ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team notched their first win of the season on Saturday night, defeating the Hawaii Pacific Sharks 97-90 in a nonconference matchup at the Alaska Airlines Center. The game was part of the 2017 Alaska/Hawaii Challenge hosted by the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves.

The victory improves the Nanooks' overall record to 1-1, while the Sharks drop to 1-1 on the season.

"Tonight was a great bounce-back game for us tonight, I'm really proud of our guys," head coach Mick Durham said on Saturday. "We couldn't make a basket to save our lives last night and tonight, we hit everything but hey, that's basketball. We made 17 three-pointers but the 31 assists and only five turnovers are the stats that stand out to me. We learned a lot about ourselves tonight and earned a lot of late-game experience for this new group."

There was never more than a three-point margin from either the Sharks or the Nanooks until the 11:59 mark when HPU was able to take a five-point lead 17-22. Ten minutes later, the Sharks continued to carry their momentum and took a 10-point lead over the Nanooks at the 3:15 mark. Alaska refused to roll over and clawed their way back with back-to-back buckets to conclude the first 20 minutes only trailing 43-45.

The Nooks came out firing on all cylinders out of the gate, as sophomore forward Michael Kluting and junior forward Davis Kimble made back-to-back three-point shots to give the Nooks a 49-45 lead. The score would tie three more times before the Sharks took a one-point lead at the 14:06 mark but from that point onward, Alaska rolled forward and sealed their first victory of the season.

As a team, the Nanooks shot 36-of-68 from the floor for a field goal percentage of 52.9, which included sinking 17-of-31 three-point buckets for a three-point field goal percentage of 54.8. From the free throw line, Alaska shot 8-of-14 for a 57.1 percentage.

The Nooks tallied eight offensive and 17 defensive to total 25 rebounds on the night, while also picking up 31 assists, six steals and five blocks.

Individually, Alaska's offensive efforts were led by junior guard Alex Baham who collected a team-high 20 points on the night. The Wasilla, Alaska native shot 7-of-12 from the field, 5-of-9 from behind the arc and 1-of-1 from the free throw line for his best offensive night as a Nanook thus far. Baham also chipped in two rebounds, two assists and one block in 31 minutes on the court.

Baham wasn't the only Alaska player to score double-digit figures, as senior forward LaDonavan Wilver and junior guard Davis Kimble each tallied 15 points on the night, followed by junior forward Amenofis Mitchell who collected 13. Wilder led the Nanooks with six rebounds while Kimble posted a game-high 11 assists on the night.

The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team isn't back in action for over a week, as they host the Holy Names Eagles in a two-game nonconference series on Monday, Nov. 20 and Tuesday, Nov. 21 at the Alaska Airlines Court in Fairbanks. Both games have a tip-off time of 7pm AKST.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks page on Facebook.