FAIRBANKS – The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team posted a big win over non-conference opponent Portland Bible College on Friday, Dec. 16. The 97-26 win improved the 'Nooks to 5-4, 1-1 GNAC on the season. The two teams meet again tomorrow in the Alaska Airlines Gymnasium at 1:00 p.m. 
 
The Nanooks shot an impressive 58.1% from the floor during the game while holding PBC to a 9-40 shooting night (22.5%) and tying the GNAC record for the fewest opponent FG allowed in a single game. They tied Western Oregon's record, set on Dec. 29, 2018 against PBC. The Nanooks jumped out to a 12-0 lead and did not allow Portland Bible on the board until a jumper from Rashad Hickson at the 11:40 mark made it 12-2 Nanooks. Jordan Kanoe and Ketan Sidhu followed up with the next eight points as Kanoe connected on two from the free-throw line before hitting a jumper the next time down the court. After making it 16-2, Sidhu hit back-to-back layups forcing Portland Bible to call a timeout. 
 
Their lead quickly grew to 30 as Jaycson Bereal, Jr. went for a free throw and back-to-back buckets on his own. The 'Nooks held a 36-4 lead with 4:50 to play before PBC used a layup and free throw to make it 45-7 at the half. 
 
Out of the break, the Alaska lead grew to 50 on another Bereal bucket with 13:34 on the clock. After Paul Johnson fastbreak bucket made it 64-11, Bereal hit two jumpers to make it 68-11 with 12:02 left to play. Alaska's lead continued to grow, hitting 60 at the 10:21 mark on a Tybenn Sturm fastbreak bucket from Johnson. Eight minutes later it hit 70 on a Sturm jumper and the Nanooks put the Arrows away 97-26. 
 
Bereal, Jr. led the way for the Nanooks with 19 points while shooting 8-13 from the floor and 3-4 from the free-throw line. He grabbed eight rebounds, dished three assists and grabbed three steals. Sturm added 16 on 7-8 shooting while dishing six assists, grabbing four boards and picking up a pair of steals. Kanoe added a dozen points in the win and Abdullahi Mohamed had 11 points and eight boards. All Nanooks who saw the court scored six or more points. 
 
As a team, the Nanooks had 20 steals and 28 assists while outrebounding the Arrows 41-24. 
 
The two teams play again on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 1:00 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.