ANCHORAGE ? Carl Arts had 22 points and 14 rebounds and fellow senior Chris Bryant tallied 23 points as the 14th-ranked Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team pulled out a gutsy 78-73 victory Thursday night over Central Washington at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
The Seawolves (13-3, 4-0 GNAC) also got 14 point and 10 rebounds from junior center Jeremiah Trueman ? his first career double-double ? to help erase a 8-point second-half deficit.
The Wildcats (9-5, 3-2) were led by junior forward Jake Beitinger's 23 points and 11 rebounds, while guards Matt Penoncello and Giovonne Woods scored 10 points apiece.
UAA's victory was its 11th straight ? tying the second-longest streak in school history ? and kept the Seawolves a perfect 13-0 against Division II competition.
UAA fell behind 9-0 at the outset and held only a brief 14-13 advantage in the first half. The Wildcats took a 38-35 lead into the locker room and stretched it to 49-41 on a Beitinger layup with 16 minutes left.
The Seawolves answered with a 9-1 run that tied it at 50 when McCade Olsen sank a baseline jumper a few minutes later. Olsen, who came in averaging 15.9 ppg, scored all 10 of his points in the second-half, despite battling through foul trouble.
After CWU point guard Nate Jackson put his team up 58-54 with a jumper in the lane, the Seawolves responded with an 8-0 burst to take the lead for good. Arts, who scored 14 points in the second half, dropped in a short jumper of his own to make it 66-60 at the 5-minute mark, and Olsen scored his final bucket at the 3-minute mark for a 70-62 lead.
After another surge by the visitors, Arts seemed to put the game out of reach with his only three-pointer of the night, resulting in a 75-70 lead with just 46 seconds left.
But the Wildcats had yet another chance, slicing it to 76-73 on a trey by Penoncello, then getting a steal from Beitinger on the inbounds play. After intercepting Bryant's pass, Beitinger kicked the ball beyond the three-point arc to teammate Bryce Daub, who shot an air ball with just 10 seconds on the clock. It was Daub's only shot attempt of the game.
Bryant (8-13 FG, 3-5 3FG, 4-7 FT, 6 rebounds) sealed the game from the free throw line for the final margin.
Arts' rebound total was his second-best this year, and the senior from Valdez also collected three assists.
Fellow senior All-America candidate Luke Cooper dished 10 assists and grabbed a season-high four steals, but committed an uncharacteristic six turnovers.
CWU, which shot 53.3 percent in the first half, cooled to just 37.5 percent in the final 20 minutes. The Wildcats were also hurt by poor free throw shooting, hitting just 9 of 18 from the charity stripe.
UAA improved to 10-0 when scoring 70 or more points.
The Seawolves finish their 3-game homestand Saturday when they host Western Washington (10-4, 3-2) in another Great Northwest Athletic Conference showdown. That game tips at 7 p.m. at the WFSC.
