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Seawolf comeback falls short against Falcons

Men's Basketball UAA Media Relations

Seawolf comeback falls short against Falcons

ANCHORAGE – Junior guard Spencer Svejcar poured in a career-high 23 points Saturday but the Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team came just short in a furious comeback attempt, falling 74-71 to longtime rival Seattle Pacific at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (16-7, 9-3 GNAC) also got 14 points and six assists from guard Brian McGill – who surpassed 1,000 career points – but the senior's desperation 60-foot heave was off line at the final buzzer.

The Falcons (16-4, 9-3) were led by a game-high 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting from senior forward Mitch Penner as they earned regular-season split with UAA and pulled even for second place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings. Senior center Gilles Dierickx added 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks to help his team to its seventh straight victory.

Svejcar gave UAA an early 15-14 lead with one of his five three-pointers before the Falcons answered with an 11-1 run. The Seawolves trailed 39-33 with 1:29 left before McGill swished a three-pointer, then followed with a buzzer-beating jumper to cut the halftime deficit to 41-39.

McGill threw down a dunk on a feed from Svejcar to open the second half, but the Falcons would hold UAA to just one field goal over the next 10 minutes, eventually building their lead as high as 63-47 with 8:07 remaining.

The Seawolves still faced a 70-59 deficit with 2:23 remaining before undertaking an impressive comeback attempt. Svejcar started the surge with a layup, and McGill scored four straight points to slice it to 70-65 at the 1:30 mark. Suki Wiggs cut it to a one-possession game twice in the final minutes with twisting layups, drawing within 72-69 with 20 seconds left.

After Penner split a pair of free throws and Wiggs scored with 5.2 seconds remaining, UAA fouled SPU's Bryce Leavitt on the inbounds play. Leavitt sank his first free throw with 2 seconds on the clock, however his second bounced off and into the hands of McGill. The Seawolf point guard took two dribbles but could not get a quality attempt as the horn sounded.

Svejcar shot 8 of 13 from the field, including 5 of 7 from long range, and McGill shot 5 of 9 in his first start of the season. Wiggs added 15 points and four rebounds, and junior forward Corey Hammell grabbed eight rebounds.

Freshman guard Damien Fulp had seven points and three steals to provide a big lift for the Seawolves, who were playing without injured starting guard Diante Mitchell.

UAA returns to the road next week for its annual border trek to Western Washington and Simon Fraser. The Seawolves will tip at 6 p.m. AST Thursday against WWU in Bellingham, with live stats and video available at portal.stretchinternet.com/uaa.

NOTES: McGill became the 22nd player in Seawolf men's basketball history to surpass 1,000 career points … McGill also moved into third place on UAA's career assists list with 362, passing Bryan Anderson (358, 1991-94); he needs just nine more to catch Jim Hajdukovich (371, 1995-99) for second place … Fulp doubled his season steals total with his career-high three swipes … the last three games between UAA and SPU have all been won by the road team and been decided by a total of six points, following last year's 73-72 SPU overtime win in Anchorage and UAA's 61-59 win in Seattle on Dec. 31 … the Seawolves now lead the all-time series 36-35 overall and 27-10 at home.

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Players Mentioned

Brian McGill

#RS Brian McGill

G
6' 2"
Sophomore
Damien Fulp

#RS Damien Fulp

G
6' 1"
Freshman
Corey Hammell

#25 Corey Hammell

F
6' 6"
Junior
Diante Mitchell

#11 Diante Mitchell

G
6' 1"
Junior
Spencer Svejcar

#20 Spencer Svejcar

G
6' 4"
Junior
Sekou

#2 Sekou 'Suki' Wiggs

G
6' 4"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Brian McGill

#RS Brian McGill

6' 2"
Sophomore
G
Damien Fulp

#RS Damien Fulp

6' 1"
Freshman
G
Corey Hammell

#25 Corey Hammell

6' 6"
Junior
F
Diante Mitchell

#11 Diante Mitchell

6' 1"
Junior
G
Spencer Svejcar

#20 Spencer Svejcar

6' 4"
Junior
G
Sekou

#2 Sekou 'Suki' Wiggs

6' 4"
Junior
G