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UAA men upset No. 9 SPU, await NCAA fate

Men's Basketball UAA Media Relations

UAA men upset No. 9 SPU, await NCAA fate

ANCHORAGE - Junior guard Brandon Walker had 23 points and nine rebounds Saturday night to lead the Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team to a 75-64 upset of nationally 9th-ranked Seattle Pacific at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

With the victory, the Seawolves (17-10, 8-8 GNAC) must now wait until the announcement of the NCAA West Regional Tournament field to find out if they will be playoff-bound for the fourth time in five seasons.

UAA entered with a No. 9 regional ranking, and the top eight teams make the playoffs. Regionally 8th-ranked Central Washington earned a home overtime win over Saint Martin's earlier Saturday in its season finale. The Seawolves and Wildcats (16-10, 10-6) split their season series, however UAA posted a 2-2 record against region Nos. 1 and 2 SPU and Western Washington, while CWU went 1-3 against those clubs. The NCAA will announce the West Regional field as early as Sunday evening or as late as Tuesday morning.

SPU (22-5, 13-3), meanwhile, lost its second straight game after coming north with the GNAC title already in hand. The Falcons will now hope they hang on to the No. 1 seed and the host role for the upcoming regional tournament.

The Falcons were led by 23 points from senior guard Brandon Larrieu, while forward Ryan Sweet posted 13 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. SPU junior guard and GNAC Player-of-the-Year candidate Chris Banchero was held 14 points under his season average, shooting 2 of 10 from the field and committing four turnovers. Banchero scored 33 points against in SPU's 80-71 win over UAA on Jan. 28 in Seattle.

After SPU started the game with a three-pointer from Larrieu, the Seawolves answered with a 9-0 run and never trailed again.

The Seawolves led 37-29 at halftime and went up 56-43 on Aaron Stevens' crowd-pleasing dunk with 10:34 left.

The Falcons clawed back into it from the free-throw line, however, while the Seawolves missed three consecutive front ends of one-and-one situations. Two Larrieu free throws pulled SPU within 61-59 at the 4:21 mark, and SPU had a chance to take the lead when Jeff Downs was fouled on a rebound two minutes later.

But Downs missed both charities and the UAA's Casey Robinson sank a pair of free throws on UAA's next possession. After a steal by Walker on the defensive end, the 6-3 swingman starred on offense for the final time, nailing a step-back three-pointer over Larrieu for a 70-64 advantage with 53 seconds showing.

The Seawolves made 5 of 6 free throws to clinch the game as SPU went scoreless in the final two minutes.

Casey Robinson scored 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting (3-6 3FG), while posting four assists, no turnovers and two steals. Fellow junior Drew Robinson had 12 points (3-3 FG, 6-8 FT), and junior guard Kevin White tallied nine points on 3-of-5 long-range shooting.

Freshman center Liam Gibcus – who entered with seven assists for the season – dished all four of his career-high assists Saturday in the first half.

Check GoSeawolves.com starting Sunday evening around 6 p.m. AST for the possible announcement of the NCAA field. While the other seven regions will definitely be announced then, the West Region announcement may be delayed due to postponed games in the Pacific West Conference that are due to be made up Monday. Those games were rescheduled because of the Feb. 27 tsunami warning in Hawaii.


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Players Mentioned

Kevin White

#1 Kevin White

G
6' 4"
Freshman
Casey Robinson

#44 Casey Robinson

F
6' 6"
Junior
Brandon Walker

#22 Brandon Walker

G
6' 3"
Sophomore
Liam Gibcus

#32 Liam Gibcus

F/C
6' 10"
Freshman
Drew Robinson

#11 Drew Robinson

G
6' 1"
Junior
Aaron Stevens

#42 Aaron Stevens

F
6' 8"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Kevin White

#1 Kevin White

6' 4"
Freshman
G
Casey Robinson

#44 Casey Robinson

6' 6"
Junior
F
Brandon Walker

#22 Brandon Walker

6' 3"
Sophomore
G
Liam Gibcus

#32 Liam Gibcus

6' 10"
Freshman
F/C
Drew Robinson

#11 Drew Robinson

6' 1"
Junior
G
Aaron Stevens

#42 Aaron Stevens

6' 8"
Sophomore
F