Men's basketball wins fifth straight, 81-58, against SMU
January 14, 2013
Jamie Foland
474-6807
Alaska had five players score in double figures and head coach Mick Durham celebrated his 500th career college game with an 81-58 Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball victory against Saint Martin's on Thursday night at the Patty Center.
The Nanooks (9-4, 4-1 GNAC) won for the fifth straight time, which is the longest win streak since the 2004-05 season and they also notched their fourth consecutive conference victory for the first time in six seasons.
Senior guard Dominique Brinson (Juneau, Alaska/Accounting) led all players with a game-high 16 points while junior guard Ronnie Baker (Vallejo, Calif./Communication) had his first double-double of the season with 12 points and a career-high 13 rebounds (5 offensive).
Junior center Sergej Pucar (Belgrade, Serbia/Business administration) contributed 14 points and seven rebounds and junior guard Pat Voeut (Bellingham, Wash./Communication) totaled 14 points, after he hit a game-high four treys, to go with a game-best five assists. Junior forward Stefan Tica (Belgrade, Serbia/Business and Finance) also added 10 points and five rebounds off the bench.
Alaska shot 45 percent (30-67 FG) for the game, including 48 percent (11-23 3PT) from beyond the arc, marking the third time this season it tallied double-digit three pointers. The 'Nooks controlled the boards 44-35, including 10-7 on the offensive glass and produced 20 assists to SMU's six. The Nanooks outscored the Saints 38-18 in the paint and 16-7 off turnovers.
The Saints (5-7, 1-3 GNAC) were paced by Eric Taylor, who came off the bench to score a team-high 13 points, while Will Bond and Matt Dodson had 11 and 10 points, respectively. Roger O'Neill, who shared the GNAC Red Lion Player of the Week honor with Alaska's Voeut, struggled all night, with just seven points and six rebounds after he shot 2 for 13 from the field.
As a team, Saint Martin's had a 35 percent (22-63 FG) shooting percentage and converted only 25 percent (4-16 3PT) of its three-point tries. Alaska has now held its last three GNAC opponents to six triples and 16 percent (6-38 3PT) from long range.
After falling behind 5-0 early, Alaska scored 17 of the game's next 20 points to go ahead for good at 17-8 with 10:27 to go. The Saints never drew closer than six on a few occasions and the Nanooks took a 34-25 lead into the locker room.
Five straight points to start the second half extended the advantage to 39-25. Leading 45-34, Alaska virtually put the game away with a 9-2 scoring run to go up 54-36 with 12 minutes to go. The Saints never got closer than 15 the rest of the way as Alaska beat SMU for the fourth straight time in Fairbanks.
The Nanooks return to action Saturday at 7 p.m. when they host Western Oregon at the Patty Center. The Wolves (7-5, 2-2 GNAC) fell 82-56 at Alaska Anchorage earlier Thursday.