Men's basketball cruises past NNU, 74-55, for fourth straight win
January 7, 2013
Jamie Foland
474-6807
Alaska jumped all over Northwest Nazarene, leading by as many 22 points in the first half, and never let up en route to a 74-55 Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball victory on Saturday night at the Johnson Sports Center.
“We got off to another good start and especially on the defensive end,” head coach Mick Durham said. “Tonight was an overall team effort. Dom had the numbers offensively and we had three guys in double figures but you could just go down the line.”
The Nanooks (8-4, 3-1 GNAC) extended their win streak to four games, their longest win streak in six seasons, and swept a conference road trip for the first time since Jan. 25 and 27, 2007, when they downed Seattle University (57-56) and Western Washington (73-64) on the road.
“I didn't know where we were at coming off basically a month break but we seem to be gelling and the chemistry is good,” Durham said. “We're shooting the ball better, which is good and a big key, but we're not thinking too much about it. We're trying to play each game. We did a great job being prepared for both games and it was fun to watch.”
Senior Dominique Brinson (Juneau, Alaska/Accounting) led the way with a game-high 19 points as he hit three treys and made all six free throw attempts. Junior forward Sergej Pucar (Belgrade, Serbia/Business administration) added 13 points and seven rebounds while junior guard Ronnie Baker (Vallejo, Calif./Communication) had 12 points. Junior guard Pat Voeut also contributed game-highs of four assists and four steals in the win.
Alaska, which led wire to wire, shot 45 percent (26-58 FG) from the floor and had one of its better games from the free throw line, converting 81 percent (17-21 FT) of its tries. It controlled the boards 37-28, including 12-6 on the offensive glass, and made just 11 turnovers to NNU's 15.
The Crusaders (8-4, 2-2 GNAC) were even with the Nanooks at 45 percent (21-47) shooting but made just one three pointer and shot an abysmal 11 percent (1-9 3PT) from beyond the arc. Kenny Jones paced NNU with a team-best 16 points while Kevin Rima had 15 points and three steals. Jonathan Hawkins also tallied 11 points and had four dimes.
“We knew our three-point percentage defense hadn't been great and we've been working on a few things trying to get our hands up,” Durham said. “We did a lot better job running with the three-point shooters and it showed in both games.”
The Nanooks surged out to an early 12-2 advantage in the opening 6:35 and leading 16-8, they outscored the Crusaders 17-3 in less than five minutes to control the game at 33-11 with 5:30 to go in the half. Alaska led 37-18 at the break after limiting Nazarene to 29 percent shooting in the opening stanza.
Both teams came out firing in the second half but every time it appeared the hosts were closing the gap, Alaska had the answer. Trailing 49-27, NNU reeled off eight in a row to close to within 49-35 with 14:45 to play but the Nanooks came right back with a 9-2 run to go up 58-37. NNU never drew closer than 17 as Alaska led by as many as 21 down the stretch.
The Nanooks return home next week to play host to Saint Martin's on Thursday and Western Oregon on Saturday. Both games tip off at 7 p.m. inside the Patty Center.
“I've always felt road wins were special,” Durham said. “I'm not sure I saw it coming. I was curious to see us play and tonight both teams were coming off emotional wins. I didn't know if we would feel too good and just take the split and go home. I'm pleased for us winning on Thursday in our biggest win of the season at Central and coming back and being just as impressive tonight.”