Men's basketball heads to WOU and SMU this week

February 6, 2013

University Relations

Jamie Foland
907-474-6807

Opening up a three-game road trip
The Nanooks begin a three-game road trip with a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference foes in Western Oregon and Saint Martin's. Live stats and live video are available for both games.

Nanooks at a Glance
Alaska currently sits 11-8 on the season with a 6-5 mark in GNAC play following a 1-1 split at home last week against Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington. It has one season sweep under its belt in NNU and will look to add WOU and SMU to that list this week.

Senior Dominique Brinson leads the team with 13.8 points per game while junior Pat Voeut averages 12.1 points and 5.3 assists. Junior Sergej Pucar is just under double-figure scoring at 9.9 points per game but leads the squad with 7.6 rebounds per outing. Alaska scores 73.3 points per game and ranks third in scoring defense as it allows 68.1 points per game.

Home Split
Alaska earned a weekly split with a 61-60 win over Northwest Nazarene and a 71-54 defeat to Central Washington. Trailing 60-59, Ronnie Baker was fouled with 4.7 seconds remaining and made both free throws. Combined with a defensive stop on the other end, Alaska grinded out the one-point win over NNU. Two nights later, Central Washington shot 53 percent in the second half and Mark McLaughlin scored 18 of his game-high 24 points in the final 20 to give Central a convincing 17-point victory.

How We Rank in the GNAC
Dominique Brinson ranks 12th in the league in scoring while Pat Voeut is 19th in the same category. Sergej Pucar is second in rebounding, ninth in three-point percentage (.444) and 11th in blocks (0.8). Voeut also ranks second in assists, fourth in steals (1.5) and sixth in free throw percentage (.824). Brinson places fourth in free throw percentage (.865) and seventh in three pointers made (2.2). Ronnie Baker is tied for eighth in steals (1.4) while Andrew Kelly is ninth in both rebounding (6.5) and blocks (0.9) and 12th in steals (1.4). In addition, Stefan Tica is ninth in treys made (1.9).

Scouting the Wolves
Western Oregon is coming off a 72-68 victory last Saturday at home against travel partner Saint Martin's. WOU is 9-9 on the season and 4-6 in GNAC play entering this week's home stand. The Wolves averages 75.2 points per game but rank ninth in scoring defense, as it allows foes to score 78.6 per contest. Andy Avgi is sixth in the league in scoring with 15.7 points per game while two others are just in double-figure scoring. Avgi is also third in shooting (.588) while Devon Alexander leads the conference in steals (2.6). Jordan Wiley is fifth in threes made (2.3) and Tyler Funk is seventh in three-point percentage (.457).

Scouting the Saints
Saint Martin's fell to 6-12 overall and 2-8 in conference play following a 72-68 road loss last Saturday to Western Oregon. SMU has now lost four in a row and six of seven entering Thursday's match-up with Alaska Anchorage. The Saints averages a league-low 66.7 points per game while allowing 71.3 to their opponents. Roger O'Neill is fourth in the GNAC in scoring with 15.9 points per game while two others score at least 10 a game. Rei Jensen is fifth in rebounding (6.9) and Matt Dodson is seventh (6.6) while Brady Bomber is seventh in steals (1.4) and ninth in assists (3.7). Eric Taylor is also tied for second in three-point percentage (.500) and Dodson leads the league in blocks (1.4).