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Saints upset Seawolves, 73-70

Men's Basketball UAA Media Relations

Saints upset Seawolves, 73-70

ANCHORAGE – Senior Brian McGill had 16 points and seven assists but it wasn't enough to repel a late comeback effort by Saint Martin's on Thursday night as the Saints pulled off a 73-70 men's basketball upset at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (16-6, 9-2 GNAC) also got 16 points apiece from juniors Corey Hammell and Suki Wiggs as they fell out of a first-place tie in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings.

The Saints (9-10, 3-8) got 16 points and five assists from 7-foot center Fred Jorg, plus 14 points and seven assists from guard Preston Cole as they snapped a five-game losing streak against UAA and won in Anchorage for just the second time in 21 tries.

UAA fell behind early and trailed 31-22 late in the first half before scraping within 41-39 at halftime.

The visitors from Lacey, Wash., went up 48-41 on a Jorg layup early in the second half before the Seawolves took the momentum for the first time.

Wiggs started UAA's run with a three-pointer and drew the hosts within 52-51 on another trey at the 13:15 mark. McGill fed Christian Leckband for a go-ahead trey two possessions later, and Hammell finished off a 12-0 run when his rebound putback made it 60-52 with 9:25 remaining.

Saint Martin's regained its footing, however, and forged a 64-64 tie when Trey Ingram drained a three-pointer with 3:08 to play. Still tied two minutes later, SMU's Cole Preston drove the lane and tipped in his own miss to give the Saints the lead for good.

Preston made two free throws to extend the lead to 70-66, and he followed a McGill miss with one more charity to make it 71-66 with 19.2 seconds left. McGill was fouled and made both free throws, and Jorg missed the front end of a one-and-one to give UAA the ball with a 71-68 deficit.

After inbounding the ball with 5.4 seconds showing, Leckband missed a three-pointer and Wiggs was fouled under the basket with 1.2 on the clock. The GNAC's leading scorer made both free throws and fouled Preston on the inbounds play. Wiggs took the inbounds pass after Preston made both free throws, but his desperation heave from three-quarter court bounced dramatically off the rim.

Wiggs finished with seven rebounds, while Hammell collected six boards and three assists. Leckband had 11 points and five rebounds, and junior guard Spencer Svejcar chipped in six points for the Seawolves, who lost despite committing only six turnovers.

UAA returns to its home court Saturday for a 2 p.m. game against longtime rival Seattle Pacific (15-4, 8-3), which comes in with six straight wins and just one game behind the Seawolves for second place.

NOTES: UAA's six turnovers tied a season-low and the 13th-best single-game mark in program history … Wiggs's school- and GNAC-record streak of 21 straight games with at least 20 points came to an end; the junior guard's accomplishment was the longest such streak in NCAA Div. II since at least 2011-12 … McGill raised his career scoring total to 990 points, putting him in position to become the 22nd player in program history to surpass the 1,000 plateau … Wiggs went 6 of 7 at the line to raise his total to 159 made – already No. 3 on UAA's single-season list.

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Players Mentioned

Christian Leckband

#1 Christian Leckband

F
6' 5"
Freshman
Brian McGill

#RS Brian McGill

G
6' 2"
Sophomore
Corey Hammell

#25 Corey Hammell

F
6' 6"
Junior
Spencer Svejcar

#20 Spencer Svejcar

G
6' 4"
Junior
Sekou

#2 Sekou 'Suki' Wiggs

G
6' 4"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Christian Leckband

#1 Christian Leckband

6' 5"
Freshman
F
Brian McGill

#RS Brian McGill

6' 2"
Sophomore
G
Corey Hammell

#25 Corey Hammell

6' 6"
Junior
F
Spencer Svejcar

#20 Spencer Svejcar

6' 4"
Junior
G
Sekou

#2 Sekou 'Suki' Wiggs

6' 4"
Junior
G