Box Score ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team claimed their first win of the 2019-20 season on Sunday, Nov. 10 in Anchorage. The Nanooks faced off with Hawaii Pacific in their second non-conference game of the weekend, improving their opening-weekend record to 1-1, 0-0 GNAC. 
 
The Nanooks got out to an early 10 point, first half lead behind 10 points from senior, guard, Spencer Sweet. Behind Sweet in the box score for the first half was transfer, Shadeed Shabazz, with eight points. These two led the way for all scorers and helped the Nanooks claim a 39-29 halftime lead. After jumping out to a 14-0 lead right out of the gates, the Sharks of HPU responded, scoring 11 of the final 15 points from when it was a 35-18 Alaska lead. 
 
Head coach Greg Sparking enjoyed the comfortable lead early created by his guys, "We played very well at times today. We started the game with a ton of energy to build the lead but also saw some lapses in the second half." 
 
One of the biggest lapses came when Hawaii Pacific went on an 11-point swing to grab their first lead of the game. Alaska found themselves up 56-49 early in the second half when all of a sudden, HPU went on a tear, taking the lead and extending the lead to four at 56-60. This lead stuck for the Sharks for the final seven minutes before transfer, Koby Huerta called game in style. The Nanooks found themselves down by one point with three seconds remaining. When the Sharks inbounded the ball, Alaska was quick to foul, taking less than a second off the clock and giving HPU two, double-bonus free throws. 
 
Neema Namdar of HPU had two chances to lengthen the Shark-lead to three. Shot one shook the rim and fell short leaving the Hawaii Pacific guard one shot to push the lead to two. The second shot also fell short, and the rebound was quickly grabbed by newcomer, Markel Banks. Banks pushed the outlet up the right side to Huerta who took one dribble and threw up a prayer. A prayer that was answered; Huerta sunk the 50-foot shot sending the Nanooks home with a 75-73 victory, their first of the season. Sparling had this to say about Huerta's late-game heroics, "Koby's buzzer-beater was a very special moment. He let it fly and hit the bottom of the net from mid-court, it was a great team win and now we get ready for the next one."
 
A great team-win indeed as Alaska had three scorers reach double-digit points with Shabazz leading the game in scoring, grabbing 23 points on 9-22 shooting. Sweet ended the day with 15 points and three rebounds on 6-11 shooting and Koby Huerta ended with 12 points on 5-9 shooting and 2-5 from three-point range. 
 
The Nanooks will take off to Monterey, Calif. next weekend for the 2019 Monterey Otter Invite and will face, Cal State, Monterey and Cal State, San Marcos on Friday, Nov. 15 and Saturday, Nov. 16. 
 
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter