SEATTLE (Mar. 6) - Kemmy Burgess scored a game-high 23 points, including the game-winning jumper with eight seconds left, to lift the UAA men's basketball team to a clutch 75-73 victory over Seattle Pacific at Royal Brougham Pavilion Saturday.
The win - UAA's first at SPU since 1991 - likely assures the Seawolves (20-9, 10-8 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) of an NCAA Tournament berth. The NCAA Division II selections will be announced at 6:45 p.m. Sunday.
The Seawolves, who entered the weekend ranked No. 7 in the West Region, began strong with a 13-0 spurt to start the game. SPU trimmed UAA's lead to 36-26 at halftime however, and began the second 20 minutes with a 6-0 run.
The Falcons (14-13, 10-8) drew within a point on three occasions before Burgess hit a pair of three-pointers to spark a 10-2 Seawolf run. The 60-51 lead wouldn't hold though, as SPU came back to take its first lead of the night, 70-69, on a Chad Williams' trey with three minutes to play.
Seawolf point guard Aaron Lawrence (12 points, 4-4 3FG, three assists, zero turnovers) came back a minute later to nail a three of his own, and SPU's Jordan Lee tied it on a layup with 43 seconds left.
After a timeout, UAA ran a clear-out for Burgess to get free, and he drained a 16-footer to make it 74-72. SPU then had Lee (14 points, 6-9 FG) sprint down the court and draw a shooting foul from Burgess. The 82 percent free throw shooter missed his first attempt, however, and UAA took its last timeout. Lee tried to miss the second, but it went in off the backboard, and SPU was forced to foul Blaine Durrant (7 points, 3 rebounds) on the inbounds play. Durrant made the first, missed the second, and SPU could not get a shot off as time expired.
Burgess scored 20 of his points in the second half, finishing 9 of 16 from the field, including 5 of 7 from three-point range, to go with a team-high eight rebounds.
Peter Bullock had a strong offensive performance with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting, while Adam Fitt-Chappell had 11 points (4-7 FG, 2-2 FT) and four assists.
UAA shot 73.3 percent (11-15) from long range for the second-best single-game percentage in school history. It raised UAA's NCAA Division II-best three-point shooting mark to .461 as well.
If UAA's name is called Sunday night, it will be the first time the Seawolves will make the NCAA Tournament since 1997.
