Men's basketball nips CSU-Pueblo 80-76 in overtime
November 13, 2012
Jamie Foland
474-6807
Five players scored in double figures and Alaska erased an eight-point halftime deficit as it opened the men's basketball season with an 80-76 overtime victory against Colorado State-Pueblo in the opening game of the AT&T Jamboree at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
"To win close games, you have to make impromptu plays and free throws and we did that," head coach Mick Durham said. "It's a great start. It feels like we played 10 games already because that was pretty good game to start the season."
Senior guard Dominique Brinson (Juneau, Alaska/Accounting) scored a team-high 20 points for the Nanooks (1-0) while senior forward Zach Ngawaka (Keysborough, Australia/History) posted a big double-double in his debut with 12 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.
Three others tallied double-figure scoring as junior guard Pat Voeut (Bellingham, Wash./Communications) had 15 points to go with six assists and junior forward Stefan Tica(Belgrade, Serbia/Business and Finance) and junior guard Ronnie Baker (Vallejo, Calif./Communications) each had 12 points. Tica also had seven rebounds.
"Dom is off to a good start," Durham said. "I thought Zach played well when Andrew got in foul trouble and Pat made some big plays, made free throws and hit some jumpers."
The ThunderWolves (0-1) were paced by J.J. Mina, who had 22 points and nine rebounds as he hit four three-pointers. Wendell Lee had 13 points and Bryse Velasquez contributed 11 points and six assists while Jed Knafelc added 10 points.
"That was a team that was really good on the perimeter," Durham said. "They gave us a lot of problems with their offense and execution because they have good guards."
Alaska shot 46-percent for the game while limiting Pueblo to 36-percent shooting. Despite allowing CSUP to convert 13 treys to their five, the Nanooks converted 23 of 29 free throw attempts while the 'Wolves went 15-for-16 from the stripe. Alaska controlled the boards 42-32 and had six blocks.
The game was relatively close in the first half until CSU-Pueblo went on a 6-0 run late in the period to grab a 37-28 lead. It led by as many as 10 in the final two minutes and took a 39-31 lead into the locker room.
The 'Nooks quickly erased the gap in the second as they opened the stanza with a 12-4 run in the opening 4:03 to knot it up at 43-43. Neither squad was able to hold more than a one-possession lead the rest of regulation but on a last-second layup attempt by Arden Dennis, Ngawaka came in for the block to preserve the tie and force overtime.
Ngawaka opened the overtime scoring one second in to the extra period that would give the Nanooks the lead for good as they surged out with a 7-0 run in the first 2:08. Leading 77-70 with fewer than two to play, Lee and Mina each hit three-pointers to trim the advantage down to 77-76 with 1:07 to go. Brinson hit a pair of free throws with 49 ticks to go and after a missed shot by Pueblo, Voeut hit one of two from the line to lift Alaska to a season-opening victory.
The Nanooks return to action on Saturday at 3 p.m., when they face off against Colorado Christian. The Cougars (0-1) fell 66-56 to host Alaska Anchorage on Friday night.