TOWC: Oleson Gets 24 As Nanooks Down UTSA

Submitted by Scott Wilson
Phone: (907) 474-6807
11/21/03

"Operation Repeat."

The University of Alaska Fairbanks took its first step towards a repeat tournament victory Thursday night by beating the University of Texas-San Antonio 66-48 in the first round of the 2003 BP Top of the World Classic. The victory improved the Nanooks to 3-0 on the season, while the UTSA Roadrunners fell to 0-1.

"It was a good game. I thought we defended the ball well and I thought Marquis (Revels) did a sensational job covering the (Leroy) Hurd kid," said UAF head coach Al Sokaitis about UTSA’s preseason Southland Conference Player of the Year. "I thought we shot the ball okay, but I was a little disappointed with our passing game. We had a lot of turnovers and, hopefully, we will do a better job of execution on Saturday."

The two teams battled pretty evenly throughout the first half Thursday with neither team taking a big advantage. UAF jumped out to a 15-9 lead on a free throw by Oleson with 13:52 on the clock and after Zac Forsyth sank a charity toss with 5:57 remaining in the half the Nanooks led 25-16. UAF took a 36-23 advantage into the locker room.

Things didn’t get any better for the UTSA Roadrunners in the final 20 minutes as UAF continued to answer them basket for basket. A three-pointer by Revels gave UAF a 43-25 advantage with 15:54 remaining in the game and the Nanooks extended their lead to 29 points at 56-27 when Ryan Jones sank a trey from deep in the corner.

Brad Oleson led the Nanooks with 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, including three buckets from long range. The junior sharpshooter also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. Ivan Miskovic chipped in with 10 points, while Ryan Jones added nine. UAF shot 49 percent from the field and 35 percent from three-point range. The Nanooks connected on nine of 11 free throws for 81 percent.

Kurt Attaway and Raphael Possey led UTSA with 12 points each. Anthony Fuqua chipped in with nine points and pulled down seven rebounds. The Roadrunners shot only 29 percent from the field, hitting 14 of 48 attempts.

UAF next faces Washington St. Saturday evening at 5:30 p.m. in the Carlson Center.

More information about the BP Top of the World Classic can be found at www.towc.org.