Simon Fraser rallies to upset men's basketball
January 28, 2013
Jamie Foland
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Simon Fraser completely shut down Alaska's offense in the final 10 minutes and would not be denied its first Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball win with a 68-54 upset victory Thursday night at West Gymnasium.
The Clan (6-10, 1-7 GNAC) ended a nine-game losing skid and won their third straight against the Nanooks (10-6, 5-3 GNAC), who lost for the second consecutive time.
"We ran into a very hungry team, a team that was frustrated being 0-7," head coach Mick Durham said. "They were determined to get the win and they did."
Ibrahim Appiah scored a game-high 16 points to go with seven rebounds while Elijah Matthews had 14 points, six rebounds and three assists. Taylor Dunn and Keegan Dunlopeach tallied 11 points while Anto Olah contributed nine points, 11 rebounds and four dimes.
Simon Fraser shot 43 percent (23-54) for the game and hit six treys to finish 55 percent (6-11) from beyond the arc. It also shot very well from the charity stripe, converting on 84 percent (16-19) of its tries. The Clan dominated the boards by a 38-26 margin, including 12-8 on the offensive glass. The bench provided most of the team's production with 43 of the team's total points and outscored the visitors 19-2 on second-chance opportunities.
Alaska struggled the last 30 minutes shooting after a hot start and finished with a 33 percent (17-52) night from the floor. Despite making 85 percent (17-20) from the free throw line, the Nanooks never found a rhythm from long range, as they turned in a 21-percent night (3-14) from three. Alaska had 13 turnovers, but nine came in the second half.
"Same thing as last week, we had four turnovers at half and nine in the second half," Durham said. "We were very loose with the ball and unforced errors happened in the second half. We need to clean that up. We didn't shoot the ball well the last 30 minutes."
Junior forward Andrew Kelly (Gilbert, Ariz./Justice Studies, Law & Society) led the way with 12 points and seven rebounds while junior center Sergej Pucar (Belgrade, Serbia/Business administration) had 10 points and a career-high three blocks. Alaska's leading scorer, junior guard Dominique Brinson (Juneau, Alaska/Accounting) was limited to just three points but dished out a game-best five assists.
Despite falling behind 9-0 just over two minutes in and 14-4 with a little more than four minutes off the clock, Simon Fraser used five treys and eight offensive rebounds in the opening 20 to close the gap. The Nanooks led 28-19 with 6:14 to go but went dry from the field and the Clan closed the first on a 15-4 run to take a 34-32 halftime lead.
"Andrew picked up two quick fouls the first, so we were just trying to get into halftime without him picking up his third," Durham said." They took it to us physically inside without Zach so it messed up our rotation. It was a wake up call early."
SFU scored two buckets to open the second that gave it a 38-32 lead. Minutes later, holding a 39-35 advantage, the Clan scored six straight to take a 45-35 lead with 13:35 remaining. The Nanooks cut it back to five at 45-40 but with the score at 49-44 at the halfway point of the second, Simon Fraser never allowed it to get closer. Alaska made just three layups, a jumper and two free throws in the final 9:58 as SFU used a 17-4 run to lead by as many as 18 late.
The Nanooks will have to regroup following the upset loss as they take the court Saturday night at 6 p.m. against No. 2 Western Washington. The Vikings (17-0, 8-0 GNAC) won for a 23rd straight time on Thursday, which tied the program record, as they downed Alaska Anchorage 75-62 in Bellingham, Wash.
"This is not exactly how you want to go in playing the number two team in the country," Durham said. "We have to put this loss behind us and look forward to playing the number two team Saturday night. If you can't get up to play someone like that, I don't know what type of player or team you are. That has to be our approach."