BELLINGHAM, Wash. - The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team picked up a big conference win at Western Washington University on Thursday, Jan. 2. The win was the Nanooks' first in Carver Gymnasium against WWU since Feb. 6, 2016.

With the win, the Nanooks move to 6-6, 2-1 GNAC on the season and prepare for a road matchup with the Simon Fraser Red Leafs on Saturday, Jan. 4.

How it Happened
In the first, the Nanooks jumped out to a three-point advantage after 20 minutes. Elyon Zevenbergen had a strong start to a big night, scoring the Nanooks first six points for an early 6-3 advantage. Jalai O'Keith hopped into the early scoring with a three to make it 9-3 Alaska less than three minutes into the game. 

Their lead would reach eight at 11-3 before WWU pushed back to within five at 13-8 on a three. The Vikings crawled back into the game, pulling within one at 20-19 on a Jordan Tate three before taking a 21-20 lead on back-to-back buckets. The 'Nooks offense grew their lead back to seven on a Paul Johnson three. After trading buckets, WWU connected on a three down the stretch in the first to make it 39-36 Nanooks going into the locker room. Out of the break, the Nanooks pushed out to their biggest lead of the night at nine. Another Tate three for WWU pulled Western to back within six but Johnson quickly answered back. The Nanooks maintained a strong lead for much of the second half until Western battled back with six-straight points to tie the game at 52-52 on an Aidan Rice three-point play.

It didn't take long for the Nanooks to gain back the momentum as Isaiah Saams-Hoy posted an and-one of his own only 10 seconds later, giving the Nanooks a 55-52 lead. Saams-Hoy and Paul Johnson teamed up for the next 13 points, resulting in an eight-point lead at 68-60, forcing WWU to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, the Nanooks quickly turned their eight-point lead into a 17-point advantage. A late three from Johnson gave the Nanooks an 18-point lead before grabbing the 88-73 win over the Vikings.

Inside the Numbers

• Four Nanooks scored in double figures in tonight's victory. Paul Johnson led the way with 23 points. Isaiah Saams-Hoy and Elyon Zevenbergen added 22 and Chris Lee posted 16. 
• Elyon Zevenbergen posted a game-high 16 rebounds for a double-double in 29 minutes of play. He also blocked two shots, dished an assist and picked up a steal.
• Isaiah Saams-Hoy added eight rebounds, four assists and two steals with his 22 points (8-13 FG). 
• Johnson's game-high scoring performance was backed by a 9-13 shooting performance, 3-6 3PT shooting and 2-2 free-throw line shooting. He added four assists, three rebounds and a steal.
• Chris Lee had a team-high five assists. As a team, the Nanooks had 23 assists.
• The Nanooks grabbed 42 rebounds, holding Western Washington to 28. 
• Alaska outshot the Vikings from the floor. The Nanooks went 34-64 (53.1%) from the floor while Western shot 22-60 (36.7%) from the floor. 
• The 'Nooks also outshot the Vikings from deep 45% to 33.3%.

Follow the 'Nooks
IG - @NanooksMBB
X - @NanooksMBB
FB - Alaska Nanooks