NAMPA, Idaho - Sophomore guard Kyle Fossman scored a career 26 points on near-perfect shooting Thursday to pace the 25th-ranked Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team to an 81-64 victory over Northwest Nazarene at the Johnson Sports Center.
The Seawolves (14-4, 8-2 GNAC) also got a career-high scoring performance from senior guard Steve White as they won their third straight road game and swept the season series from NNU. Combined with Western Oregon's loss at Montana State Billings, the result puts UAA alone in second place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings, one-half game behind idle Western Washington.
The Crusaders (9-9, 3-7) got 14 points and three assists from guard Jonathan Hawkins, but the hosts could not capitalize on an early 10-4 lead.
After NNU's quick start, Fossman nailed consecutive three-pointers and Lonnie Ridgeway - playing in his first game since injuring his hand Dec. 3 - gave UAA the lead with a short jumper. Leading 24-17 a few minutes later, Fossman again sank back-to-back treys, and the Seawolves would lead by at least nine points the rest of the way.
Fossman had 16 points as UAA forged a 40-26 halftime lead, including a rebound put-back of Travis Thompson's miss at the buzzer. The Haines product finished with one of the top shooting nights in school history, sinking 9 of 10 from the field, including 6 of 7 treys, and both of his free throws.
White, meanwhile, posted 16 points for his highest output in 103 career games, shooting 9 of 10 from the free-throw line and adding five assists and two steals.
Junior forward Abebe Demissie added 11 points on 3-of-6 three-point shooting off the bench, while Thompson had seven points and five assists.
UAA doubled up the Crusaders 32-16 on the boards, tying for the second-fewest rebounds ever allowed by a Seawolf team. The school record of 15 rebounds was set against NNU on Jan. 22, 2004.
The Seawolves also held lofty advantages in field-goal percentage (.587 to .469) and three-point percentage (.579 to .320), while shooting a season-best 88.9 percent (16 of 18) from the free-throw line.
UAA finishes its four-game road swing Saturday when it travels to Ellensburg, Wash., to face Central Washington at 6 p.m. AST.
