HONOLULU (Nov. 11) – Senior guard
Da'Zhon Wyche scored 29 points to lead a huge second-half comeback, but the Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team fell just shy Friday in an 82-77 loss to Chaminade at The Shark Tank.
The Seawolves (2-1) also got 12 points and eight rebounds from junior forward
Sawyer Storms as they nearly erased a 43-23 halftime deficit.
The Silverswords (1-0) were led by 22 points, 11 rebounds and five assists from guard Ross Reeves, who boosted his team to a 54-30 rebounding advantage.
"For as poorly as we played to end the first half, I'm extremely proud of the way our guys made the adjustments at halftime and the effort they put forward to make that comeback," said UAA head coach
Rusty Osborne. "We know we can continue to improve game-to-game the same way that we did from half-to-half tonight."
Playing their first fellow NCAA Div. II opponent this season, the Seawolves were sharp in the opening four minutes, making 5-of-6 shots to grab a 10-7 lead. But UAA went cold as the Silverswords took control with their interior play, shooting 14 of 22 from two-point range in the opening 20 minutes.
Wyche opened the second half with a three-pointer to foreshadow UAA's rally, but the Seawolves still trailed 53-32 with 16:47 remaining. Fellow newcomers
Jaron Williams and
Lachlan Viney helped propel UAA to a 13-2 run over the next three minutes with their defense, slicing it to 55-45 on a layup by Williams.
UAA still trailed 76-63 with three minutes left when junior guard
Caleb Larsen struck for a three-pointer to propel a final push. Wyche nailed consecutive treys to make it 78-74 with 58 seconds to play, and Storms followed with a rebound basket 15 seconds later.
Jaedon Bradley was fouled on a defensive rebound and made one of two free throws to slice it to 78-77 with 42 seconds remaining, but the Seawolves could not score again.
Wyche shot 11 of 26 from the field as he came one point shy of his D-II career high of 30 points from his days at Texas-Tyler. The former West Anchorage High School star also had three assists and a game-high five steals.
Storms shot 5 of 6 from the field against his former team and dished a pair of assists, while Williams came through with six points, four rebounds, two assists, no turnovers and three steals off the bench.
UAA returns to action Saturday on the same court when it faces Hawaii Pacific at 7:30 p.m. AST. Surf to GoSeawolves.com for live video (pay-per-view) and stats links.
