ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team fell to Northern Michigan on Nov. 29, 95-45 on the first day of the Seawolf Thanksgiving Classic. This loss drops the 'Nooks to 1-6, 0-0 GNAC one week before the start of conference play. 
 
The Nanooks found themselves down early to NMU, trailing at halftime 23-42. Markel Banks was the leading scorer at the half for Alaska, tallying six points while shooting 3-4 from the field. Shadeed Shabazz added five first-half points. Alaska shot 33.3% from the field and beyond the arc, however, the Wildcats of Northern Michigan shot 46.7% from the field and 33.3% from three-point range. Noah Parcher led the Wildcats at the half with nine points, shooting 4-5 from the field. 
 
Unfortunately for the 'Nooks, the offensive woes continued into the second half. Both teams had a total of 28 field goals, however, NMU went 18-28 from the field, shooting 64.3% while the Nanooks shot 5-28, shooting 17.9% from the field. Ousman Gomez, Jr. led the way in the second half for the 'Nooks, putting up six second-half points and leading the way in the game for the 'Nooks as the only player to hit double-digits with 10 points.
 
Head coach Greg Sparling felt his team fell off the game-plan early, "We must do better. Obviously tonight we got away from the game plan and the game got away from us. We had to take a lot of quick shots. We also need to take care of the basketball and create better shots. We must be better tomorrow."
 
The Nanooks remain in Anchorage to take on Michigan Tech University on Saturday, Nov. 30 at 5:15 p.m. AKT in the Alaska Airlines Center. This will be the last game on the road before the 'Nooks return home to face off with the Western Oregon Wolves to open up their GNAC schedule. 
 
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter.