ANCHORAGE (Jan. 13) -
Adam Fitt-Chappell scored a career-high 29 points and
James Hartman hit another last-second three-pointer to lift the UAA men's basketball team to a 93-90 win over Central Washington at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
Hartman had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Mark Drake scored 24 points as UAA (8-6, 2-3 GNAC) won for the sixth time in seven games. Central (6-7, 2-2) was led by guard Robert Hicks, who scored 26 points and led a late comeback for his team.
The Seawolves led 46-41 at halftime and stretched their lead as high as 80-68 with seven minutes remaining. But with the score at 87-76 with 3:30 left, everything started going Central's way. After a Chris Bannish layup, Hicks followed with two straight conventional three-point plays, and Derek Groth (13 points) added yet another to knot it 87-87 with 1:47 to play.
Hartman, whose double-double was his second in as many games, immediately answered with a short jumper in the lane to regain the lead. After both teams added a free throw, Central got the ball and called timeout with 16 seconds to play. Hicks got isolated on UAA's Luke Cooper and spun in for an easy layup with 7 seconds showing, making it 90-90.
Hartman (8-16 FG, 3-9 3FG) then raced downcourt and let fly a three-pointer that hit the front of the rim, bounced off the backboard, hung on the lip of the rim and fell through as the final horn sounded. The junior swingman, who made a three in the identical situation to beat Nyack on Dec. 31, was mobbed by his teammates after Thursday's big shot.
UAA overcame a huge disadvantage at the free throw line (CWU 26 of 36, UAA 6 of 12) by outrebounding the Wildcats 33-22 and making an impressive 59.7 percent of its shots from the floor. CWU, which shot an even 50 percent, put five players in double-figures, including swingman Lance Den Boer (17 points).
While Fitt-Chappell, Drake and Hartman contributed 80 percent of the Seawolves' scoring, it was point guards Brad Evans (career-high 10 assists, 2 turnovers, 7 points) and Cooper (7 assists, 1 turnover) who helped the offense run smoothly all night.
UAA is now 4-1 in games decided by three points or less, and 5-0 when scoring 80 or more.
The Seawolves will try to even their Great Northwest Athletic Conference record Saturday at 8 p.m. against Saint Martin's (4-9, 1-3).
