ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team fell to Michigan Tech on Nov. 30, 57-65 on the last day of the Seawolf Thanksgiving Classic in Anchorage, Alaska. This loss drops the 'Nooks to 1-7, 0-0 GNAC on the 2019-20 season. 
 
Alaska came out on fire in the first half, shooting 56.5% from the field and 63.6% from three-point land as a team. MTU only managed to shoot 42.3% from the field while shooting only three more shots than Alaska. Koby Huerta was the hot-hand for the 'Nooks in the first half, shooting lights out from the field. Huerta put up five shots, all three-pointers, and hit all five of them giving him 15 first-half points. Shadeed Shabazz checked in with 11 points of his own at the break, shooting 50% from the field with one three-pointer. 
 
After a strong first-half, the Nanooks held a 38-26 lead heading into halftime. 
 
The second-half saw Alaska hit a wall. The offense stalled out and could not get anything going. The Nanooks only managed to make four field-goals in the second half, compared to Michigan Tech's 13 made shots. Most of the 'Nooks scoring came from the free-throw line as they went 9-11 from the charity stripe. Shabazz led Alaska in the second half with nine points, however, seven of his nine points came from the free-throw line as he shot 1-11 in the second half from the field. The Huskies also shut down Huerta, allowing him to not score the entire second half.
 
MTU ended up coming back and outscoring the Nanooks 19-39 in the second half behind 50% shooting from the field and 71.4% shooting from three compared to the Nanooks 13.8% and 14.3% shooting from the field and three-point range. 
 
Head coach Greg Sparling had this to say about his team's performance tonight, "We were up 12 at the half, we just didn't come out with the same intensity. We didn't show up. On top of that, we shot 13.8% from the field in the second half. We just need to stay the course and be ready. We start conference play this week; the biggest thing will be to take them one game at a time. We didn't schedule a soft schedule, we knew it would be tough. It will be nice to get back to the Patty for the upcoming games."
 
The Nanooks begin their GNAC schedule this upcoming Thursday on Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m. AKT as they welcome the Western Oregon Wolves.
 
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter.