BURNABY, B.C. - The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team picked up a big conference win at Simon Fraser on Saturday, Jan. 4. The 76-74 victory pushes the Nanooks to 7-6, 3-1 GNAC on the year.

How it Happened
Elyon Zevenbergen got the scoring started for the Nanooks with an offensive rebound and put back, giving Alaska an early 2-1 lead. Simon Fraser quickly flipped the script, running out to 10-2 lead on nine-straight points. Isaiah Saams-Hoy cut snapped the SFU run and pulled the Nanooks to within five, starting a run of their own. A pair of Jalai O'Keith free throws and a Paul Johnson three pulled Alaska to within two. After another run, the Nanooks grabbed a 17-15 lead on another Zevenberger layup. Five minutes later, Ketan Sidhu made it 22-21 SFU before the Red Leafs went on a 14-3 run, taking a 13-point lead with 3:03 left in the first. 

A Paul Johnson three, an Isaiah Saams-Hoy layup, and-one, and a Jalai O'Keith layup brought the Nanooks back to within seven points. Following an SFU answer, Johnson connected from deep again, this time at the buzzer, sending the Nanooks into the locker room down only six, and feeling the momentum. 

Out of the locker room, Simon Fraser ran their lead back to a dozen. At the 17:11 mark, Chris Lee sparked a fire. He scored the next 16 points for the Nanooks, single-handedly bringing them from down 12 to a tie at 54-54. He started his run with back-to-back-to-back three-pointers before a layup, followed by another three and a fastbreak bucket off of a steal. Cortarius Mingo jumped into the scoring mix, giving the Nanooks a 56-54 lead after battling all the way back. The next 10 minutes saw five ties and five lead changes. With 1:17 remaining, Lenz Dupont made a fastbreak layup off of a steal, tying the game up one final time. 

After missed buckets on both sides of the court, the Nanooks had a look for the win and connected with two seconds left on an Isaiah Saams-Hoy short-corner jumper. Following a timeout, the Nanooks managed to hold off a final look for SFU with two seconds remaining, grabbing the two-point win. 

Inside the Numbers

• Chris Lee led the Nanooks with 21 points. He shot 8-12 from the field and 5-8 from three. He added four assists, three rebounds, and one block.
• Paul Johnson added 18 on 7-13 shooting. He went 4-9 from deep while dishing three assists, grabbing one rebound and one steal. 
• Isaiah Saams-Hoy was the final double-digit scorer for the Nanooks. He had 10 on 4-8 shooting, connecting from deep once. He had a team-high five assists, grabbed four rebounds, blocked one shot and picked up a steal. 
• Jalai O'Keith grabbed a team-high six rebounds. 
• Alaska shot 62.9% from the floor in the second half, going 17-27 from the floor with a 6-11 clip from deep.
• For the game, Alaska shot 50% from the floor, holding SFU to 39.7% from the floor. 

What's to Come
The Nanooks return home next week for matchups with Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene. 

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