SEASIDE, Calif. – The Nanooks men's basketball team earned their second win on the season over Cal State East Bay on Saturday, Nov. 19. The 65-57 win moved the Nanooks to 2-2, 0-0 GNAC on the season.
The 'Nooks knocked-off the CSUEB Pioneers 65-57 behind four double-figure scorers.
Tyler Mrus led the Nanooks in scoring with 18 points, forward
Jaycson Bereal, Jr. added 11 points of his own,
Nick Hopkins chipped in 10 of his own and another 10 points from
Tybenn Sturm. At the break, the Nanooks held a 29-23 before they outscored the Pioneers by two, 36-34, in the second half resulting in the Nanooks' 65-57 win.
Tyler Mrus got the Nanooks scoring started :45 into the game with a three. The two traded buckets and leads through the opening eleven minutes in the first half. At the 7:09 mark of the first,
Isaac Garcia knocked down a three, giving the Nanooks an 18-15 lead. They extended their lead to 20-15 on a Mrus jumper before CSUEB got back on the board with a layup. The Pioneers battled back to cut the lead to 2, 23-21, with 3:21 remaining in the half, but that was the closest they would come to another lead in the first half. After that, Mrus put up four straight, giving the 'Nooks a six-point lead, 27-21.
Their lead would shrink to four on two Pioneer free throws, and a jumper from Nguyen made it 29-23 heading into the break.
Coming out of halftime, the Nanooks' lead quickly shrank and even disappeared at the 11:38 mark of the second half, 43-40, Pioneers up. A
Nick Hopkins layup cut the lead to just one. Both teams would trade ties, leading to a 48-48 tie with 6:36 remaining. A 9-0 run, capped off by a
Nick Hopkins layup, would push the lead out of the reach of the Pioneers. The Nanooks would maintain their lead, capped off by a Bereal Jr. fastbreak dunk in the waning seconds of the second half.
Mrus ended with 18 points on 7-9 shooting, 2-3 from three and 2-2 from the free-throw line. He added five rebounds, assists and one steal. Jaycson Bereal Jr. posted 11 points for 27 points over the two games. Bereal added six rebounds and a block.
Nick Hopkins posted 10 points and seven rebounds. He added one block while shooting 2-3 from the floor and 6-8 from the line. Sturm scored 10 on 2-3 shooting while hitting all six of his free throw attempts.
The Nanooks return to Fairbanks for their home opener with two games on Friday and Saturday. Alaska will host Texas A&M International University Friday, Nov. 25th, at 2:30 p.m., and they will host Westminster College on Saturday, Nov. 26th, at 2:30 p.m.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Instagram or Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks athletics page on Facebook.
