ARCATA, Calif. – Carl Arts scored 21 points and Eric Draper added 10, but the Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team fell just short in its upset bid Friday against nationally 4th-ranked Humboldt State, losing 68-61 to the host Lumberjacks in the first round of the NCAA Div. II West Regional Tournament at the East Gym.
A raucous, sold-out crowd watched the Seawolves race to a 38-33 halftime lead and claim a 61-59 advantage with less than three minutes to play before HSU ended the game on a 9-0 run.
Eighth-seeded UAA (19-9) controlled much of the action but was dealt a critical blow when Arts suffered a hip-pointer injury late in the first half. The junior forward from Valdez had all 21 of his points in the opening stanza on 9-of-11 shooting, however he was not the same as he tried to gut it out early in the second half, and he missed the remainder of the contest.
Top-seeded HSU (25-3) was led by 19 points from guard Devin Peal and an 11-point, 12-rebound performance from forward Kevin Johnson, the California Collegiate Athletic Association Player of the Year.
Despite losing Arts and having fellow starter Trenton Millar hobbled with a knee injury, the Seawolves got a lift of the bench from sophomore forward Cameron Burney (9 pts, 4-8 FG, 7 reb) and senior guard Buddy Bailey (9 pts, 3-4 FG).
It was Bailey's back-to-back layups that gave UAA its final advantage of the night in a wild second half that saw five ties and six lead changes. Peal tied the game at 61-61 with 2:38 remaining and HSU point guard will Sheufelt knocked down a pair of free throws 30 seconds later to put the home team ahead for good.
Seawolf all-conference point guard Luke Cooper had seven assists but committed an uncharacteristic five turnovers, including a pair in the final 2 minutes. After averaging 9.5 points in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, the Australian was held scoreless Friday on 0-of-5 shooting.
The Lumberjacks move on to face 5th-seeded Grand Canyon in Saturday's late regional semifinal, while GNAC co-champion Seattle University advanced and will play nationally 12th-ranked Cal State San Bernardino in the early semi.
