ANCHORAGE – Tyrus Hosley scored a season-high 22 points and fellow senior guard Jack Macdonald had 13 points and three assists Thursday to propel the Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team to an 81-74 victory over Concordia-Portland in both teams' Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (7-2, 1-0 GNAC) also got 11 points from senior forward Niko Bevens to overcome a late charge by the visitors.

The Cavaliers (1-8, 0-1) were led by forward Hunter Sweet's 18 points as the Oregonians suffered their fifth loss by seven points or less.

"We've got to be better with protecting possessions and not being so loose with the ball," said UAA head coach Rusty Osborne, whose team offset an uncharacteristic 18 turnovers by shooting 49 percent (27 of 55) from the field. "We let them get back into it late, but luckily our shooters got just hot enough to carry us to a win. Tyrus is getting more comfortable in the offense every game, and that really shined through tonight."

The first half featured six ties and nine lead changes as UAA dug out of a seven-point hole, but still trailed 39-36 at the break.

The Seawolves flipped the momentum straight out of the halftime gate, getting two three-pointers from Hosley and two more from Bevens to account for a 12-0 run that claimed the lead for good.

Hosley – a senior transfer from NAIA program Northwest Christian – buried a three-pointer at the 7:13 mark to give UAA its largest advantage at 66-52, and the lead was 75-64 when Bevens made two free throws with 2:27 on the clock.

The Cavaliers would rally, however, pulling within 75-71 with 54 seconds left and slicing it to 77-74 on a trey by David Wheeler with 22 seconds remaining. Hosley followed with two free throws to extend the lead, before grabbing the rebound on Sweet's missed layup with 5 seconds left and finishing the scoring with two more charities.

The Vancouver, Wash. (Evergreen HS) product shot 6 of 9 from the field, 4 of 5 from long range and 6 of 6 at the free-throw line, along with three assists and a team-high-tying seven rebounds.

Junior center David Riley added six points (2-3 FG, 2-2 FT) and seven rebounds, while sophomore guard Tobin Karlberg and junior center Oggie Pantovic chipped in seven points apiece.

The Seawolves return to the Alaska Airlines Center on Saturday at 5:15 p.m. to face Western Oregon (5-1, 0-1) in another GNAC contest. Surf to AlaskaAirlinesCenter.com for tickets.