ANCHORAGE - Taylor Rohde scored a career-high 32 points Thursday as he and Travis Thompson spearheaded a late Alaska Anchorage rally to post an 86-81 victory over Simon Fraser at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
The Seawolves (11-3, 5-1 GNAC) avoided an upset against the last-place Clan by closing with a 27-6 run over the final six minutes, including 12 points from Rohde.
The Clan (5-9, 0-6) was led by 26 points and nine assists from guard Justin Brown, whose back-to-back three-pointers gave his team a 75-59 lead with seven minutes remaining.
With six minutes left, Rohde grabbed an offensive rebound and fed Thompson for a three-pointer, followed seconds later by one of Thompson's career-high five steals. The sophomore from Anchorage's Dimond High then knocked down another trey to cut six points quickly off the deficit.
After two Rohde free throws, Steve White (7 points, 7 assists) hit a short floater in the lane and the Seawolves made another backcourt steal when fellow senior Phillip Hearn poked the ball away from behind. Thompson quickly fed Hearn for an easy layup at the 3:11 mark, and UAA finally tied it, 75-75, one minute later after four more points by Rohde.
SFU's Jordan Sergent snapped a nearly 6-minute scoreless drought for the Canadians with a short jumper on the next possession, only to be answered by another soft hook shot from Rohde, who made 12 of 20 from the field and 8 of 10 at the charity stripe.
Clan forward Ibrahim Appiah threw the ball out of bounds with a minute to play, and the Seawolves took advantage when White fed Colton Lauwers for a corner three-pointer that swished through, giving the Seawolves their first lead, 80-77, since late in the first half.
SFU missed a couple of contested layups on their next possession, and Fossman secured the rebound and called timeout. Thompson could not convert his breakaway layup off the ensuing length-of-the-court inbounds pass, but Rohde was there for the easy tip-in with 16 seconds left, salting away UAA's 13th straight win at the WFSC.
Rohde, a 6-9 center, also grabbed 12 rebounds and tied his career-high with four assists.
Thompson, meanwhile, shot 5 of 8 from the three-point line and finished with five assists and no turnovers. His five steals were the most for Seawolf since Casey Robinson had five against Grace Bible on Dec. 11, 2009.
Fossman was the third Seawolf in double figures with 13 points, making 3 of 8 three-pointers and tying his career-high with seven assists. The sophomore from Haines committed only one turnover in 37 minutes as well, helping UAA post an impressive 26-to-9 assist-turnover ratio.
Junior guard Marcus Jackson came off the bench with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting, while Lauwers finished with seven points.
Now one game out of first place at the one-third mark in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, the Seawolves next host a Saturday showdown against fellow second-place squad Western Washington (14-3, 5-1). That game tips at 7 p.m. at the WFSC.
