TOWC: Cold Shooting Proves Costly As Nanooks Lose

Submitted by Scott Wilson
Phone: (907) 474-6807
11/24/03

It was all in the numbers.

If you look at the numbers on the boxscore, it isn’t difficult to see why the University of Alaska Fairbanks dropped a 71-47 decision to St. Mary’s College Saturday night in the final round of the 2003 BP Top of the World Classic. The Nanooks shot an ice-cold 14 percent from the field in the second half of the game and closed out the contest with only 23 percent field goal shooting.

The loss dropped the Nanooks to 3-2 on the season, while the Gaels improved to 2-1.

Marquis Revels drives to the basket. "This was, by far, the best game we’ve played in the tournament. We just didn’t shoot well," said UAF mentor Al Sokaitis. "We had a lot of good looks at the basket and I was actually pleased with a lot of things."

"I thought the key was defending their three-point attack in the second half," said St. Mary’s coach Randy Bennett. "We did a pretty good job of making them put the ball on the floor."

Trailing by only one at 34-33 at the intermission, the Nanooks opened the second half by scoring only two points in the first 10:30 of the period. Meanwhile, the Gaels were filling up the basket. St. Mary’s led by seven at the 16:42 mark of the period and later by 10 at 45-35 with 12:34 remaining. The Gaels continued to add to their winning margin and led by 15 at 50-35 with 9:30 remaining in the game. The closest the Nanooks could get the rest of the way was 13 points when Brad Oleson hit a 3-pointer to make it 55-42.

Ryan Jones looks to evade defenders. Daniel Kickert led St. Mary’s with a career high 28 points, hitting 11 of 16 shots from the field. He also pulled down a team-high of eight rebounds. E.J. Rowland chipped in with nine points as did Tyler Herr. As a team, the Gaels hit 46 percent from the field, connecting on 24 of 52 attempts.

Oleson led the Nanook charge with 12 points. Chris Smith added eight and Marquis Revels chipped in with seven points. Ivan Miskovic scored five points, but had a game high of nine rebounds.

St. Mary’s took an early lead in the first half Sunday night and led 9-4 with 15:50 remaining in the period. The Nanooks narrowed the St. Mary’s lead to 11-9 and eventually jumped on top at 15-14 on an Andrew Smith layup with 9:55 remaining. St. Mary’s battled back, however, to tie the game at 21-21 with 6:47 left on the clock and later took the lead for good on a layup by Chase Poole with 1:20 showing before the end of the half.

CONTACT: Scott Wilson, sports information director, at (907) 474-6807 or fnsaw@uaf.edu".