ANCHORAGE (Jan. 27) – Senior guard Tyson Gilbert scored a career-high 28 points and the Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team held off a late rally by nationally top-ranked Saint Martin's on Saturday for a 71-68 victory at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (15-5, 5-4 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 12 points and four assists from junior point guard Dillon Barrientos as they outrebounded the visitors from Lacey, Wash., 39-31.

The Saints (17-2, 7-2) were led by 14 points from senior guard Kyle Greeley, who missed a tying three-pointer in the final seconds. Center Shakeem Alcindor added 10 points and point guard Jaden Nielsen-Skinner had nine points, seven rebounds and six assists as SMU's 10-game winning streak was snapped.

"We showed great character and resilience all night," said UAA head coach Rusty Osborne, whose team recovered from an early 9-2 deficit with a 21-0 run. "Tyson was amazing, but it was really our depth and contributions up and down the lineup that helped us get this win. Trey Evans (3 assists) gave us some big minutes in the first half, and guys like Hasaan Herrington, Jaron Williams and others made huge hustle plays that made the difference late."

Coming off a 55-53 home loss to Western Oregon two days earlier, the Seawolves got 18 points from Gilbert in a span of six minutes, 32 seconds in the opening half, building a 23-9 advantage.

UAA took a 33-25 lead into the locker room, although Gilbert picked up his third foul with just over a minute remaining. The Saints scored eight straight points to forge a 36-36 tie with 15:58 left, before Gilbert hit two free throws and fed Barrientos for a layup in the paint.

Greeley nailed one of his three three-pointers to make it 51-51 with 8:39 left, but the Saints could never regain the lead. Williams swished a free-throw-line jumper to retake the lead for UAA, then intercepted a pass and dished to Gilbert for a fast-break layup and traditional three-point play.

A three-pointer from Dathan Satchell made it 59-52, but the visitors would continue to chip away and trailed just 63-61 at the 5-minute mark.

UAA responded with the next six points – getting consecutive putback layups from Herrington and Satchell – and clung to a 69-66 lead with two minutes left.

After two Barrientos free throws, Nielsen-Skinner drove strong and drew contact, getting to the line for two successful free throws with 61 seconds remaining. Saint Martin's got another lift when Sawyer Storms threw the ball away with 41 seconds left, but could not capitalize. Greeley missed a three-pointer that was knocked out of bounds by UAA with nine seconds on the clock, and his attempt seconds later from the top of the key bounced off and into the hands of Barrientos, who dribbled out the clock.

"Those are the kind of games that you dream about growing up," said Gilbert, who topped his previous best by one point. "The guys did a great job early of setting me up, and we just stuck with it. That was an incredible team win. Defensively we're all connected, and I'm just really proud of our guys how we bounced back from a tough loss the other night."

A 1,000-point career scorer, Gilbert shot 8 of 13 from the field (5-7 3FG) and made all seven of his free throws. He also added five rebounds and two assists, doing all of his damage in just 25 minutes.

Barrientos scored nine of his 12 points in the second half, while Herrington, Williams and Storms accounted for eight points apiece. Storms tied for game-high honors with seven rebounds, and Herrington grabbed his most boards as a Seawolf with six.

The Seawolves return to the Alaska Airlines Center in seven days to face Alaska Fairbanks in a 7 p.m. tip. Find tickets, live links and more at GoSeawolves.com.