FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team dropped their second-straight match on Tuesday night, falling 77-67 to the Holy Names University Hawks in a nonconference matchup at the Alaska Airlines Court. The loss drops Alaska's overall record to 1-3, while Holy Names improves to 3-3 on the season.
"You've got to give it up to Holy Names, they've been on a four-game road trip and they only have four returners and they're just pretty solid right now," head coach
Mick Durham said on Tuesday. "I just thought it was a struggle for us from the get-go. We never really had a lead and we just needed to shoot better. We shot 51 percent on the night but we had 16 turnovers tonight, 17 last night and that hurts us. The turnovers got to us but thinking about it, they had a rhythm from the start. I thought we had a chance to sneak back in when we tied it at the start of the second half but we've still got some growing pains."
Sophomore forward Michael Kluting posted a season-best 19 points on Tuesday, shooting 7-for-9 from the field, including 2-for-4 from behind the arc and 3-for-5 from the free throw line. The Palmer, Alaska native was also only one rebound away from his second-straight double-double, collecting three offensive and six defensive boards for a total of nine. Kluting also chipped in two assists and one steal in 21 minutes on the court.
Junior forward Amenofis Mitchell was the only other Alaska player to score double-digit points on Tuesday, shooting 4-for-8 from the field, all three-point shots, and 1-for-2 from the free throw line to tally 13 points against Holy Names. Mitchell also pulled down five rebounds and dished two assists in 30 minutes on the court for the Nanooks.
Also chipping in offensively was junior guard Davis Kimble, who shot 4-for-8 from the field and 1-for-3 from the free throw line to tally nine points while also registering a game-best six assists.
As a team, Alaska shot 26-for-51 from the floor to post a shooting percentage of 51.0, while also converting on 7-of-23 three-point shots for a three-point field goal percentage of 30.4 From the free throw line, Alaska went 8-for-14 for 57.1 percent.
Alaska outrebounded their opponent in rebounds 35-27, including offensively (9-7) and defensively (26-20). The Nanooks also outdid their opponent in assists (16-11) but fell victim to turnovers, registering 16 to Holy Names' six.
The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team will be back in action this Friday, Nov. 24 and Saturday, Nov. 25, as they travel to Bellingham, Washington to compete in Western Washington University's Chuck Randall Thanksgiving Classic. The Nanooks will face Capilano University on Friday at 1:30pm AKST in the Carver Gymnasium before taking on UC San Diego on Saturday at the same time.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksWBB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks page on Facebook.
