THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE MEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Saturday, Feb. 15 – 3 pm AST – Patty Center – Fairbanks, Alaska
Alaska Anchorage (11-15, 4-9 GNAC) at Alaska Fairbanks (9-13, 5-8 GNAC)
 
LIVE VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=FSgGgOZUyGU
LIVE STATS: alaskananooks.com/sidearmstats/mbball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2024-25 stats)
G—Tyler Burraston, 6-4, Jr. (13.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.4 apg, .398 3FG, .774 FT)
G—Dillon Barrientos, 6-1, Sr. (6.0 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 3.0 apg, .304 3FG, .591 FT)
G—Hasaan Herrington, 6-3, Jr. (9.0 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.5 spg, .488 FG, .753 FT)
F—Jesse Stines, 6-7, Jr. (5.1 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.7 bpg, .443 FG, .621 FT)
F—Bishop Tosi, 6-6, Jr. (11.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.7 apg, .549 FG, .679 FT)
 
FOCUSED ON FAIRBANKS: The Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team makes its annual sojourn north to face arch-rival Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday (3 p.m.) at the Patty Center ... the Seawolves are looking to avenge last month's loss in Anchorage and catch the Nanooks for seventh place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings.
 
KNOW THE 'NOOKS: Alaska Fairbanks has followed a 4-1 stretch with six straight losses since Jan. 23, although three of those defeats came in one- or two-possession affairs ... the Nanooks are led by Isaiah Saams-Hoy (15.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 3.3 apg, .389 3FG) and Chris Lee (15.0 ppg, 4.0 apg, .788 FT).
 
THE SERIES...
vs UAF: UAA leads 87-27 overall, 37-19 in Fairbanks
Streak: UAF 2
Last: UAF 76-74 (1/18/25 at UAA)
Notes: UAF has won three of the last four meetings, with UAA's win coming 64-58 last season in Fairbanks ... UAF is looking for its first three-game win streak since taking four straight from Nov. 24, 1979 to Nov. 21, 1980 ... 13 of the last 25 games have been decided by six points or less, or in overtime … UAA leads 34-10 in GNAC regular-season meetings (since 2001-02) … teams have met at least twice each year (with the exception of 2020-21, when neither played) since both became NCAA Div. II programs in 1977-78.
 
ABOUT LAST WEEK: The Seawolves dropped a pair of contests at league leaders Central Washington (76-66) and Northwest Nazarene (72-51) last week, despite career-high efforts from a trio of players ... on Thursday, Jr. F Bishop Tosi tallied a career-best 28 points (12-18 FG), along with 4 assists, but UAA could not finish a late comeback effort in a rematch of last year's GNAC Tournament title game ... Jr. G Tyler Burraston added 13 points and 6 rebounds as UAA lost despite ouboarding the Wildcats 29-25 ... on Saturday, Jr. G/F Hasaan Herrington had 11 points and set a new UAA career high with 9 rebounds in Nampa, but the Seawolves were hurt by 18 turnovers in the setback ... Jr. F Jesse Stines scored a career-high 11 points (4-7 FG, 3-5 3FG), while So. F Sloan Lentfer matched his season high with 10 points (5-8 FG).
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA holds top-10 NCAA Div. II national ranks in assist/turnover ratio (7th, 1.67) and scoring defense (7th, 63.5), along with ranks of 12th in assists per game (18.3), 26th in turnover margin (+3.6), 29th in fewest fouls per game (14.5) and 41st in fewest turnovers per game (11.0) ... the Seawolves are top-5 in the GNAC stats in 13 categories, including first in scoring defense, TO margin, A/T ratio and assists per game, and second in opponent 3FG% (.329), fewest turnovers per game, turnovers forced (14.5) and offensive rebounding (12.3) ... UAA's .724 FG% against Portland Bible broke the program record of .700 (35-50) from an NCAA Tournament victory over UC Riverside on Mar. 7, 1986, while the 27 points allowed to Portland Bible and Johnson & Wales both broke the record set two years ago against Portland Bible ... after going 22-11 last year, UAA has earned .500-or-better records in 16 of the past 17 seasons, and 37 winning records in 46 seasons of NCAA Div. II existence ... the 2023-24 Seawolves claimed the program's 33rd winning conference record in 42 years belonging to a league ... last year marked the 17th 20-win season for UAA since becoming an NCAA Div. II program in 1977-78.
 
'WOLF BITES: Jr. G Tyler Burraston has scored double figures in 21 of 26 games, earning MVP honors at the Hoops In Hawaii Classic and averaging 17.0 ppg in UAA's road wins over WWU and SFU ... the Utah native and Green River (Wash.) College transfer matched his season-high 23 points in the victory over CSU-Pueblo and hit the game-winning trey against Newberry with one second left ... Burraston leads UAA with 13.1 ppg (18th GNAC) and a .398 3FG% (12th GNAC), while leading the conference and ranking 13th nationally with 3.2 treys per game ... sporting four double-doubles, Jr. F Bishop Tosi has scored double figures 17 times and snagged at least five rebounds in 17 of 26 games, ranking as UAA's third-leading scorer with 11.5 ppg ... the former Bartlett High star is 12th in the GNAC in rebounding (5.9 rpg), 1st in offensive rebounding (3.0 orpg) and 7th in FG% (.549) ... one of seven Alaskans on the Seawolf roster, Jr. G Hasaan Herrington has blossomed into one of the GNAC's most well-rounded players, averaging 9.0 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.5 apg and 1.5 spg (8th GNAC), while shooting .488 (19th GNAC) from the field and .753 at the FT line ... the former East Anchorage HS star scored double figures in a career-best six consecutive games Jan. 2-23, and on Feb. 1 provided 17 points, 8 rebounds and the game-winning layup against SFU ... Sr. G Dillon Barrientos ranks 14th in the GNAC with 3.0 assists per game, dishing multiple dimes in all but two games since Nov. 29 ... after suffering at injury at Seattle Pacific on Jan. 23, the Seawolves will miss the services Sr. G Sean Evans, who had emerged as the Seawolves' second-leading scorer (12.6 ppg) since transfering from Nebraska-Kearney ... at the time of his injury, the Colorado native was 4th in the GNAC with 4.3 assists per game, 3rd in A/T ratio at 2.6, and 20th in scoring ... Evans was the GNAC Player of the Week for Dec. 30-Jan. 5 after going for a career- and UAA season-high 32 points at Simon Fraser.
 
TRUST IN RUSTY: In his 20th season (21st year) at the helm, head coach Rusty Osborne (360-230) has led the Seawolves to six NCAA Tournament bids, including advancement to the 2008 NCAA Div. II Semifinals, and 16 records of .500-or-better in the last 17 seasons … the longest tenured coach in program history and in the GNAC, he became the first UAA coach in any sport to reach 300 career victories when the Seawolves beat Hawaii Pacific on Nov. 13, 2021 … Osborne captured GNAC and NABC West District coach-of-the-year awards in 2008 after becoming the second coach to lead UAA to three consecutive NCAA berths (2006-08), and in 2011-12 his Seawolves posted a 24-10 record to equal the 2nd-most victories in program history; Osborne's 2007-08 club holds that record with a 29-6 mark … before taking over the head job in 2004-05, the Texas native previously served 13 seasons (1991-04) as a UAA assistant, including 11 years as the top assistant … the Seawolves have won over 60 percent of their games with Osborne on the staff, claiming four conference titles and eight trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament ... Osborne is assisted by associate head coach Ryan Orton (10th season/11th year) and Ryan Engebretsen (4th season/5th year).
 
2024-25 Seawolf Individual Honors
DILLON BARRIENTOS
Preseason All-GNAC Team
TYLER BURRASTON
Hoops In Hawaii Classic MVP
LUKE DEVINE
GNAC All-Academic Team
SEAN EVANS
GNAC Player of the Week, Dec. 30-Jan. 5
SLOAN LENTFER
GNAC All-Academic Team
BISHOP TOSI
GNAC Player of the Week, Dec. 2-8
Preseason All-GNAC Team
 
UAA School Records Broken/Tied in 2024-25
TEAM
Game
Fewest Points Allowed – 27 vs Portland Bible, Nov. 24; and vs Johnson & Wales, Dec. 20 (old record: 28 vs Portland Bible, 12/29/22)
Fewest Points Allowed, 2nd half – 11 vs Portland Bible, Nov. 24 (old record: 13 at Carver Bible, 12/30/99)
Highest FG% – .724 [42-58] vs Portland Bible, Nov. 23 (old record: .700 [35-50] vs UC Riverside, 3/7/86)