ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A potential game-tying lay-in by junior Julian Nichols with 2.4 seconds left rattled around the rim before falling off, as Western Oregon University's No. 20-ranked men's basketball team dropped its next-to-last game of the regular season against the University of Alaska Anchorage, 80-78, in Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) action Thursday inside the all-new Alaska Airlines Center.

"We played very hard tonight," said Head Coach Brady Bergeson. "I'm proud of the team. We gave every effort and they just made shots. We couldn't make them miss enough to seal it."

Western Oregon (22-5, 14-3 GNAC) had three players score in double figures led by junior Devon Alexander with a game-high 20 points, while junior Andy Avgi and Nichols added 19 and 14 points, respectively. Avgi led all players with a game-high eight rebounds in his return from a two-game absense due to a medical condition, while Nichols handed out a team-high four assists to go along with a game-high tying three steals.

Alaska Anchorage (15-12, 11-6 GNAC) was led offensively by Derrick Fain and Christian Leckband with 16 points each, while Dom Hunter and preseason GNAC Player of the Year Travis Thompson added 14 and 11 points, respectively. Sjur Berg led the Seawolves with six rebounds, while Brian McGill handed out a game-high eight assists for UAA.

The first half began with Western Oregon quickly building a seven-point lead (12-5) on a fast break lay-in by Alexander with 14:47 on the clock. Despite Alaska Anchorage pulling within two points (16-14) on a Hunter three-pointer, the visiting Wolves pushed their lead to nine points (31-22) thanks to a 15-8 run that was capped with a jumper in the paint by Alexander with 7:43 left in the opening half. Over the final seven-plus minutes, Alaska Anchorage used a 19-6 run that resulted in a 41-37 lead for the Seawolves at halftime.

Alaska Anchorage would continue to hold the lead in the second half until Western Oregon took its first lead since late in the first half (58-57) on a pair of free throws by Nichols with just under 11 minutes left. Forty seconds later, Nichols would hit two more free throws as the Wolves extended their lead to 60-57 with 10:13 remaining in the game. Both teams would go back-and-forth over the next eight minutes until Alaska Anchorage grabbed a five-point lead (74-69) on a three-pointer by Leckband with 2:55 left. The teams would trade free throws over the next 30 seconds, as Avgi hit a pair of Western Oregon and Thompson was perfect on two for UAA. Still holding a five-point lead (76-71), Alaska Anchorage fouled Avgi on a made basket sending the junior forward to the line to complete the backend of an old-fashion three-point play that pulled the Wolves within two points (76-74) with 2:19 on the clock. Leckband would knock down a baseline jumper twenty seconds later to put the Seawolves back ahead 78-74 before Thompson converted a lay-in with just over one minute left to put UAA ahead 80-74. A mere seven seconds later, Avgi pulled Western Oregon within four points (80-76) before Alexander registered a steal a midcourt and then drove to the basket converting a lay-in that brought the Wolves back within a single bucket (80-78) with 49.5 seconds left. A missed lay-in by UAA's McGill and a rebound by Avgi gave Western Oregon one final chance to either tie the game or potentially win it on a three-pointer. With 8.1 seconds left in the game, Western Oregon set-up a sidelines out-of-bounds play that got the ball into Nichols' hands. As the junior point guard drove to the basket, his left-handed lay-in rolled around the rim before falling off as Alexander picked up the ensuing loose ball but could not get off a clean look resulting in an 80-78 upset victory for Alaska Anchorage.

As a team, Western Oregon combined to shoot 27-for-56 (48.2%) from the field that included a 9-for-28 (32.1%) performance from beyond the three-point line and a 15-for-18 (83.3%) showing at the free throw line. On the other hand, Alaska Anchorage was a combined 29-for-52 (55.8%) from the field, 12-of-22 (54.5%) from long distance, and a perfect 10-for-10 at the charity stripe.

Western Oregon will close out the regular season on Saturday, February 28, against the University of Alaska beginning at 7:30 p.m. (Alaska Time) in Fairbanks. The Wolves will then move onto the GNAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed beginning at Friday, March 6, at 7:30 p.m. (MT) in Billings, Montana.