BILLINGS, Mont. – On Saturday Jan 25 the now 7-11, 6-4 GNAC 'Nooks Mens Basketball team come out of a tightly contested 86-78 game with a win over 8-10, 3-7 GNAC Montana State Billings. Free throws were the game changer with Alaska hitting six more than their opponent with a final tally of 18-23. The 'Nooks also scored 20 on 17 forced turnovers, suffering only eight of their own.
MSUB got off to a quick 6-17 lead in the first six minutes but Alaska slowly gained ground, closing the gap to five at halftime.
Shadeed Shabazz scored 15 and recorded four steals before halftime and
Markel Banks added 11 points and five rebounds.
The 'Nooks took their first lead of the game about three minutes into the second half with a three pointer by
Shadeed Shabazz making it 42-41, eventually grabbing their biggest lead of the game at eight. Shabazz scored another 23 points and recorded five rebounds and a whopping six steals to add to his total.
Spencer Sweet tallied all 12 of his points in the second with a 4-7 performance from beyond the arc.
Koby Huerta also had 12 second half points going 3-4 from the field.
Shadeed Shabazz went 12-26 from the field and 4-7 from the three point line scoring a game high 38 points to increase his streak of 30+ point games to four. Shabazz also led the 'Nooks in rebounds (8), assists (4) and free throws (10-11). Other notable performances for the Nanooks were
Koby Huerta, going 5-7 from the field with 16 points, and
Markel Banks, 7-11 with 15 points.
The Nanooks outscored the Yellowjackets in the final 5 minutes 18-12, with seven points coming from both
Koby Huerta and Shabazz. Alongside his seven points, Shabazz also collected three steals closing out the 'Nooks victory. a
The Nanooks are now tied with Alaska Anchorage and Northwest Nazarene for the third spot in the GNAC. Next game for Alaska will be against the number one team in the conference Seattle Pacific at the Patty Center at 7:30pm on Thursday January 30.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter, or follow the Alaska Nanooks athletic page on Facebook.
