ANCHORAGE - On a night when its trademark defense was not there, the 11th-ranked Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team got enormous offensive efforts from its four standout seniors Thursday to claim a share of its first Great Northwest Athletic Conference title with a 100-98 overtime win over Saint Martin's at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
UAA (24-5, 15-2 GNAC) equaled the school record for victories as well as the GNAC mark for most league wins. The Seawolves were led by 26 points and 11 rebounds from forward Carl Arts, 22 points apiece from guard Chris Bryant and center McCade Olsen, and 12 points and a school-record 18 assists from point guard Luke Cooper.
Ironically, it was a defensive play that repelled a final SMU rally, when Bryant blocked a potential tying layup by Saints forward Blake Poole with one second left in overtime.
UAA ? which had just taken a 100-97 lead with 9 seconds left on Arts' sixth straight free throw conversion ? almost forced a steal, but there was a jump ball with 3.9 seconds on the clock and the possession arrow favoring the visitors. The Seawolves decided to foul on purpose, sending the best free throw shooter in Div. II, junior guard Jake Linton (97 percent), to the line for two shots with 2.8 to go. Linton made the first and missed the second on purpose, allowing Poole to sneak underneath for the offensive board. The 6-5 freshman had a seemingly open point-blank look for the tie, but Bryant's left hand appeared out of the crowd for a clean swat.
Arts scored eight points in the extra session, including a layup on Cooper's record-setting 18th assist that made it 94-88 with 1:45 left.
Saint Martin's (12-14, 7-10), which erased a 13-point second-half deficit, trailed for all but a few seconds of the game. But the Saints made comeback after comeback, led by big man Bill Richardson (27 points, 12-13 FG, 3-4 FT, 8 rebounds), senior forward Brendan Campbell (21 points, 8-11 FG), and Linton (16 points, 13 assists, 3-6 3FG, 5-6 FT).
Linton made two of his treys in the final minute of the extra session, the first coming on an up-and-under, double-pump, one-handed shot, and the second falling from 30 feet to make it 98-97 with 9.8 to play.
At the end of regulation, SMU outscored UAA 7-2 over the final 50 seconds to keep the contest alive. Richardson's layup knotted things at 83-83 with 11 seconds left, and Cooper missed a running jumper as time expired.
The Seawolves, who came in allowing a GNAC-low 59.1 points, were burned for their most points allowed overall and in regulation this season. (UAA gave up 76 in regulation in its 95-90 double-overtime win at BYU-Hawaii on December 17.) SMU shot 60 percent (35 of 58) from the field, including 10 of 16 (62.5 percent) from the three-point arc.
UAA shot 48.5 percent from the floor but won thanks to its season-best .867 (26 of 30) free-throw shooting. The 26 makes also equaled a team season-high.
Reserve center Jeremiah Trueman was productive with nine points (3-3 FG, 3-4 FT) in just 11 minutes, while Arts had four steals.
The Seawolves, ranked atop the West Region all winter, can clinch the GNAC title outright with a home victory over Western Oregon on Saturday (7 p.m. AST) or a Central Washington loss to Seattle Pacific.
Saturday's Seawolf game will be the final regular-season home appearance for seniors Arts, Bryant, Cooper, Olsen and walk-on Jared Kettler.
NOTES:
Cooper broke his own record of 17 set Feb. 21 in just 25 minutes against Montana State Billings. He had 16 of his 18 helpers in regulation Thursday.
UAA's 24 wins equal its 1987-88 NCAA Div. II runner-up squad, which went 24-10.
The Seawolves' GNAC win total equals the league mark set by former member Humboldt State (15-3 in 2001-02 and 2003-04).
The league title is UAA's first since winning the Pacific West Conference crown in 1996-97.
