BILLINGS, Mont. ? Carl Arts had 24 points and nine rebounds and fellow senior Chris Bryant chipped in 17 points Saturday as the 9th-ranked Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team sailed to a 79-43 victory over Montana State Billings.
It was the 14th straight win for UAA (16-3, 7-0 GNAC), tying the school record established in 1985-86, and it kept the Seawolves perfect against Division II competition this season.
MSUB (1-17, 1-6) was led by 16 points from guard Aaron Terry and 13 points from guard Blaine Kirk. The Yellowjackets, who were coming off their first win of the year Thursday against Alaska Fairbanks, were held to 36.4 percent shooting by the Seawolves and outrebounded 43-26.
UAA, which also got 12 points from senior McCade Olsen, began the game struggling offensively and found itself in a 14-13 hole midway through the first period. But Arts (10-17 FG, 1-1 3FG, 3-3 FT) helped the Seawolves snap out of their funk with five quick points to start an 8-0 run, and the game quickly ballooned into a 37-23 affair by halftime.
The Seawolves began the second half with a three-pointer from Bryant (6-14 FG, 5-13 3FG, 5 reb) and a jumper from Arts, allowing head coach Rusty Osborne to turn to his bench for extensive minutes.
Junior point guard Doug Hardy, from Anchorage's Bartlett High, had his finest outing yet in green & gold, dishing a career-high seven assists with just one turnover and two steals in 20 minutes. The transfer from Idaho State also had three points and three rebounds.
Freshman Kevin White had nine points (3-7 3FG) and matched his season-high with six rebounds as nine of UAA's 10 players found the scoring column. The only Seawolf not to score was starting point guard Luke Cooper, who dished five assists with no turnovers in a season-low 26 minute. Cooper entered the game with a league-high 35.9-minute average.
As a team, UAA's five turnovers tied the school record for fewest in a game (set twice previously), and the Seawolves dished an impressive 24 assists.
Combined with their 45-38 win at Seattle University on Thursday, UAA also set a school record for the fewest points allowed in back-to-back games. The 81 allowed this week betters the previous mark of 87, set in the first two games of the 1996-97 season against Northland Baptist and Robert Morris (Ill.).
In its last three road games, the Seawolves have held their opponents to the three lowest league-game point totals in Great Northwest Athletic Conference history. (UAA topped Saint Martin's 66-42 on Jan. 5.)
Saturday's win snapped a 6-game losing streak at Alterowitz Gymnasium, although it was UAA's first trip to Billings since 2001. The 43 points scored by the hosts was the lowest total in the 53-game history over the UAA-MSUB rivalry.
The Seawolves return to Anchorage next week for showdowns against Seattle Pacific (Thur., Jan. 31) and Northwest Nazarene (Sat., Feb. 1), which are both just two games back of UAA in the league standings. Both games tip at 7 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
