ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Nanooks men's basketball team (2-2, 0-0 GNAC) fell to Hawaii Pacific (1-1, 0-0 PacWest) on Sunday afternoon, dropping an 86-85 overtime contest vs. the Sharks to wrap up the Alaska/Hawaii Challenge in Anchorage. Davis Crilly capped off his first two official games for the Nanooks by being named to the All-Tournament Team.
How it Happened
The Nanooks jumped out to an early 7-2 lead in the opening minutes of the contest, with Davis Crilly knocking down a pair of shots in the paint and Tariq Weiser connecting on one from deep. However, a 10-2 HPU run saw Alaska's lead evaporate. Tyriq Luke provided the offense for the Nanooks over the following 3:15, scoring seven straight points for Alaska to tie the game at 16, and after two straight Crilly threes tied the game again, Mike Miller put the 'Nooks back in front 25-24 with a free throw. Over the next three minutes, neither team built a lead of more than one point, with five lead changes during that span. However, the Sharks ended the half by scoring eight unanswered points to take a 36-29 lead into the halftime break.
The Nanooks would eventually retake the lead at the 14:26 mark of the second after three consecutive makes from beyond the arc. Weiser sank the first two to tie the game at 46, and Crilly answered with one of his own to put the 'Nooks ahead on the following possession. Despite the run of threes for the Nanooks, the Sharks responded with a 6-0 run to put them in front. The two sides traded leads again, with Miller and HPU's Quinton McCullough trading layups on back-to-back possessions. From there, the 'Nooks kept it close, keeping the deficit to within five, and Miller struck on a three with 26 seconds remaining to put the Blue & Gold ahead 74-72. Crilly sank a free throw to put the Nanooks up three with six seconds left, but a buzzer-beater from HPU's McCullough forced the game into overtime.
Fotheringham started the scoring in the overtime period with a fastbreak layup, and Weiser countered an HPU three with another layup to put the Nanooks in front by one, but six straight points from Hawaii Pacific gave them an 84-79 lead with 1:41 remaining. The Nanooks cut the deficit to one after two Jalai O'Keith free throws, but they could not capitalize on one final chance, and the game ended in a one-point defeat.
Inside the Numbers
- Davis Crilly led the Nanooks with 20 points and nine rebounds. He shot 7-17 from the field, 3-8 from three and connected on three of his four free throw attempts.
- Luke Fotheringham posted 18 points on 6-10 shooting while collecting four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block.
- Tariq Weiser scored 17 points on an efficient 6-7 shooting, knocking down each of his three attempts from beyond the arc. He also grabbed three rebounds, all offensive, dished four assists and tallied two steals.
- Mike Miller and Tyriq Luke both posted 12 points and three assists for the Nanooks. Miller grabbed eight rebounds and added four steals, while Luke shot 4-6 from the field and 2-2 from three.
- As a team, the Nanooks shot 29-63 (46%) from the field, 9-27 (33.3%) from three and 18-21 (85.7%) from the free throw line.
- Alaska grabbed 40 rebounds to Hawaii Pacific's 43.
- The 'Nooks held the lead in points off turnovers (17-16) and fastbreak points (12-4), but trailed the Sharks in second chance points (13-11), bench points (14-6) and points in the paint (40-34).
What's to Come
The Nanooks are off next week and return to action on Friday, Nov. 28, with a game against Westmont in the Sprite Tundra Tip-Off, hosted by Alaska Anchorage.
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