BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team fell in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on Saturday afternoon, as the Western Washington Vikings took a 70-60 decision at the Carver Gymnasium in Bellingham. The loss drops Alaska's overall record to 10-14 and 8-10 in conference play, while the Vikings improve to 20-6 on the season and 15-3 in league play.
After being down 38-22 at half, Alaska bounced back and outscored the Vikings 38-32 in the second but it wasn't enough to take down the ranked Vikings. The Nanooks were better in the paint than the home team on Saturday afternoon, collecting 32 points in the paint than Western Washington's 18. Alaska's bench also accounted for 21 points, while WWU's only tallied five.
Conversely, Western Washington posted 14 points off of turnovers to Alaska's six and eight points off of second chances to the Nanooks' five.
As a team, Alaska shot 40.0 percent from the floor (24-for-60), 25.0 percent from three-point range (7-for-28) and 100.0 percent from the free throw line (5-for-5). Furthermore, the Nooks also collected nine offensive and 22 defensive rebounds for a total of 31 boards on the day. Alaska also chipped in nine assists and three steals.
Offensively, Alaska was led by junior forward
Alex Baham and sophomore guard
Jalon McCullough with both registering 14 points against the Viking on Saturday. Baham shot 5-for-8 from the floor, including 3-for-5 from the floor and 1-for-1 from the free throw line while tallying two rebounds in 21 minutes on the court.
McCullough's 14 points, a career-best, came from shooting 6-for-10 from the floor and 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. McCullough also tallied four rebounds, two assists and one steal.
Junior forward
Joe Lendway tied for the team-high in rebounds, posting five and also recorded a game-high four assists. Sophomore forward
Michael Kluting tied Lendway in boards, also collecting five on the day.
The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team will return to the Alaska Airlines Court for their final home game of the season on Tuesday, Feb. 20 against in-state rival Alaska Anchorage at 7pm AKST. The Nooks will conclude the 2017-18 regular season with a road matchup against Montana State Billings on Thursday, Feb. 22 at the Alterowitz Gym at 5pm AKST.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks page on Facebook.
