ANCHORAGE – Eric Draper scored 15 points to lead six Seawolves in double figures and point guard Luke Cooper delivered a double-double to lift Alaska Anchorage to an 80-60 victory over Central Washington at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex on Saturday.
The Seawolves (10-3, 1-1 GNAC) got 10 points and 12 assists from Cooper and 12 points from big man Ivan Platenik as they shot 54.7 percent and committed a season-low eight turnovers. CWU (6-7, 1-1) was led by former Seawolf Bryan Freshwater's game-high 16 points, while Wildcat star Lance Den Boer was held to 10 points – half his average – on 2-of-9 shooting.
CWU – the preseason favorite in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference coaches' poll – was held to 36.8 percent shooting, including 5 of 22 (.227) from long range and couldn't take advantage of its 12 offensive rebounds.
UAA, meanwhile, made 10 of 22 treys (.455), including Draper's 5-for-11 performance. The Seawolves' leading scorer tallied all 15 of his points in a 4-minute stretch of the second half that saw the lead grow from 49-38 to 66-48. The final dagger was a desperation heave from NBA range that just beat the shot clock with 10:27 remaining.
Freshman guard Trenton Millar played 20 near-flawless minutes with 11 points (4-5 FG, 3-3 3FG), three assists, two steals and no turnovers, while drawing the defensive assignment on Den Boer much of the evening.
Forwards Carl Arts and McCade Olsen scored 10 points each as Olsen also delivered personal-bests of three steals and three assists. Junior forward Joe Davis led UAA with seven rebounds.
For Cooper, a junior from Eltham, Australia, it was his 11th career game with double-digit assists and pushed his career total to 452 – both school records. The double-double was his first in 71 games in Green & Gold.
Freshwater, who averaged 7.3 points and 3.6 rebounds with the Seawolves in 2004-05, shot 8 of 10 from the field with seven rebounds and three assists, and forward Grant Assink tossed in 13 points for CWU, whose 3-game winning streak came to an end.
The win evens the all-time series between the schools at 7-7 and avenges the Seawolves' only WFSC loss of 2005-06.
UAA ends its 5-game homestand with a 7 p.m. tip against Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, Jan. 13 at the WFSC.
