PORTLAND, Ore. (Mar. 2) – The Alaska Anchorage men’s basketball team won two games last week – including one over conference champ Western Oregon – to earn the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Red Lion Hotels Team of the Week honor.
The Seawolves (16-12, 12-6 GNAC) earned the No. 4 seed in the upcoming GNAC Tournament with their victories over WOU and Saint Martin’s. The wins also helped extend UAA’s streak of top-four GNAC finishes to five in a row.
First Team All-GNAC guard Travis Thompson scored a team-high 33 points, including 22 against SMU, while starting guard Derrick Fain added 32 on the week.
In Thursday's matchup, Alaska Anchorage outscored the 20th-ranked Wolves in the first-half and rode that momentum to a thrilling 80-78 victory. Junior forward Christian Leckband sparked UAA’s winning rally and finished with a team-high 16 points on 4-of-4 three-point shooting.
“I’m very proud of this group tonight,” head coach Rusty Osborne said after the game. “We came and executed the game plan. As we got into the flow of the game I thought we loosened up a little bit and started having success offensively.”
UAA climbed back from an eight-point deficit early in the game to take a lead into the half.
The Seawolves and the Wolves were trading baskets throughout the second half and WOU eventually tied the game at 69 with less than five minutes in regulation.
Kalidou Diouf added two crucial points on an assist from GNAC honorable-mention guard Brian McGill, and the Seawolves never relinquished the lead, beating the Wolves at home for the fifth straight time.
UAA had four players score in double-figures, including Dom Hunter’s 14 off the bench.
In Saturday’s contest against Saint Martin’s, the seniors took control in their last game at the Alaska Airlines Center as Thompson, Fain, Boomer Blossom and Brad Mears combined for 48 points on 11-of-19 three-point shooting in the 101-67 win.
“I thought we had a pretty complete effort,” Osborne said. “We didn’t make a lot of shots early, which tends to happen on senior night. I thought we were patient and defended really well.”
The Seawolves scored eight straight points two different times in the first half to take a 14-point lead at the break.
Mears converted on an old-fashion three-point play early in the second half and Hunter and Thompson hit all three free throws after being fouled on back-to-back plays. By the end of the half, 42 of the team’s 56 second-half points came from either the free throw or the three-point line.
This marks the first GNAC Team of the Week honor for the Seawolves in the 2-year history of the award.
UAA plays Western Washington in Thursday’s GNAC semifinals in Billings, Mont. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. AST.
--GoSeawolves--
Nate Sagan
Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations
University of Alaska Anchorage
3211 Providence Dr.
Anchorage, AK 99508
(907) 786-1295 / nate@uaa.alaska.edu
GoSeawolves.com
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