HONOLULU – The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team fell 69-67 to the Chaminade Silverswords in their season-opener at the GNAC/PacWest Crossover at the McCabe Gymnasium in Honolulu, Hawaii. Alaska falls to 0-1 on the season, while Chaminade improves to 1-0 overall.
"I thought our guys competed well, we just need to be more efficient at times," first-year head coach
Greg Sparling said on Friday. "We had our chances at the free throw line, we just couldn't knock them down. With 16 turnovers, we definitely need to do a better job taking care of the ball. Overall, I'm proud of the guys coming all this way to play a tough Chaminade team on their home court, especially when we had a chance to win it at the very end. We're taking it one game at a time and now we've got to get ready to take on Hawaii-Pacific tomorrow."
As a team, Alaska shot 36.7 percent from the floor (22-for-60), 37 percent from beyond the arc (10-for-27) and 61.9 percent from the free throw line (13-for-21). The Nanooks tallied nine offensive and 26 defensive boards for a total of 35 rebounds, also picking up eight steals, six assists and one block.
The Nooks were led by junior guard
Tymoryae Glover, who collected a game-high 19 points. Glover went 6-for-16 from the field, including 1-for-5 from three-point range, while also knocking down 6-of-10 free throw shots. The Pasadena, California native also pulled down six defensive rebounds and picked up one steal in a team-best 28 minutes on the court.
Junior guard
Spencer Sweet went 4-for-4 from beyond the arc for a 12-point night, while senior guard
Alex Baham went 4-for-6 from the floor, including 3-for-5 from within three-point range to also register 12 points against the Silverswords.
Junior forward
Michael Kluting led all players with 10 rebounds, pulling down four offensive and six defensive boards on Friday. The Palmer, Alaska native also posted six points, two steals and one assist in 26 minutes.
On the other end of the court, Chaminade was led by Erik Scheive, who went 5-for-12 from the field for a team-best 13 points.
The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team will close-out the GNAC/PacWest Crossover tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 10) against the Hawaii Pacific Sharks at the McCabe Gymnasium in Honolulu. Tip-off is scheduled for 1pm AKST.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks team page on Facebook.
