FAIRBANKS - The Nanooks men's basketball team jumped into the win column on Friday, Nov. 22 with an 83-79 win over the Multnomah Lions. With the win, the Nanooks moved to 1-3 early in the 2024-25 season. 

How it Happened
The Nanooks fell behind early in the Alaska Airlines Gymnasium at the Patty Center, but chipped away down the stretch of the first half to take a four-point deficit into the locker room. Out of the locker room, the Nanooks outscored Multnomah by eight, resulting in the win. In the first, the Lions opened the scoring with a jumper from Braedon Edison. Isaiah Saams-Hoy answered back with a jumper of his own only a minute later. Jalai O'Keith got his night started with a three 2:29 into the first before Jordan Gill grew the lead to three on a layup from Saams-Hoy. Despite the lead, the momentum shifted to the Lions as they went for eight-straight points and took a 14-7 lead with 13:53 to play in the first. O'Keith cut into the run with another jumper, but Multnomah's rhythm could not be stopped. Just after the 10:00 mark in the first, their lead grew to 14 on a three from Edison. Just a few minutes later, their biggest lead of the night came to 18 on a three from Marje Windfield. Despite the 18-point deficit, the Nanooks finally weathered the storm as Griffin Effenberger knocked down a three to make it a 15-point ballgame. 

This sparked the run Alaska was looking for. Four-straight free throws from Ketan Sidhu and Jordan Gill brought the Lions' lead down to 11. At the 3:10 mark, Saams-Hoy made it a 10-point deficit and O'Keith brought it back to single-digits, connecting from three with 2:38 to play in the first. Saams-Hoy and Effenberger would pull the 'Nooks to within two with just over a minute remaining before going into the locker room trailing by four. 

Out of the halftime break, the Nanooks immediately pulled to within a bucket on a Chris Lee layup. After 10 minutes, the Nanooks found their stride and broke through to take the lead on another Lee bucket. He'd follow that layup with a three, making it 59-57 Alaska, and with that, Chris Lee was just getting started, as the transfer-guard would post 21 points in the second-half alone. After a pair of Multnomah free throws made it 70-64 Nanooks, Lee scored the next six Alaska points until another bucket from Effenberger. Despite trailing Alaska for much of the final 10 minutes, Multnomah put up one final fight in the final 30 seconds. Alleyon Ford found a bucket through contact and hit the free throw to give the Lions a 79-78 lead. Off of the inbounds out of the timeout, Jalai O'Keith came up court, using a Ketan Sidhu screen at center court. After his initial drive, he found Isaiah Saams-Hoy for a kickout three and Saams-Hoy nailed it to make it 81-79 Nanooks with 19 seconds remaining. 

The Alaska defense would stand tall down the stretch on a missed layup by Multnomah and O'Keith grabbed the board, was fouled and knocked down a pair of clutch free throws to seal the win for Alaska. 

Inside the Numbers

• Alaska outshot Multnomah 44.4% to 40.3%. The Lions outshot the 'Nooks 50% to 46.8% in the first but they managed to shoot only 31.2% in the second compared to the 'Nooks 41.9%. 
• The battle on the glass was won by Alaska, but by only one. They posted 36 team rebounds to Multnomah's 35. Both sides grabbed 13 offensive boards while the Nanooks got them on the defensive boards 23-22. 
• Alaska's 16 assists was the second-most in a game this season. 
• Isaiah Saams-Hoy filled up the statsheet en route to his Player of the Game honor. He finished the night with 14 points on 5-9 shooting and 1-2 from deep, seven rebounds, six assists, three blocks and a pair of steals. 
• Chris Lee ended the night with 23 points after two at the break. He added two steals and rebounds and one assist.
• Jalai O'Keith had 19 points with a 5-9 clip from deep. He added seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. 
• Griffin Effenberger had a big night off the bench for the Nanooks. The transfer went 5-9 from the floor, with a 4-7 night from beyond the arc. He added three assists and two boards to go along his 14 points. 
• Alaska went 16-18 from the charity stripe. 
• There were nine lead changes in this game and four tie scores throughout the night. Alaska outscored the Lions in the paint (30-28), off the turnover (17-13) and on the fastbreak (13-6).

What's to Come
The Nanooks and Lions play again tomorrow at 7 p.m. AKST in the Alaska Airlines Gymnasium at the Patty Center. This was the first matchup between the two teams since Dec. 17, 2012; a 124-59 Alaska win. 

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