ANCHORAGE ? McCade Olsen scored 19 points and fellow senior Carl Arts delivered a double-double Monday night to lead the Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team into the NCAA Division II quarterfinals for the first time in 20 years with a 73-67 win over Brigham Young-Hawaii in the title game of the West Region Championships.
The Seawolves (28-5), the No. 1 seed, also got 11 assists from senior point guard Luke Cooper, plus 14 points from senior guard Chris Bryant to fight off a late charge by the 7th-seeded Seasiders (20-8).
UAA, ranked No. 4 nationally, now advances to Springfield, Mass., for the Div. II ?Elite 8' quarterfinals, Mar. 26-29. The Seawolves will play the winner of Tuesday's East Region final between top-seeded California (Pa.) and 6th-seeded Millersville.
Monday's game was a rematch of UAA's 95-90 double-overtime win in Laie, Hawaii, Dec. 17, and had just as much drama as the original meeting.
The Seasiders landed the first punch, jumping to an 8-0 lead before UAA called a timeout just four minutes into the action. The Seawolves rallied quickly, however, taking a 15-13 lead on Olsen's three-pointer with 10:53 showing.
After UAA got up 24-15, BYUH all-tournament selection Lucas Alves sparked a Seasider run, giving his team a 28-27 advantage. The Seawolves would take a 34-29 lead into the locker room when Arts (14 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks) nailed a fadeaway jumper from just inside the arc.
The Seawolves extended their lead to double digits on four different occasions in the second half, the last coming when Cameron Burney swished a three-pointer on a pass from Cooper at the 9-minute mark, making it 61-49.
But the Seasiders ran off seven straight points, including a vicious dunk by Alves, then cut the lead to 67-64 when point guard Corey Nielson (7 pts, 6 assists) drained his only three-pointer of the night with 2:27 left.
After Cooper made two free throws, Alves converted a traditional three-point play to slice the deficit to 69-67, and BYUH got the ball back with a chance to take the lead when Arts missed a pair of free throws.
UAA ? ranked all season among the top 5 in D-II in scoring defense ? used its bread-and-butter to earn the win. As the clock ran under 20 seconds, Nielson penetrated and looked for Alves, but his pass was deflected by Burney. As the ball pin-balled around the baseline area, Arts found himself with possession but only as he was falling out of bounds. In a heads-up move, he spun and threw the ball off the leg of Alves, who was standing on the endline.
Olsen was fouled on the ensuing inbounds play and calmly sank both free throws. The West Region tourney's Most Outstanding Player then grabbed the rebound of Paul Peterson's three-point miss and accounted for the final two charities with 2 seconds left as the sellout crowd gave a standing ovation.
Olsen also finished with a pair of steals Monday as he totaled 69 points, 14 rebounds, five steals and six assists in UAA's three regional-tourney victories. The 6-8 forward from Riverton, Utah, shot 58.5 percent from the floor (24 of 41) and was perfect on 17 free throws.
He was joined on the All-West Region Tournament Team by Arts and Cooper, and BYU's Peterson and Alves.
Alves, a 6-9 sophomore forward from Brazil, led the Seasiders with 20 points and 10 rebounds in the loss, while Peterson scored 12 points on 4-of-7 three-point shooting.
For the Seawolves, Arts tallied his 10th double-double of the season, while Bryant went 7 of 7 from the free throw line. Reserve center Jeremiah Trueman scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and had a pair of timely blocks in 19 tough minutes.
UAA, which advanced to the national title game in 1988 in Springfield, will return there for the first time since then.
2008 NCAA Div. II West Regional All-Tournament Team
Lucas Alves, BYU-Hawaii
Carl Arts, Alaska Anchorage
Luke Cooper, Alaska Anchorage
Paul Peterson, BYU-Hawaii
Most Outstanding Player: McCade Olsen, Alaska Anchorage
