FAIRBANKS – The Nanooks men's basketball team (9-9, 4-5 GNAC) dropped their matchup against the Seattle Pacific Falcons 82-75 on Saturday afternoon, unable to complete the comeback after nearly erasing an 18-point deficit against SPU.

How it Happened
Tariq Weiser got the scoring started with a three before Davis Crilly and Tyriq Luke added a pair of jumpers to put the 'Nooks up 7-2 two minutes into the contest. However, SPU responded with a 10-2 run, leaving the Nanooks trailing by three. Mike Miller tied the game with a three and put Alaska in front with a pair of makes from the free throw line, and Cortarius Mingo converted a three-point play to put the Blue and Gold in front 17-14 at the 12:14 mark. However, that would be the last field goal they hit until 5:12 remaining in the first when Luke sank a jumper. The Nanooks scored nine straight points from the free throw line during that stretch, but ended it down 32-25. Alaska got just two more points for the rest of the half on a Miller steal and layup, and a 15-2 Falcons run to end the first saw the visitors take a 47-29 lead into the locker room.

Alaska opened the second half by scoring nine of its first 13 points from the free throw line, with Miller and Weiser recording the two field goals. However, the 'Nooks held SPU to six points in the opening seven minutes of the second, helping them decrease the deficit to 53-42. Miller connected on a three to cut the deficit to single digits, and Weiser hit back-to-back jumpers two minutes later, but the Nanooks could not get any closer than nine points until the 4:45 mark of the half when Miller hit a three to make it 69-61. Back-to-back Luke threes made it a six-point contest, and the Nanooks would cut the deficit down to two with 1:44 remaining after a pair of free throws from Miller and Luke. Baskets from Weiser and Davis Crilly kept it a one-possession game, but the Falcons would ice the game from the free throw line, hitting four in the final 23 seconds to put the game out of reach.

Inside the Numbers

• Mike Miller led the way with 21 points on the afternoon, going 5-15 from the field, 3-4 from three and a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line. He finished one rebound shy of a double-double, grabbing a team-high nine boards, and posted two steals.
• Tyriq Luke followed with 16 points on 5-8 shooting, going 2-3 from three and knocking down all four free throw attempts. He added three rebounds and two steals.
• Tariq Weiser was the final Nanook to finish with 10+ points, scoring 13 while going 6-7 from the field and 1-2 from three.
• After starting the game going 8-27 (29.6%) from the field and 2-11 (18.2%) from three in the first half, the Nanooks turned things around, shooting 12-23 (52.2%) from the floor and 4-6 (66.7%) from beyond the arc in the second half. In total, the Nanooks went 20-50 (40%) from the field, 6-17 (35.3%) from three and 29-31 (93.5%) from the line during the game.
• The Nanooks posted 11 points off turnovers to seven for SPU. However, they trailed in second-chance points (7-6), bench points (18-9) and points in the paint (32-26).

What's to Come
The Nanooks hit the road next week, beginning with a contest at Simon Fraser on Thursday, Jan. 29, at 6 p.m. AKST.

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