FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Senior guard Brandon Davis recorded 22 points and senior forward Zach Pederson posted the game's only double-double as the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team made late comeback in the second half to defeat the Montana State Billings Yellowjackets 83-74 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference game at the Alaska Airlines Court on Thursday night.
"I'm really proud of the guys, especially with this being the fourth and final game in an eight day stretch," head coach Mick Durham said on Thursday. "Winning three-out-of-four at home against, what I think, is the top-four teams in the league is big. We played good defensively; we rebounded much better tonight and got to the free throw line. I'm not quite sure how we got that separation but we got ourselves back in the game. I thought Adante Jones and Michael Kluting were two huge subs off the bench for us tonight and their minutes were critical."
Senior guard Nahjee Matlock drained a three-point shot at the 10:28 mark of the second half to tie the game at 53-53 sending Alaska on a seven-point run to swing momentum in favor of the Nanooks. MSUB converted on 3-of-4 shots from behind the three-point arc in the final 10 minutes, but timely free throws by Alaska kept the Nooks in the game to outlast the Yellowjackets 83-74.
Davis shot 8-of-11 from the floor, 1-of-3 from three-point range and drained all five free throws to tally his 22-point night to mark his third game this season of scoring 20-or-more points. The Spokane, Washington native also chipped in a game-high four steals, three rebounds and one assist in a full 40 minutes on the court.
"Tonight was a huge game for Brandon. Him and Bangaly Kaba are our two returning guys so they are almost always at the top of the scouting report and he's getting a lot of attention," Durham said of Davis. "He made some big plays and guarded Matthews and we're really leaning on him."
Pederson shot 5-of-10 from the floor and converted on his only free throw to total 11 points against the Yellowjackets, while also pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds. Pederson also added three assists and one steal for the Nanooks.
Davis and Pederson were one of five Alaska players to score double-digit figures on Thursday, as senior guard Nahjee Matlock posted 18 points, junior forward LaDonavan Wilder recorded 13 and senior forward Bangaly Kaba registered 10. Matlock tallied a game-high six assists, while both Wilder and Kaba collected Alaska's only two blocks on the night.
Free throws proved to be a difference-maker for the Nanooks, as Alaska shot 22-of-28 from the free throw line to post a percentage of 78.6. In total, Alaska shot 47.5 percent from the field (29-of-61) and 30 percent from three-point range (3-of-10).
The Nooks capitalized on the Yellowjackets' 14 turnovers to register 14 points, while also collecting 36 points in the paint, six points from second chances and all nine bench points from freshman forward Michael Kluting.
Montana State Billings was led by Preston Beverly and Marc Matthews, who both posted 19 points against the Nanooks. Kendall Denham was the only other Yellowjacket to score double-digit figures against Alaska, recording 11 points.
The Yellowjackets shot 44.6 percent from the field (29-of-65), 40 percent from three-point range (10-of-25) and 60 percent from the free throw line (6-of-10).
"You know, losing to the rival on Tuesday, putting that behind us and coming out today and playing like we did, I'm really proud of them. This was one of the more important games of the year and if we wanted to stay in the playoff race, we needed to win tonight," Durham concluded. "Now we have a weekend off, our guys who played a lot of minutes can rest up and have a couple days to recover."
The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team will hit the road next week, taking on the Western Oregon Wolves on Thursday, Feb. 16 before facing the Saint Martin's Saints on Saturday, Feb. 18. Tip-off for Thursday's game at WOU is scheduled for 6:30pm AKST, while Saturday's game is scheduled for 7:15pm AKST.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks page on Facebook.
