Anteaters too much for Nanooks

Submitted by Tom Myrick
Phone: 907-474-6805
12/08/07

Alaska’s bad luck against teams from the Golden State continued, as the Nanooks were overcome by Division I UC Irvine on Saturday 87-53. The loss drops Alaska to 3-4 on the season, and, including the exhibition against the Golden Bears, to 0-3 against Californian opposition.

For the fourth consecutive game, Serbian sharpshooter Mladen Begojevic led the Nanooks in scoring, dropping 19 points on the Anteaters on 7-of-11 shooting, including hitting three of his four shots from behind the arc. Kevin Atkins led all

Senior Mike Titus also contributed 15 points to the Blue and Gold cause (his best performance since his 23-point outing against Simpson University on Nov. 3) while Kevin Atkins pulled down a game-high 11 boards, breaking double-digits in rebounding for the fourth time this season.

Their efforts, however, would not be enough, as UC Irvine finished with four players in double-figures for scoring, including 19 from senior forward Patrick Sanders. The Anteaters shot a torrid 65.5 percent from the field in the second half, and buried 11 of their 18 three-pointers on the evening while out-rebounding the Nanooks, 36-28.

Alaska now gets another two-week layoff before taking part in the AT&T Alascom Jamboree in Anchorage on Dec. 28-29, where they will face Tennessee’s Christian Brothers University as well as Ferris State. The Nanooks then jump into their conference schedule, meeting Saint Martin’s in Lacey, WA on January 3.