2:14 remaining in the game. That's when Williams took over. He hit his first 3-point field goal of the day with 1:44 remaining to put his team up by four, and after a Kendall Denham jumper for MSUB, Williams would again connect on a deep trifecta to put his team up five with 53 seconds to go.
The Yellowjackets converted on a pair of free throws, to pull within three at 64-61, but Davis and Williams would go a combined 2-of-4 from the charity stripe in the final 19 seconds of play to secure a five-point win for the Nanooks.
Alaska will be back in action next Thursday night, Feb. 18, as they face No. 1-ranked Western Oregon at the Alaska Airlines Court. Thursday will be the #PackThePatty promotion for the men's basketball team. Fans can get special buy one, get one free tickets at the game. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. AKT.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter.
