ANCHORAGE – Senior point guard David Rowlands propelled a huge second-half surge with 20 points and six assists Saturday, helping the Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team close its regular season with an 85-76 victory over Saint Martin's at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (14-8, 9-6 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 19 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals from junior guard Tobin Karlberg as they erased a 10-point deficit and finished their home season with a 10-1 mark.

The Saints (18-8, 11-6) were led by a game-high 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting from guard Kyle Greeley, but the No. 5 team in the latest NCAA Div. II West Region rankings was hurt by 17 turnovers, which the Seawolves turned into 24 points. Despite the loss, the Lacey, Wash., club still claimed the GNAC regular-season title under this year's 'points ranking system,' which was installed for this season only, due the unbalanced league schedule.

"They did a good job of disrupting our offensive rhythm in the first half, but we were able to take their best punch and keep chipping away at their lead," said UAA head coach Rusty Osborne, whose team secured the No. 3 seed at next week's GNAC Championships with the victory. "Once we started turning their mistakes into points in the second half, it allowed us to take control. David's scoring and assists were impressive, but most importantly he and our other guards protected the ball, with us only committing seven turnovers as a team."

After falling to UAA 76-67 in the GNAC opener Dec. 2 in Washington, the Saints came out strong in the rematch, making seven of their first 10 three-pointers to claim a 37-27 lead.

Saint Martin's led 50-41 when Tyke Thompson dished one of his six assists to Brett Reed at the 14-minute mark, but the Seawolves responded with an 8-0 run, capped by an A.J. Garrity three-pointer.

UAA claimed its first lead since the opening minutes when Garrity drove for a layup at the 10:20 mark to make it 54-53, and Rowlands followed with one of his four three-pointers.

Junior forward Keegan Crosby – who grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds – assisted on a layup by Vojtech Ruzek for a 62-55 lead with 7:51 left, and four straight free throws by Karlberg and Rowlands gave the hosts their largest advantage, 73-61 with 4:27 to play.

SMU twice pulled within eight points, but could get no closer.

A grad transfer from Hawaii Pacific, Rowlands produced his second-most points as a Seawolf and his most in a GNAC game, shooting 4 of 7 from long range and 4 of 4 at the foul stripe, along with two steals and just one turnover in the full 40 minutes.

Karlberg also played the whole game, shooting 6 of 14 and running his three-point streak to 37 consecutive contests.

Pantovic shot 5 of 8 from the field and 5 of 6 at the free-throw line, while senior forward Hunter Sweet added 10 points, and Garrity finished with nine points and a career-high three steals.

The Seawolves will face 6th-seeded Seattle Pacific in the GNAC Championships quarterfinals Thursday at SPU, tipping at 6:30 p.m. AST.

Surf to GoSeawolves.com or gnacsports.com for live links to video and stats for the entire GNAC Championships.