FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks shook the GNAC on Thursday, Jan. 30 with a win over the leader of the GNAC, the Seattle Pacific Falcons, 83-77. This win hands SPU their first loss of the GNAC season and snaps their 14-game winning streak.

This win brings the Nanooks into a three-way tie with Alaska Anchorage and Northwest Nazarene in the GNAC standings and gives Alaska a split with SPU on the season. Seattle Pacific won the previous meeting between the two teams on Jan. 4 in Seattle 68-86, but the Nanooks had a different mindset coming into Thursday's matchup. Heading into the locker room, the 'Nooks held a 34-31 lead before fending off a late SPU push and grab an 83-77 victory.

In the first half, the Nanooks relied on GNAC leading-scorer, Shadeed Shabazz to run the offense. Putting up 20 points on 9-16 shooting, Shabazz got out to a hot start after going on a 10-point run extending the Nanooks lead from 11-8 to 21-13, eventually helping the Nanooks take a three-point lead into the locker room. Alex Sommerfield was the next in the line of supporting cast, putting up five points on six rebounds and one assist. Despite only five points, Sommerfield became the man down the stretch during the second half.

Out of the locker room, however, the momentum had swung to the side of the Falcons as SPU grabbed a quick four-point lead only two and a half minutes into the second half. They eventually stretched that lead out to seven, their biggest of the game, before Sommerfield re-entered the game with the hot hand. As the Nanooks trailed the Falcons by one with 12:10 remaining in the second half, Sommerfield hit a big-time three from the wing, giving the 'Nooks the lead back at 48-46. The Falcons answered on a Divant'e Moffitt layup but Sommerfield had found his stroke. Coming down the court with the game tied at 48-48, Shabazz found Sommerfield for another three, sending the Patty Center into a frenzy and giving the Nanooks the lead once
again.

After Seattle Pacific pulled within one, the Nanooks never looked back. Spencer Sweet answered with a jumper, before Koby Huerta made it a five-point game with just under 10 minutes remaining in the game. Sommerfield struck again with 2:52 remaining in the second half, hitting another three-pointer, pushing the 'Nooks lead to 12. A small Seattle Pacific push ensued, but the Nanooks found a way to break the press and hit their free throws down the stretch, pulling out another signature win on the season.

At the end of the day, the Nanooks had four scorers in double-digits with Shabazz putting up his fifth-consecutive 30-point performance finishing the 40-minutes with 38 points on 14-25 shooting. He also grabbed seven rebounds, dropped six dimes and picked up three more steals. Spencer Sweet was the second leading-scorer for the Nanooks with 17 on the game, 14 of which came in the second half. Sommerfield ended the game with 14 points, going 4-8 from the field, all of which came from beyond the three-point line. Finally, Koby Huerta finished with 10 points.

Head coach, Greg Sparling had this to say about his team's performance against the top team in the GNAC, "This was a signature win for our club. Our guys really stepped up when they needed to. We got down in the first half… our guys battled back and our guys answered at halftime… It was really a difference of two halves. We fell in love with the three in the first half but later I thought our guys did a nice job getting downhill towards the rim."

Shabazz echoed a lot of what Sparling had to say about the team's effort, praising his team's ability to step up in big times, "I think it's big that I bring energy to the team and games. My team is the motivation to bring that for games when we really want it… Especially when we bounce back from that loss in Seattle, we just wanted to make a statement."

The Nanooks stay in Fairbanks for one more game, this Saturday, Feb. 1 against the Saint Martin's Saints. Saint Martin's fell to Anchorage on Thursday, Jan. 30, 81-92. Saturday's matchup is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. AKT and will follow the Alaska Nanooks women's basketball game which begins at 1:00 p.m. AKT.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks athletics page on Facebook.