ANCHORAGE ? McCade Olsen scored a career-high 28 points and fellow senior Carl Arts chipped in 21 points Friday as the nationally 4th-ranked Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team cruised to an 80-60 first-round victory over UC San Diego in the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball West Region Championships at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
UAA (26-5) also got 14 points and six rebounds from senior guard Chris Bryant, plus nine points and nine assists from senior point guard Luke Cooper as the Seawolves snapped a 6-game NCAA Tournament losing streak that dated back to 1994.
UCSD (18-12), the California Collegiate Athletic Association postseason tourney champ, was led by 24 points (8-13 FG) from sophomore guard Jordan Lawley.
The Seawolves, seeded No. 1 in the region, will take on No. 5 seed and Great Northwest Athletic Conference rival Seattle Pacific in Saturday's 7:30 p.m. semifinal. The Falcons beat Central Washington 58-57 earlier Friday.
After UC San Diego scored the first basket of the game, the Seawolves quickly showed why they were rated No. 1 in the West all winter, going on an 18-2 run to take control. Arts was the difference in the first half, knocking down 7 of 8 shot from the field to propel his squad to a 39-26 halftime lead.
Olsen (10-12 FG, 7-7 FT) scored the first seven points after the break to make it 46-26, and the Seawolves cruised from there. The Riverton, Utah, native also had seven rebounds, three steals and a career-high four assists as UAA led by as many as 25 in the second half.
Arts finished 10 of 14 from the floor, while Bryant connected on 4 of 6 three-point tries and grabbed six boards. Freshman guard Kevin White also made a nice contribution off the bench with six points (2-2 FG, 2-2 FT) and four rebounds as UAA outshot the Tritons 60.4 percent to 44.4 percent.
The Seawolves also dominated the boards to the tune of 27-18.
With his performance Friday, Arts moved from No. 5 to No. 3 on UAA's all-time scoring list, now with 1,476 points, passing Jesse Jackson (1,471, 1985-87) and Jim Hajdukovich (1,472, 1995-99).
