BELLINGHAM, Wash. (Mar. 7) – Alaska Anchorage senior guard Akok Machar scored a team-high 14 points to help his team to an early lead, but top-seeded Saint Martin's pulled away for a 74-62 victory Saturday in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships title game at Carver Gymnasium.

Seeded No. 2 in the tournament and ranked No. 5 in the NCAA Div. II West Region, the Seawolves (21-10) are still in good position for an at-large NCAA Tournament berth. The announcement of that field will come at 7 pm ADT Sunday at ncaa.com.

Saint Martin's (25-5) – ranked No. 2 in the West and No. 21 in the NABC national poll – got a game-high 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting from tournament MVP Patrick Kilfoil, along with 12 points apiece from Pablo Navarro and GNAC Player of the Year Kaden Hansen. The Saints earned the league's automatic NCAA bid with the victory, along with their program's first GNAC tournament title.

"We got off to a good start and we had some good looks in the first half and just missed them," said UAA head coach Rusty Osborne, whose team went double-overtime to defeat Alaska Fairbanks on Friday. "I don't know if it was tired legs, but Saint Martin's is a good team, and they played and shot well. I'm as proud of my guys right now as I have been all season. Yes, it hurts, and every time you get a chance to win a championship and not win it, it hurts, but they were just better than us tonight."

Machar shot 4 of 8 from the field and grabbed six boards as he joined Sylas Williams on the all-tournament team.

Meeting seven days after a Saint Martin's buzzer-beating 57-56 victory in Anchorage, the opening minutes shaped up as another tight affair.

Machar was a one-man show for the first four and a half minutes, scoring UAA's first 10 points and helping UAA gain a 14-9 edge on a Williams three-pointer at the 13:19 mark. The momentum would not last, however, as Saint Martin's answered with three straight three-pointers to take the lead for good.

First Team All-GNAC point guard Hasaan Herrington scored to end a long UAA drought, and Machar rattled home a jumper to stay within 25-20 at the 4:41 mark before the Saints took a 34-25 lead into the locker room.

SMU continued its surge to start the second half as Kilfoil completed a three-point play and followed with one of his six treys to make it 54-33. The Saints pushed their largest lead to 72-43, but the Seawolf bench came through to slice the deficit in the final minutes.

Sophomore guard Jeremiah Coleman matched his career high with nine points on 3-of-4 shooting, while sophomore center Lyman Simmons notched five points (5-6 FT), three rebounds and an assist.

UAA will learn its NCAA Tournament fate when the field is announced at 7 pm ADT Sunday at ncaa.com. The West Regional is expected to be held in Hayward, Calif., Mar. 13-16, with unbeaten Cal State East Bay as the host.