MOSES LAKE, Wash. – The men's basketball team fell to the Central Washington Wildcats on Saturday, Jan. 7 to drop to 6-7, 1-4 GNAC.
The Nanooks had to play from behind after CWU jumped out to a 41-23 halftime lead. Alaska outscored the Wildcats 43-37 in the second but fell short in the 12-point loss. Isaiah Banks opened the scoring on the night with a layup, putting the Wildcats up 2-0 a minute in.
Paul Johnson followed up with a layup of his own, getting the 'Nooks on the board. CWU quickly ran out by 11 in the next three minutes, making it a 15-4 deficit for Alaska.
Abdullahi Mohamed cut back into the lead with a pair of free throws but Central quickly extended their lead to 22 at the 9:18 mark.
Alaska managed to work the deficit down to 14 on a
Jaycson Bereal, Jr. fastbreak bucket but the Wildcats' lead grew back to 18 at the half.
Out of the break, the 'Nooks used a
Bryan Nguyen jumper to pull it back down to 14. After trading runs with Central, the Nanooks made a run that was kickstarted by three-straight free throws from Bereal and Nguyen before a three-point play from Mohamed made it a nine-point lead with 13:38 left in the second. The Wildcats stopped the run, pushing the lead back to a dozen, but Alaska responded with a Nguyen three-pointer, a pair of free throws from
Tyler Mrus and another Mohamed three-point play, making it a 51-46 Central Washington lead.
Tyler Mrus made a layup with 9:37 remaining, pulling the 'Nooks within two, but that was as close as they'd come.
Central quickly ran back out to a double-digit lead and eventually grabbed the 12-point, 78-66 win.
Mohamed led the 'Nooks offensively with 19 points on 6-12 shooting and a 7-9 night at the free-throw line. He grabbed four rebounds and added two assists and blocks.
Bryan Nguyen ended the night with 14 points on 4-7 shooting. He grabbed a pair of rebounds and dished an assist and grabbed a steal. Mrus was the final Nanook in double-digits, scoring 13 points on 3-7 shooting and 5-5 from the free-throw line. He grabbed five boards.
The Nanooks return home for matchups with Simon Fraser and Western Washington next week.
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.
