NAMPA, Idaho ? Senior point guard Luke Cooper scored a career-high 31 points and dished 10 assists Thursday to power the 9th-ranked Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team to a 77-59 win over Northwest Nazarene at the Johnson Sports Center.
The Seawolves (23-4, 14-1 GNAC) moved closer to their first Great Northwest Athletic Conference title thanks to a huge game from Cooper, plus double-digit scoring from center McCade Olsen and guards Kevin White and Chris Bryant.
UAA jumped to an 8-0 lead and took a 21-9 advantage when White drained one of his three three-pointers with 11:48 left in the first half. The Crusaders (16-8, 8-7) got within 10 points midway through the second half but could never cut their deficit to single digits.
Cooper, whose previous career-high was 21 points (set twice), nailed 7 of 9 three-pointers as he totaled 22 points in the first half. The Aussie's 10 assists marked his 30th career double-digit assist performance and moved him to No. 5 on the NCAA Div. II all-time assist list with 810.
Fellow Australian White, meanwhile, provided a huge spark off the bench, nailing 3 of 5 treys for 11 points. It was the second-highest scoring output for the redshirt freshman, whose three-pointer with 11:12 remaining stopped an 11-0 NNU run.
Olsen scored 12 points (4-10 FG) and grabbed five rebounds, and Bryant had 10 points (4-6 FG, 2-3 3FG) as UAA shot 60.4 percent.
NNU was led by 12 points apiece from guard Kendall Gielow and Justin Parnell as the home team lost despite shooting 55.6 percent from the field.
UAA was led in the rebounding department by senior forward Carl Arts with seven. Arts had just seven points ? 11 under his average ? but he also dished four assists.
The win set a school record for UAA for the most conference victories in a season in any league, and pulled the Seawolves within one of the school record for total victories in a season (24, 1987-88).
Cooper's scoring output was the most for a Seawolf this year and the first 30-point showing since Kemmy Burgess tallied 34 against Western Washington on Mar. 4, 2006.
The Seawolves, ranked No. 1 in the West Region, move on to regionally 3rd-ranked Seattle Pacific on Saturday for their final road game of the season. That game tips at 6 p.m. AST.
