BURNABY, British Columbia - Powered by the senior duo of Taylor Rohde and Lonnie Ridgeway, 17th-ranked Alaska Anchorage raced to an early lead and hung on to beat host Simon Fraser, 85-75, in Great Northwest Conference men's basketball action at the SFU West Gymnasium on Saturday.
Rohde, a 6-9 center, scored 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting as the Seawolves (18-5, 12-3 GNAC) connected at a blazing 65.2 percent clip from the field.
The Clan (8-14, 3-11) got a game-high 28 points from senior guard Justin Brown, who played all 40 minutes in the loss.
UAA, which swept the season series for the second straight time, jumped to early leads of 12-2 and 27-8. Ridgeway, a 6-3 guard, came off the bench to score 15 of his season-high 18 points in the first half, spotting UAA a 42-23 lead at the break.
The hosts would not go quietly, however, as they started the second half with a 9-0 run and trimmed their deficit as low as 60-58 on Connor Lewis's three-pointer at the 8:43 mark. UAA responded immediately with a three-pointer from sophomore guard Kyle Fossman to stem the tide, and Rohde scored layups on three consecutive possessions to push the lead up to 69-60 at the 6-minute mark.
Rohde, who also grabbed a team-high six rebounds, became the 19th player in UAA men's basketball history to score 1,000 career points. The Arizona State transfer now has 1,020 points - good for 17th place - in less than two seasons.
Fossman finished with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting (4 of 5 3FGs), while starting point guard Steve White tallied 10 points, seven assists and just one turnover in 34 minutes. Junior guard Marcus Jackson also had a nice game off the bench, scoring nine points (2-2 FG, 4-5 FT) in just 11 minutes.
Ridgeway, who missed eight weeks in December and January with a broken wrist, easily had his most productive game since returning a couple weeks ago, shooting 7 of 9 from the field and 3 of 4 at the charity stripe.
UAA shot 31 of 46 from the field, including 7 of 14 from long distance, while holding the Clan to just 44.2 percent (23 of 52) marksmanship. The Seawolves also committed only eight turnovers to SFU's 13.
The Seawolves host their final games of the regular season next week when they face Saint Martin's on Thur., Feb. 16 and Western Oregon on Sat., Feb. 18 at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex. Both games tip at 7 p.m. AST.
