ANCHORAGE (Mar. 6) - Peter Bullock had another monster effort in the paint, while Adam Fitt-Chappell and Mark Drake got hot from outside as the UAA men's basketball team scored an 85-70, comeback victory over Seattle University at the Sports Center tonight.
UAA (13-13, 10-7 GNAC) takes over fourth place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with the win, while Seattle (16-10, 9-8) falls into a three-way tie for fifth with one game remaining.
The Redhawks came out firing, hitting 53.3 percent of their shots in the first half and grabbing a 29-18 lead 13 minutes into the game. But Bullock had 15 of his 25 points and 11 of his 17 rebounds in the first half to get UAA within a point, 36-35, at the break.
The second half was all Seawolves from the start, as Bullock hit two midrange jumpers and Shane Bannarbie made a three from the corner to make it 42-36. Seattle, which was led by 14 points apiece from forward Darnell Lyons and center Nic Lano, cut its deficit to 49-46 on a Lyons jumper at the 14-minute mark, but the Seawolves answered with another 7-0 run.
Drake, scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half, going 4-of-8 from three-point range, while Fitt-Chappell tallied 11 of his 16 points in the second half, hitting 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. Fitt-Chappell also had a career-high three blocked shots.
UAA increased its lead to as high as 19 points and maintained a double-digit advantage throughout the last 10 minutes.
Seawolf center Bob Austin matched his career-high with 11 rebounds, despite fouling out just two and half minutes into the second half.
UAA won the game by hitting 10 three-pointers to SU's one. The Seawolves also took good care of the ball, committing just 11 turnovers, while dishing 23 assists. Scott Stevens had six assists and Bryson Vaughan five. Vaughan also went 4-of-4 from the free throw line to increase his season percentage to .881.
The Seawolves can clinch fourth place in the league and the program's 19th winning season in 20 years with a win Saturday against Northwest Nazarene. That game tips off at 7:05 p.m. AST at the Sports Center, with a short, pregame ceremony set to honor the team's three seniors - Bannarbie, Cody Gallatin and Vaughan.
