FAIRBANKS - The Nanooks men's basketball team picked up its second win of the season on Thursday evening, defeating the Pacific Union Pioneers 110-70 to sweep their midweek series and move to 2-0 on the season.
How it Happened
Luke Fotheringham got the 'Nooks on the board right away, hitting a layup 14 seconds into the contest. Tyriq Luke followed with buckets on the next two possessions, knocking down a layup and three to give Alaska an early 7-2 lead. Tariq Weiser added another three to put the Nanooks up 12-4, but two straight Pioneer buckets saw Alaska's lead cut to four. Back-to-back Mike Miller threes would give the Nanooks some cushion at 20-11, and a Joel Amaro and-one on a put-back layup gave the Blue & Gold a double-digit lead at 23-13. Luke added a put-back of his own, and Jackson Krug drained a three to put the Nanooks ahead 28-15 over the Pioneers. From there, Jalai O'Keith helped Alaska on an 18-8 run, scoring 12 points during the stretch and draining back-to-back threes to cap the run, giving the Nanooks a 46-23 advantage with 5:43 remaining in the first half. The 'Nooks held a lead of at least 18 points for the remainder of the half, with Jeremiah Hersrud, Cortarius Mingo and Luke ending the period with threes, and Alaska entered the break up 61-35.
The Pioneers opened the second on a 6-3 run before consecutive threes from Weiser and O'Keith put Alaska in front by 29. With 13:44 remaining in the game, Luke connected on a triple and Miller followed with a fastbreak dunk off his own steal, which gave the Nanooks a 30-point advantage at 80-50. An O'Keith three made it a 35-point game at the 10:33 mark, and Krug added another from beyond the arc to build the lead to 38. From there, Finn Gregg provided the bulk of the scoring for the Nanooks, tallying eight points in the final nine minutes to lead the team down the stretch. A Mingo jumper with 34 seconds remaining gave the 'Nooks a 40-point lead, which they held onto, taking the contest 110-70.
Inside the Numbers
- Jalai O'Keith paced the squad with 22 points on the evening, shooting 9-13 from the field and 4-8 from downtown. He added six rebounds and a steal during the contest.
- Tyriq Luke followed up his 20-point performance in the season-opener on Wednesday with another strong outing, putting up 18 points on 5-9 shooting while going 3-5 from three. He knocked down all five of his free throw attempts, dished five assists and grabbed six rebounds.
- Mike Miller posted 15 points (6-14 fg, 3-6 3pt) while collecting three assists and a team-high three steals.
- Joel Amaro filled up the stat sheet off the bench, posting 13 points on 4-8 shooting. He also tallied eight rebounds and seven assists, both team highs.
- The 'Nooks shot 39-72 (54.2%) from the field and 16-33 (48.5%) from beyond the arc. They hit all 16 of their free throw attempts.
- Alaska led Pacific Union in points off turnovers (20-12), second chance points (18-11), bench points (39-25) and points in the paint (40-24).
What's to Come
The Nanooks hit the road for two games in Anchorage next weekend, facing off against Chaminade and Hawaii Pacific in the GNAC/PacWest Challenge. They take on CUH on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 5:15 p.m., before playing HPU the following afternoon at 2 p.m.
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