ANCHORAGE (Jan. 7) - Five Seawolves scored in double figures and point guard
Luke Cooper delivered 14 assists in UAA's 92-68 men's basketball victory over Saint Martin's on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
Kemmy Burgess led the Seawolves (11-5, 2-2 GNAC) with 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting and James Hartman notched a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds as UAA led wire-to-wire. Forward Stephon Harris paced the Saints (5-8, 0-4) with 13 points.
UAA took control from the opening tap, scoring on its first four possessions, including a pair of soft jumpers by Burgess (3-3 3FG, 2-2 FT). After a short jumper by SMU's Niko Nunogawa (12 points, 8 rebounds) made it 26-20, the Seawolves answered with a 17-7 spurt over the next six minutes to take a comfortable lead.
Saint Martin's tried to slice into UAA's 47-36 halftime advantage, making it 51-42 on a three-pointer by Greg O'Neal with 17:35 remaining. But Cooper assisted Carl Arts on a trey, Hartman swished a pair of free throws, and Burgess converted a Cooper feed on a perfectly executed backdoor play to begin a clinching 11-0 run.
Seawolf power forward Joe Davis had his most productive outing of the season with 16 points (4-4 FG, 8-8 FT) and six rebounds in only 22 minutes, while fellow inside presence Brian Hills accounted for 13 points and six boards. Junior guard Eric Draper came off the bench for an efficient 11 points (3-6 3FG) in 15 minutes, and Hartman was 5 of 10 from the field to go with five assists and two steals.
UAA, which came in as the third-best three-point team in the nation, improved its season percentage to .456 by hitting 10 of 20 from deep.
Meanwhile, Cooper, who began Thursday's victory against Seattle ranked 17th on UAA's all-time assists list, finished off a spectacular weekend with 27 total dishes to move into 12th place (236) on the list. With his career-best performance Saturday, the sophomore from Australia joined Bryan Anderson (1991-94), Chris Bullock (1982-84) and Rick Stafford (1995-97) as the only players in school history to collect double-digit assists at least four times.
The Seawolves have now won nine of 10 all-time meetings against the Saints in Anchorage.
UAA returns to the road next week to take on nationally ranked Seattle Pacific (Jan. 12, 6 p.m. AST) and Northwest Nazarene (Jan. 14, 5 p.m.).
