HONOLULU (Dec. 18) – Senior guard Dathan Satchell matched his season high with 16 points, but the Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team could not pull off an upset of No. 9 Cal State San Bernardino in a back-and-forth affair, falling 70-64 in the Hoops In Hawaii Classic on Monday at The Shark Tank.

The Seawolves (9-3) also got 12 points and three steals from senior guard Tyson Gilbert and nine points from Jaron Williams as they lost despite outshooting the defending NCAA Div. II West Region champs .469 (23 of 49) to .421 (24-57).

The Coyotes (8-2) were led by 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting from reserve LeAndrew Knight, who snapped a 64-64 tie on a layup with 54 seconds remaining.

"We played hard and battled, but we were our own worst enemy," said UAA head coach Rusty Osborne, whose team's depth was hurt by missing reserve guard Trey Evans (illness) for the second straight night. "It's hard to win a one-possession game if you miss open layups and free throws. We guarded well enough, but when we had to match their small lineup, we did not rebound, and the second shots hurt us."

CSUSB won the rebounding battle 37-27 on the strength of 17 offensive boards, and outscored UAA 13-6 in second-chance points.

"Missing Trey hurt when (starting point guard) Dillon (Barrientos) got into foul trouble," Osborne added. "On the positive, we were much more poised offensively and it was nice to see Dathan break out finally. He not only scored, but defended well and competed. We need to regroup and get ready for a rematch with a very good Hawaii Pacific team. Tonight we showed that we can compete with the elite teams in the region, even not at full strength."

After starting slowly in Sunday's 51-49 win over Texas-Tyler in their tournament opener, the Seawolves flipped the script with a hot start against CSUSB. Satchell nailed a three-pointer to claim a 13-4 lead in the first five minutes, and UAA pushed the advantage to 38-28 on a pull-up jumper by Gilbert with a minute left in the half.

The Coyotes finished with a 5-0 run to end the stanza, however, and scored the first six points of the second half to claim their first lead. Knight scored inside for a 47-42 Coyotes lead with 14:03 left, but Gilbert answered just 23 seconds later, and the game would remain a one-possession affair until the final minute.

The second half featured 10 ties and nine lead changes, as Williams scored off a steal by Satchell to claim a 64-62 edge with 2:20 remaining. The Seawolves could not crack the scoreboard again, however, seeing Sedrick Altman and Knight score on CSUSB's next two chances, and Robby Robinson made 4 of 4 free throws in the final 25 seconds.

Satchell – a Preseason All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference pick – shot 6 of 12 from the field and had four assists, two steals and just one turnover in a team-high 33 minutes to break out of a recent scoring slump.

Gilbert shot 5 of 9, while starting posts Lyman Simmons and Sawyer Storms led the Seawolves with five rebounds apiece.

UAA faces HPU at 7 p.m. AST Tuesday to conclude its three-games-in-three-days trip.