THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE MEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Thursday, Feb. 20 – 7:30 pm AST – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, AK
Montana State Billings (18-10, 9-6 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (11-16, 4-10 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Feb. 22 – 7:30 pm AST – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, AK
Seattle Pacific (14-12, 10-5 GNAC [Thu. @UAF]) at Alaska Anchorage
 
LIVE VIDEO: Both games free at youtube.com/uaaseawolves
LIVE STATS: goseawolves.com/sidearmstats/mbball
TICKETS: GoSeawolves.com
 
PROMOTIONS: Saturday's doubleheader is Alumni Night, presented by Premera ... UAA alumni get in free, plus up to three half-price ($5) tickets with code ALUMNI.
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2024-25 stats)
G—Tyler Burraston, 6-4, Jr. (13.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.3 apg, .401 3FG, .788 FT)
G—Dillon Barrientos, 6-1, Sr. (6.1 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 3.0 apg, .319 3FG, .591 FT)
G—Hasaan Herrington, 6-3, Jr. (9.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.6 spg, .480 FG, .757 FT)
F—Jesse Stines, 6-7, Jr. (5.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 0.8 bpg, .432 FG, .621 FT)
F—Bishop Tosi, 6-6, Jr. (11.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.7 apg, .548 FG, .685 FT)
 
HOME FINALES: The Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team concludes its 2024-25 home season with a pair of games this week against traditional rivals Montana State Billings and Seattle Pacific at the Alaska Airlines Center ... Saturday's contest will be 'senior night,' with pregame ceremonies scheduled to honor Dillon Barrientos, Luke Devine and Sean Evans.
 
KNOW THE FOES: Montana State Billings has won three straight and gone 7-1 since Jan. 23, moving into contention for a GNAC Tournament bye ... entering the week tied for fourth in the standings, the Yellowjackets are led by Kael Robinson (16.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 2.7 apg, .536 FG, .380 3FG) and Jalen Tot (15.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.9 spg, .752 FT) ... despite having its seven-game winning streak snapped Saturday at league leader Central Washington, Seattle Pacific currently sits second place in the league standings, half a game ahead of Northwest Nazarene for the second GNAC Tournament quarterfinal bye ... needing just one more win to clinch a GNAC Tourney berth, the Falcons are led by Owen Moriarity (14.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.4 spg, .361 3FG, .882 FT) and Jaxon Nap (11.8 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 2.4 apg, .559 FG).
 
THE SERIES...
vs MSUB: UAA leads 51-36 overall, 34-7 in Anchorage
Streak: MSUB 1
Last: MSUB 66-64 (1/25/25 at MSUB)
Notes: The last seven games (post-pandemic) have been decided by 7 points or fewer ... UAA leads 7-2 at the Alaska Airlines Center ... MSUB has not swept the regular-season series since 2019-20 ... UAA leads 22-11 in GNAC regular-season meetings since MSUB joined the league in 2007-08 ... MSUB is UAA's 3rd-most common opponent … teams met at least twice per season each year between 1981-82 and 2000-01 as members of the Great Northwest and Pac West conferences ... first meeting was in 1977-78 ... in 19 games from 1994-2001, teams combined to score 90-plus a total of 31 times ... in 34 games since the series resumed in 2008, neither has scored more than 90 points.
 
vs SPU: SPU leads 47-42 overall; UAA leads 30-13 in Anch.
Streak: SPU 5
Last: SPU 64-60 (1/23/25 at SPU)
Notes: The SPU's current win streak has come by a grand total of 14 points ... SPU leads 6-2 at the Alaska Airlines Center, including a 65-64 decision last season ... the road team has won 14 of the last 23 meetings ... 14 of the last 21 games have been decided by five points or fewer, including two OT contests ... 28 of the last 38 games have been decided by 11 points or fewer … SPU leads 31-14 in GNAC regular-season meetings, with six games going to OT … SPU is UAA's 2nd-most common opponent ... series started in UAA's first year of Div. II competition in 1977-78.
 
ABOUT LAST WEEK: The Seawolves suffered a 70-63 road loss to Alaska Fairbanks in their lone game last week, despite 10 points (2-4 FG, 6-8 FT), 9 rebounds and a career-high 4 steals from Jr. F Bishop Tosi ... Jr. G Tyler Burraston had 13 points (3-6 3FG) and Jr. G/F Hasaan Herrington added 10 points, 3 assists and a career-high 3 blocks, but the Nanooks shot 9 of 17 on threes in the second half to erase an early deficit ... Jr. F Jesse Stines had 6 points, 2 blocks and a career-high 4 assists, while Sr. F Luke Devine had 6 points and 4 rebounds in a season-high-tying 19 minutes.
 
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 (18.2), 26th in turnover margin (+3.4), 29th in fewest fouls per game (14.5) and 41st in fewest turnovers per game (11.1) ... the Seawolves are top-5 in the GNAC stats in 13 categories, including first in scoring defense, TO margin, A/T ratio (1.63), turnovers forced (14.5) and assists per game, and second in opponent 3FG% (.334), fewest turnovers per game 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 22 of 27 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 (17th GNAC) and a .401 3FG% (10th GNAC), while leading the conference and ranking top-15 nationally with 3.2 treys per game ... sporting four double-doubles, Jr. F Bishop Tosi has scored double figures 18 times and snagged at least five rebounds in 18 of 27 games, ranking as UAA's third-leading scorer with 11.4 ppg ... the former Bartlett High star is 11th in the GNAC in rebounding (6.0 rpg), 1st in offensive rebounding (3.0 orpg) and 7th in FG% (.548) ... 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, 4.8 rpg, 2.6 apg and 1.6 spg (9th GNAC), while shooting .480 from the field and .757 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 13th in the GNAC with 3.0 assists per game and 4th with a 3.1 A/T ratio, dishing multiple dimes in all but two games since Nov. 29 ... after suffering an 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 transferring 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 (360-231) 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)