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Men rally past SFU for 3rd straight road win

Men's Basketball UAA Media Relations

Men rally past SFU for 3rd straight road win

BURNABY, British Columbia – Travis Thompson scored 25 points, including the game-winning layup with 3.8 seconds remaining, to help the Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team edge Simon Fraser 65-64 at the SFU West Gym on Thursday night.

The Seawolves (13-8, 6-4 GNAC) also got eight points and 10 rebounds from junior swingman Teancum Stafford as they won their third straight road game, including the last two by one point.

The Clan (8-10, 1-9) were led by 18 points from guard Justin Cole, plus 10 points and 11 rebounds from forward Ibrahim Appiah, as they lost despite jumping to a 30-13 lead in just more than 10 minutes.

After pulling within 41-32 at halftime, UAA clamped down on the defensive end and grabbed its first lead, 46-45, on a three-pointer from Thompson at the 14:36 mark. The teams then traded big runs, with the Seawolves building a 57-51 deficit, only to see the Clan score the next nine points.

Seawolf point guard Brian McGill (14 points, 4 assists) drove for a layup with 5:42 remaining, then converted a pair of free throws to make it a 61-60 advantage with 4:48 left. Thompson, a 6-1 junior guard, connected again from short range to go up 63-60 at the 4:05 mark.

The Seawolves would go cold over the next four minutes, however, and SFU regained a 64-63 lead on a short jumper by Taylor Dunn with 1:44 on the clock. UAA senior Kyle Fossman (11 points) pulled down a big defensive rebound on a long jumper by Dunn with 41 seconds left, and head coach Rusty Osborne whistled timeout with 16 seconds to draw up a final play.

After almost having it knocked away, UAA's Colton Lauwers picked up the ball in the corner and faked a three-point shot before finding former Dimond High School teammate Thompson, who had established post position under the basket. Thompson collected the pass and finished the play, prompting the Clan to call a final timeout.

SFU got the ball to guard Sango Niang, who took two steps beyond the midcourt line and fired a shot that bounced off the backboard and rim as the buzzer sounded.

Thompson, who shot just 3 of 11 from long range, was 5 of 6 from inside the arc, along with 6 of 6 from the free-throw line. The Seawolves shot 15 of 17 (88.2 percent) from the charity stripe and outrebounded the Clan 35-30 to overcome a poor field-goal shooting performance, hitting only 35 percent (21-60) to SFU's 49 percent (25-51).

Thompson's nine rebounds also marked a career-high as the Preseason All-GNAC selection went over 25 points for the fifth straight game. It was his 15th game this year with at least 20 points, including 13 of the last 15 contests.

The Seawolves finish their 4-game road swing Saturday with an 8 p.m. AST tip against Western Washington in a game to be televised regionally on ROOT Sports Northwest (GCI Ch. 36 in Anchorage).

NOTES: Thompson rose to No. 18 on UAA's career scoring list, now with 1,029 points … Fossman now sits at 1,057 points, leaving him 28 points shy of the top 15.


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Players Mentioned

Kyle Fossman

#24 Kyle Fossman

G
6' 0"
Freshman
Travis Thompson

#11 Travis Thompson

G
6' 1"
Freshman
Colton Lauwers

#23 Colton Lauwers

G
6' 3"
Sophomore
Brian McGill

#RS Brian McGill

G
6' 2"
Sophomore
Teancum Stafford

#30 Teancum Stafford

G
6' 5"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Kyle Fossman

#24 Kyle Fossman

6' 0"
Freshman
G
Travis Thompson

#11 Travis Thompson

6' 1"
Freshman
G
Colton Lauwers

#23 Colton Lauwers

6' 3"
Sophomore
G
Brian McGill

#RS Brian McGill

6' 2"
Sophomore
G
Teancum Stafford

#30 Teancum Stafford

6' 5"
Sophomore
G