FAIRBANKS – The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team enters rivalry week. They'll head to Anchorage for a matchup with the UAA Seawolves as they look to snap a three-game slide to Anchorage. 
 
Saturday, Feb. 19 at UAA
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Alaska Airlines Gymnasium, 7:30 p.m., Anchorage
 
Last Time Out
The Nanooks are coming off of a loss at Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, Idaho on Feb. 12. Coleman Sparling got the scoring going early for the Nanooks as he hit a three on their first possession. NNU quickly responded, taking the lead back at 4-3 on four-straight points. The Nanooks used a three from Tybenn Sturm and jumper from Koby Huerta to take an 8-4 lead. Their lead grew to seven on an Abdullahi Mohamed layup but following the seven-point advantage, NNU went on a run to take the lead back. At the 10:35 mark in the first, the game was tied at 16-16. The two teams traded buckets before the Nanooks shot ahead by six. They'd maintain the lead until the 2:59 mark when NNU regained the lead by one. They'd hold on to the lead for the rest of the half, taking a five-point advantage into the locker room. 

NNU opened up the second-half with the lead for the opening three and a half minutes before Mohamed gave the 'Nooks the lead back. After losing it at the 12:35 marker, the Nanooks offense found a quick jolt, running ahead by six at 53-47 on a pair of Mohamed free throws. 

That was the biggest lead the Nanooks held in the second half. Unfortunately, their last lead came with 7:05 remaining as NNU turned the momentum and pushed ahead by nine down the stretch to take the win. 

The Nanooks were led by Mohamed. He posted a double-double with 26 points on 8-12 shooting and 10-13 free-throw shooting. He grabbed 12 rebounds and added one assist. Shadeed Shabazz posted 11 points and Koby Huerta added 10 in the loss.
 
Quick Hitters

• The Nanooks have four players averaging 10+ points per game. Shadeed Shabazz leads the way with 19.1 per game. He also leads the way on defense, picking up 49 steals through 17 games played. 
• Quin Barnard and Koby Huerta join him with 10+ PPG. Barnard is averaging 13.3 and is shooting 44.5% from three. Huerta is averaging 10.6 PPG while shooting 40.4% from the floor. 
• Finally, Coleman Sparling cracked the 10 PPG threshold. He is now averaging 10.2 points per game and is nearly averaging a double-double with 8.5 rebounds per game, a team-high. 
• The Nanooks are averaging 75.1 points per game. Alongside that, they're allowing 76.7 points per game, their lowest-allowed since the 2017-18 season when they allowed 73.7 points per game. 
• The 'Nooks hold a +1.2-turnover margin, causing 13.8 turnovers a game while only turning the ball over an average of 12.6 times per game. They're also averaging 6.6 steals per game. 
• Alaska has shown a clear home-court advantage this season. They are 0-8 on the road in GNAC conference games and 4-1 at home, including a current four-game win streak at home.
• On the season, the Nanooks have fallen in five games by three or less points.

Glance at the Rivalry
In recent years, UAA has run the rivalry. They've taken nine of the last 10 matchups with the Nanooks lone-win in that span coming on Dec. 8, 2018; a 68-67 win in Fairbanks. 

In the last three matchups, the Seawolves have averaged 99.6 points per game while the Nanooks were averaging 84.3 points per game. Their last matchup came on Feb. 18, 2020 - it was a Seawolves win in Fairbanks. 

Last Matchup - Box Score
 
FEB. 18, 2020 - Despite a double-double from Shadeed Shabazz, Alaska was unable to stay with the Seawolves on Tuesday night. In front of a packed Patty Center, the Nanooks and Seawolves started scoring off the bat. Mawich Kachjaani gave the 'Nooks their first lead of the game at 6-5 with a layup before UAA answered with a 13-2 run. After they stopped the bleeding, the Nanooks made a small push of their own as Markel Banks answered for four points, including the tying layup midway through the first making it 22-22. Just a minute and a half later, Alex Sommerfield brought life back into the arena with a fastbreak bucket, giving the 'Nooks their first lead since the opening minute at 27-25. Back-and-forth basketball ensued for the rest of the opening 20 before Niko Bevens hit one of his five three-pointers at the buzzer, giving the Seawolves a two point lead at the break.

Out of the break, the Seawolves took over. Quinn Daugharty opened the scoring for Alaska in the second half, but following the first bucket for the 'Nooks, UAA went on a 10-0 run.

All momentum swung to the side of Anchorage as just past the midway point of the second half, the Nanooks were chasing 19 points at 63-82 with 7:00 left in regulation. Alaska had one last run in them. After going on a 12-0 run, the Nanooks had pulled within seven points at 75-82. After their late run, the Nanooks had exhausted all they had left, falling behind by nine with just over one minute remaining before falling by 13, 81-94.

Shabazz led the way for the Nanooks with 25 points, 12 assists, five steals and four rebounds, but his third double-double of the season was not enough to will the Nanooks to the win. Markel Banks had his best game in some time with 16 points, two rebounds and two steals and Koby Huerta put up 13 points. Keshaun Howard put up a career-high 10 points.

Scouting the Seawolves
UAA enters this weekend's matchup in Anchorage fresh off of a win at Simon Fraser. That win at SFU snapped a two-game slide for UAA following an 0-2 road trip to Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington. On Thursday, Feb. 10, the Seawolves fell to the Nighthawks 70-66. Tobin Karlberg and Oggie Pantovic posted 24 and 22 points in the loss to lead UAA. On Feb. 12, they fell to CWU 81-80 in OT. Karlberg and Pantovic led the way again with 21 and 17 points. 

UAA currently sits in fifth in the GNAC men's basketball standings and are also fifth in the GNAC PRS standings, a point-based system that will be used to determine the seeding at the 2022 GNAC Men's and Women's Basketball Championships. 

Karlberg and Pantovic are the leading-scorers for the Seawolves as Karlberg is posting 17.6 points per game while shooting 45% from the field, 38.5% from beyond the arc and 78.8% from the charity stripe. Pantovic, through 17 games, is averaging 15.9 points per game while also grabbing 8.8 rebounds per game. He is shooting 55.8% from the field, 41.9% from deep and 76% from the free-throw line. 

GNAC Standings (PRS Standings)

1. Montana State Billings (3.63)
2. Northwest Nazarene (3.55)
3. Saint Martin's (3.54)
4. Central Washington (3.50)
5. Alaska Anchorage (3.45)
6. Seattle Pacific (3.32)
7. Simon Fraser (3.00)
8. Western Washington (3.00)
9. Western Oregon (2.75)
10. Alaska (2.54)

The 2021-22 GNAC Points Rating System will be used to determine the regular-season champion and seeding for the GNAC Championships. Point values for games that have been completed could change based on an opponent's final conference winning percentage. PRS standings will not become final until following the conclusion of regular-season conference play. 

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