ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Mar. 7) – Jaron Williams scored 23 points and fellow senior Tyson Gilbert had 19 points and five rebounds Thursday to power Alaska Anchorage to an 81-76 victory over Saint Martin's at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championships quarterfinals at Nicholson Pavilion.

The 6th-seeded Seawolves (21-9) also got 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting from senior guard Dathan Satchell and eight rebounds from senior forward Sawyer Storms as they completed a three-game season sweep of Saint Martin's.

With the victory, UAA advances to Friday's 4:15 p.m. AST semifinal against 2nd-seeded Northwest Nazarene.

The 3rd-seeded Saints (21-8) were led by 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting from forward Kyle Greeley, but were outrebounded 34-30 and made just 7 of 16 free throws.

"This has been a resilient group all year," said UAA head coach Rusty Osborne. "We've had to play different ways, and we've not been a very good (three-point percentage) shooting team all year, but we have some guys who hit them and hit them timely. Saint Martin's did a great job of extending their defense and taking those threes away from us over the last nine minutes, but we were able to get to the basket and take care of the ball."

After earning 71-68 and 80-79 regular-season wins over the Saints, Thursday's rematch was another back-and-forth affair in the early going. Saint Martin's – ranked No. 6 in the NCAA West Region –  answered a hot start by UAA to grab a 20-12 lead at the 10:45 mark of the opening half, only to see UAA respond with a 16-2 surge.

Senior guard Caleb Larsen started the run with four straight points, and Gilbert capped it with a free throw at the 5:02 mark. The Seawolves closed the half with the last seven points to grab a 37-30 lead, only to see the Saints storm back for a 40-40 tie.

Satchell provided the answer, however, swishing consecutive treys 40 seconds apart, and Storms added another for a 49-40 advantage.

Williams made two free throws to push the largest lead to 64-52 with 7:27 left, before the Saints began to chip away. After Jayshawn Moore's free throws cut it to 71-68 with 1:46 to play, Williams responded with a pair of free throws, and Gilbert found Storms for a layup to again make it a two-possession game at 75-70 with 56 seconds showing.

Saints forward Tyke Thompson missed a free throw 14 seconds later to keep the score 75-71, and the Seawolves would clinch the win by making 5 of 6 charities in the waning moments.

A local product from Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School, Williams collected the second-most points of his Seawolf career and his most in a GNAC contest, shooting 7 of 13 overall, 4 of 6 on threes and 5 of 5 on free throws.

Gilbert and Satchell each finished 3 of 6 from long range as UAA tied for its second-most treys of the season, making 13 of 30 attempts.

Junior point guard Dillon Barrientos collected seven points and a team-high four assists, while UAA got key bench contributions from Larsen (4 pts, one assist, one charge drawn) and sophomore wing Hasaan Herrington (1-1 3FG, 4 rebounds in second half).

The Seawolves offset Saint Martin's .556 (30 of 54) shooting performance by committing just six turnovers – their third-fewest this year – and making 14 of 18 (.778) charities.

Back in the GNAC semifinals for the third time in four seasons, UAA faces an NNU squad on the NCAA Tournament bubble with a No. 8 West Region rank. Both teams enter with 5-1 marks over their last six games, having split the season series with homecourt advantage holding.

Find live video and stats links for Friday's semifinal contest at GoSeawolves.com or gnacsports.com.