ANCHORAGE ? Senior Chris Bryant scored a game-high 22 points and junior center Jeremiah Trueman provided a huge lift off the bench Saturday to propel the 9th-ranked Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team to a 73-60 victory over Seattle University at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
The Seawolves (22-4, 13-1 GNAC) also got 21 points and eight rebounds from hot-shooting senior Carl Arts as they swept the season series from the Redhawks and helped solidify their standing as the West Region's top-ranked team.
Seattle (16-8, 9-6) was led by 17 points from forward Ryan Coldren, but he was the only player in double figures for the regionally 8th-ranked visitors.
UAA led 34-24 at halftime and seemingly had things under control at 39-26 with 18 minutes remaining. But the Redhawks made their deficit vanish in a flash, scoring on six straight possessions ? including three traditional three-point plays ? to knot the score at 41-41 with 14 minutes left.
The Seawolves then answered with an 8-0 run of their own, powered almost entirely by Bryant and Trueman. Bryant began with two free throws and Trueman then followed with a rebound basket. Luke Cooper (8 pts, 7 assists) grabbed a steal on the next possession and fed Bryant for a breakaway layup, and Trueman ended the surge with yet another putback.
Trueman, a 6-9 center from Stratford, New Zealand, finished with 12 points and six rebounds. He shot 4 of 6 from the floor ? getting all of his baskets off the offensive glass ? and nailed 4 of 5 free throws.
A layup by Chris Gweth (5 pts, 6 reb) brought SU within 53-49, but UAA answered that charge with 10 straight points, including a three-point dagger from Bryant at the 3:45 mark that made it a 10-point lead.
Bryant scored 17 of his points in the final 13:04, and the Metlakatla native also grabbed a game-high three steals.
Arts was at his best in the first half, scoring 15 of his points in the opening stanza. The senior All-America candidate from Valdez shot 7 of 11 from the floor and was perfect on three three-pointers and four free throws.
Cooper, meanwhile, finished two assists shy of his NCAA Div. II-best 8.9 apg average, but that was good enough to make him the seventh player in Div. II history to accumulate 800 career assists.
The Redhawks, who were making their last trip to Anchorage before moving to Div. I next season, actually outshot UAA from the floor, 47.1 percent to 45.5 percent. However the Seawolves enjoyed big advantages from the free throw line (25 of 31 to SU's 9 of 12) and the three-point arc (8 of 15 to SU's 3 of 11).
The win avenged UAA's last loss at the WFSC, a 69-66 setback to SU on Feb. 15, 2007. The Seawolves have now won 14 straight on their primary home court, including a 13-0 mark this year.
With Central Washington's win at Western Washington earlier in the evening, the Seawolves still hold a 2-game advantage in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference race with four games to play for each team.
UAA hits the road for the final time next week to take on Northwest Nazarene (Thur., Feb. 28, 5 p.m. AST) and Seattle Pacific (Sat., Mar. 1, 6 p.m. AST). CWU, meanwhile, is on the road at last-place MSU Billings and Seattle U.
