BELLINGHAM, Wash. ? Jeremiah Trueman scored 25 points and Brandon Walker scored nine of his 15 points in overtime Saturday night to lift the Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team to an 88-77 upset of Western Washington at Carver Gymnasium.
UAA (13-12, 7-5 GNAC) also got big games from starting guards Kenny Barker, Kevin White and Darren Nye to earn a split of the season series with WWU, which fell out of first and into a second-place tie with Central Washington in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings.
The Vikings (17-5, 9-3), ranked No. 3 in the West Region, were led by 25 points from senior guard Ira Graham, who made 15 of 17 free throws.
Neither team led by more than seven points until the Vikings used a 10-0 run to go up 59-50 with 6:31 remaining in regulation. But Seawolf head coach Rusty Osborne would use a 30-second timeout at that juncture and watch his team bounce back with the next 14 points, getting scoring from six different players during the stretch.
UAA went ahead 69-65 with 1:17 left when Trueman (9-15 FG, 7-8 FT, 6 reb, 2 asst, 2 stl, 1 blk) sank a pair of free throws. Graham sliced the lead in half with a two charities on the next possession, and WWU center Michael Duty made a layup with 18 seconds left that tied it at 69-69.
Seawolf guard Lonnie Ridgeway had his shot blocked on the final trip of regulation.
UAA would dominate in overtime, however, getting a jumper and two free throws from Trueman to start the action. Nye then found Walker in the corner for the first of his two three-pointers in the extra session, and the Seawolves kept it at least a two-possession game the rest of the way.
Barker finished with 16 points (6-11 FG, 3-4 3FT), six assists, five rebounds and three steals, while White had 13 points (3-7 3FG, 2-2 FT) and two assists. Nye fought through foul trouble, meanwhile, to post nine points (1-1 3FG, 4-4 FT) and four assists with no turnovers.
Ridgeway (6 pts) and freshman forward Kyle Doerr combined for all of UAA's 10 bench points, with each dishing three assists.
UAA has now won six of the last six meetings with WWU, including the last three in Bellingham.
The Seawolves return to the road next week to face regionally ranked Central Washington (Thu., Feb. 26, 6:30 pm AST) and Northwest Nazarene (Sat., Feb. 28, 5 pm).
