SEATTLE, Wash. - The Nanooks men's basketball team earned a 78-74 victory over the Seattle Pacific Falcons on Thursday, Feb. 19, at the Royal Brougham Pavilion. With the win, the Nanooks improve to 12-12, 7-8 GNAC.
How it Happened
The two sides traded runs throughout tonight's game, but it was the Nanooks who had the last laugh. After taking a six-point lead into the locker room at halftime, the Nanooks withstood an SPU push in the second half to grab the four-point victory in Seattle.
Tariq Weiser opened the scoring for the Nanooks with a jumper nearly a minute and a half into the conference matchup. SPU quickly answered with five points of their own. Soon they doubled that total and held a 10-4 lead at the 14:51 mark. A
Luke Fotheringham three, followed by a two-pointer, made it a 12-9 game before Alaska regained the lead at 13-12, capping off a 7-0 run.
Alaska and Seattle Pacific traded buckets and leads for the next five minutes until
Mike Miller conneced from deep on back-to-back possessions. He hit a three at the 4:06 mark to take a two-point lead. 30 seconds later, he knocked down another to extend the lead to five. Out of a media timeout at 3:00, Miller scored his seventh and eighth-straight points on a pair of free throws, extending the Nanooks' lead to 35-28. Alaska held on to a 39-33 lead after the opening 20 minutes. Out of the break, Weiser opened the scoring again with a jumper to make it 41-33. Just over two minutes into the second period, Fotheringham knocked down another jumper to give Alaska a 10-point lead at 46-36. Things quickly changed, though, as Seattle Pacific went on a 13-0 run to erase the deficit and take a three-point lead at 49-46. Alaska slowed the run down and stayed within a bucket or two and eventually retook the lead at 54-53 on a pair of
Mike Miller free throws. SPU went on another run immediately following these free throws; they climbed out to an eight-point lead with 7:29 left in regulation.
The eight-point deficit lasted until the final 5:45 when the Nanooks prepped one final run.
Davis Crilly pulled Alaska to within six and then went back-to-back from deep to pull Alaska to within two.
Luke Fotheringham then tied the game at 68-68 with a layup at the 3:32 mark. Once again, SPU jumped ahead before the Nanooks tied the game at 74-74. With 29 seconds left in regulation,
Mike Miller picked up a steal and found
Davis Crilly for the fastbreak bucket to take a 76-74 lead. In one of the final possessions of the game, SPU missed a layup and
Jalai O'Keith found the defensive rebound before being fouled. He went to the line for two, and knocked down both foul shots for the 78-74 final.
Inside the Numbers
- All five starters finished the game in double figures. Davis Crilly led the way with 16 points on 5-10 shooting, 2-3 3PT shooting and 4-4 from the free-throw line.
- Mike Miller and Luke Fotheringham each had 15 points. Miller had eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.
- Fotheringham added five rebounds and a steal while going 6-10 from the floor, 1-3 from three and 2-2 from the free-throw line.
- Tyriq Luke had 12 points tonight and Tariq Weiser has 11 points, four assists, rebounds, and two steals.
- The Nanooks shot 49.1% from the floor (26-53). They doubled up SPU at the charity stripe, going 20-24 while SPU went 10-17.
- Alaska forced nine turneovers while only surrendering four. They outscored SPU 13-4 off turnovers.
- There were 10 tied scores and 12 lead changes in tonight's matchup.
What's Next
The Nanooks travel to Billings, Mont. for another big GNAC matchup with the Montana State Billings Yellow Jackets. Alaska enters Saturday's game ranked sixth in the GNAC standings at 12-12, 7-8 GNAC and Montana State Billings is currently in fourth at 20-9, 9-7 GNAC. That game tips off at 5:30 p.m. AKST and can be watched on the GNAC Network.
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