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Guards propel Seawolves over Crusaders, 67-57

Men's Basketball UAA Media Relations

Guards propel Seawolves over Crusaders, 67-57

ANCHORAGE – Senior guard Travis Thompson scored 21 points and junior guard Dom Hunter had 13 points and four assists Saturday to help Alaska Anchorage fend off Northwest Nazarene for a 67-57 men's basketball victory at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (10-9, 6-3 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 11 points and four assists from junior guard Brian McGill, who returned to the lineup after missing one game with a sprained ankle.

The Crusaders (8-11, 6-3) were led by 16 points from guard Erik Kinney and seven rebounds from forward Kevin Rima, but the visitors from Idaho were stung by 18 turnovers as they lost for the fourth straight time against UAA.

The first half featured eight ties and eight lead changes until the Seawolves took the lead for good, 27-26, on a rainbow jumper from Hunter with one minute left. Hunter – a transfer from Eastern Arizona – then nailed a three-pointer right before the buzzer to give the Seawolves momentum.

Clinging to a 32-30 lead, UAA used an 11-0 run over an 8 minute, 30-second span, taking advantage of 10 consecutive NNU misses and four turnovers.

But the Crusaders finally found their offensive groove and drew within three points twice in the final five minutes, cutting it to 53-50 on Kinney's layup with 4:11 left. On UAA's next possession, McGill delivered a cross-court pass to Thompson, who drained his fourth and final three-pointer, and Christian Leckband followed 45 seconds later with a bank-in putback of Thompson's miss to make it 58-51.

NNU's Matyas Hering hit two three-pointers in a 22-second span to keep the visitors close at 62-57 before UAA senior center Brad Mears converted a nifty feed from Hunter for a clinching layup with 1:01 to play.

Despite a rough 4-of-15 shooting night, Thompson surpassed two more career milestones as the GNAC Preseason Player of the Year moved into No. 2 on the league's all-time three-pointers list – now with 269 – and rose two spots to No. 4 on UAA's all-time scoring list with 1,481 points. The former Dimond High School star shot 9 of 10 from the free-throw line to help UAA to a season-best 91 percent (20 of 22) on charities.

Mears, making his first start of the year, finished with six points on 3-of-5 shooting and a team-high six rebounds, while Leckband had six points (4-4 FT) and five rebounds off the bench.

The Seawolves return to the road next week as they begin the second half of the GNAC campaign at Western Washington (Thur., Jan. 29, 6 p.m. AST) and Simon Fraser (Sat., Jan. 31, 6 p.m. AST).


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Players Mentioned

Travis Thompson

#11 Travis Thompson

G
6' 1"
Freshman
Christian Leckband

#1 Christian Leckband

F
6' 5"
Freshman
Brian McGill

#RS Brian McGill

G
6' 2"
Sophomore
Brad Mears

#44 Brad Mears

F/C
6' 9"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Travis Thompson

#11 Travis Thompson

6' 1"
Freshman
G
Christian Leckband

#1 Christian Leckband

6' 5"
Freshman
F
Brian McGill

#RS Brian McGill

6' 2"
Sophomore
G
Brad Mears

#44 Brad Mears

6' 9"
Junior
F/C