SEATTLE, Wash. – The Western Oregon University men's basketball team connected on over 52 percent from the field, hit 11 three-pointers and shot nearly 87 percent from the foul line. That still wasn't enough to overcome the 42 points from Shadeed Shabazz and a couple of late clutch shots by Alaska to send the Nanooks past the Wolves, 91-88, Thursday in the first round of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships.
Western Oregon (19-8) received big performances from Darius Lubom (24 points), Dalven Brushier (21 points), Cameron Cranston (17 points) and Emanuel Gant (16 points) as behind their big games, the Wolves held a 15-point halftime lead. WOU ended up going 32-61 (52.5) from the field, 11-26 (42.3) from three and 13-15 (86.7) at the foul line, but Alaska picked it up in the second half to end up shooting over 61 percent for the game making 34-55 (61.8), 11-22 (50) from three and 12-14 (85.7) at the foul line.
Shabazz piled up a new GNAC Championships record in points with his 42, making 15-22 from the field, 5-8 from three and 7-7 at the foul line before fouling out late in the game. Koby Huerta added a big 18 points, including a key jumper late in the game to push the lead to three.
Brushier and the Wolves came out firing to start with Brushier hitting a shot and then a three-pointer just over a minute in to give WOU a 5-0 lead. Brushier stayed on the attack hitting a pair of shots a few moments later to move the lead to 12-4.
After Alaska (12-17) fought back to take their first lead at 21-19, WOU would catch fire the rest of the half going on a 40-23 run to take their 15-point lead to the locker rooms. Holding a three-point lead (30-27) with just over seven minutes to go in the half, Cranston dialed long distance and after a layup by John Morrill-Keeler, Gant hit a long ball to give the Wolves a double-digit lead at 38-27. WOU kept the lead around that range the remainder of the half before Gant closed the scoring with another three-pointer for the 59-44 lead at halftime.
Just as quickly as WOU built their first half lead, Alaska came out of the second half on fire. Over the first five minutes of the second stanza, the Nanooks went on a 19-4 run to even the game at 63.
The Wolves looked to be back in good shape taking a two-point lead near the midway point of the half and stretching it back to eight. Gant hit a jumper and then a pair of layups by Lubom had WOU looking at a 77-69 lead at the 7:45 mark.
Alaska then went on another run, ripping off a 12-0 run over the next almost four minutes to take an 81-77 lead with four minutes to play.
Gant hit a big layup on the next possession off an assist by Lubom, before Lubom tied the game again with two from the line to even the score at 81 with 3:17 to play. Lubom kept his big game going, as Alex Sommerfield hit a three for Alaska, then Lubom answered on the other end with his own long ball to tie the game at 84.
The next trip down the floor was big, as Shabazz tried to drive for a layup, but was called for the charge which was his fifth foul with two minutes to play. That meant the Nanooks had to play a tied game without the GNAC Player of the Year.
WOU took advantage after the offensive foul when Gant got loose for another layup and an 86-84 lead. The Nanooks answered with Markel Banks stepping up and hitting on a layup to tie the game at 86. On the next WOU possession, an errant pass gave the ball back to Alaska and Spencer Sweet hit a big three-pointer with the shot clock winding down to move the Nanooks to an 89-86 lead with 46 seconds to play. Lubom quickly pushed, answering right back with a layup to trim the lead back to one with 38 seconds. Alaska then relied on Huerta, as the point guard whittled the clock down before driving. He was able to get a few WOU defenders in the air before hitting a shot just outside the paint that rolled all the way around the rim before falling to move Alaska to a 91-88 lead with eight seconds to play.
Out of a WOU timeout, the Wolves looked for the tying three-pointer. Lubom drove baseline and kicked it to the corner for Cranston. With a defender right on him, he launched the potential tying shot, but it just missed and time ran out with Alaska taking the 91-88 victory.
The numbers were close across the board, even in the extra statistical categories as Alaska held the edge on points off turnovers (22-17), bench points (22-20) and fastbreak points (20-18). WOU held the edge on second-chance points (10-2) and points in the paint (38-34).
The two teams played three close games this year, with Alaska taking two of the three that were decided by a combined 15 points. Alaska won the first game in Fairbanks (72-66), WOU won the end of the regular season game in Monmouth (95-89), before the Nanooks took the GNAC Championships game today (91-88).
WOU will now wait to see if they will make the NCAA Tournament field as they entered the week in the eighth and final spot in the West Regional Rankings from Wednesday. The top eight teams in the region will make the 64-team NCAA Tournament field that will be announced this Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. (Pacific).
