ANCHORAGE – Senior forward Tyler Brimhall had 15 points and nine rebounds but a late comeback attempt fell short for the Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team in a 74-70 loss to Western Washington on Thursday at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (10-6, 3-2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting from junior center Oggie Pantovic as the fell for the first time in three league games at home this season.

The Vikings (9-4, 4-1) were led by 17 points and 14 rebounds from 7-foot center Logan Schilder and the GNAC preseason coaches' poll favorites won the battle of the boards 41-34 to pull one game ahead of UAA at the one-quarter mark of the league campaign.

"That was a great game between to very good teams, and credit Western for making the big plays at the end of the that made the difference," said UAA head coach Rusty Osborne, whose team made 12 of 27 shots from long range but struggled to 12-of-32 shooting inside the arc. "Our effort was there all night, but we just can't afford to miss easy layups and expect to win close games against quality competition like that. We will regroup and get focused for a very good Simon Fraser team on Saturday."

Playing their first home game in 33 days, the Seawolves started slow, falling behind 13-3 before changing the momentum with an early timeout.

Behind 12 first-half points from Brimhall, UAA grabbed a 41-38 lead at the break and extended it to 50-43 on consecutive three-pointers from Jack Macdonald. The visitors from Bellingham answered with a 15-1 run, however, to claim a 58-51 lead with 10:51 on the clock.

Niko Bevens drained one of his four three-pointers to stem Western's surge, and Pantovic regained the lead for UAA with a short jumper at the 5:54 mark.

The lead would change three times in the next five minutes, however, and the Vikings forged a 71-66 on four straight free throws from RJ Secrest and D'Angelo Minnis.

Pantovic nailed a three-pointer as the shot clock expired to make it a one-possession affair and Brimhall spilt a pair of free throws for a 73-70 deficit with 57 seconds left. After a defensive stop, the Seawolves went inside to Pantovic, but the junior from Serbia missed with 13 seconds remaining. Vikings forward Sian Rojas grabbed the rebound and was fouled, making on one of two free throws for the final margin.

Brimhall shot 4 of 6 from long range, Macdonald was 3 of 4 and Bevens 4 of 6, while junior point guard DeAndre Osuigwe delivered a UAA season- and career-high nine assists.

UAA returns to the Alaska Airlines Center at 5:15 p.m. Saturday to face Simon Fraser. Surf to AlaskaAirlinesCenter.com for tickets.