• Boxscore & Play-by-Play

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The men's contest followed the same script as the women's game that preceded it Wednesday. Unfortunately, the repetitive result was a frustrating loss for visiting Seattle Pacific and a narrow come-from-behind victory for the home team.

Brandon Walker hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 24.6 seconds remaining Wednesday, keying a game-closing nine-point run for Alaska Anchorage in a 72-67 victory over SPU in the semifinal round of the inaugural Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

After Ryan Sweet converted four consecutive free throws to provide a 67-63 SPU lead, the Seawolves scored nine unanswered points over the final 1:40.

Anchorage evened the score on two free throws from Taylor Rohde and then, after a missed free throw by SPU freshman David Downs, Walker drained his decisive trey from the top of the key for a 70-67 margin.

Jeff Downs and Ryan Sweet each missed a potential tying 3-pointer during the final 12 seconds before Rohde grabbed a rebound and sealed the outcome on two free throws with 1.6 seconds on the clock.

“I don't think it was what they were doing on offense, they just had some guys make big plays down the stretch,” SPU coach Ryan Looney said of UAA's late scoring spree. “I was happy with how hard we played. We played hard enough to win on a lot of nights.”

The Falcons lack of depth came into play as all five starters saw more than 30 minutes of action, including 38 by Jeff Downs and 37 by Scott Morse. Their early season depth took a hit when a pair of returning starters was injured during the conference season.

It was on SPU's last trip to Alaska, in early January, that All-American point guard Chris Banchero suffered a season-ending knee injury. The 2010 GNAC Player of the Year was joined on the sidelines later that month by junior Jake Anderson.

UAA (23-8) visits 10th-ranked Central Washington for Friday's GNAC championship game that will be televised live at 5 p.m. on FSN Northwest. The top-seeded Wildcats defeated No. 5 Northwest Nazarene 76-58 in the other semifinal.

The Anchorage women's team is also bound for the semifinals after rallying from a 19-point deficit to edge the Falcons 68-66.

Andy Poling scored 20 points to lead the SPU men, who also got 16 from Sweet, 12 from David Downs and 10 from Jeff Downs.

Walker, Rohde and Lonnie Ridgeway each tallied 16 points to pace the Seawolves.

The Falcons (19-9) are likely to receive their seventh straight NCAA Division II Tournament invitation when the 64-team field is announced Sunday night. They rose to No. 5 in the West Region rankings that were released Wednesday afternoon.

“I feel good about where we are at,” Looney said. “At the same time we're going to have to wait for a couple days here to see what plays out with the other teams in the region.”

Eight teams from the West will be selected to participate in the playoffs that will be hosted by the region's top seed.

SPU lost despite outrebounding Anchorage 35-24, led by the 10 boards of Sweet and nine from Poling.

The 3-point line was the difference Wednesday in Alaska as the home team hit 10 of 21 treys while the Falcons were just 5 of 18.

“In the second half we had some lapses defensively and didn't guard the 3-point line well enough,” Looney described.

In SPU's first trip to Anchorage this season, a 78-61 loss on Jan. 8, the Seawolves made 14 of 25 shots from 3-point range. The Falcons won the rematch 78-78 on Feb. 3 in Seattle, holding UAA shooters to 8 of 21 accuracy on treys.

In the first half, back-to-back baskets by Sweet capped a 12-3 run that gave SPU its largest lead at 24-12 with 8:57 left in the period. The Seawolves immediately stormed back with a 16-2 surge. Ridgeway netted eight points during the stretch that yielded a 28-26 lead with 2:50 showing on the clock.

The Falcons tallied the final eight points of the period, including a putback by Kellan Moll with four seconds remaining that produced a 34-28 halftime advantage.


NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
GNAC Tournament – Semifinal
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Wells Fargo Sports Complex/Anchorage, Alaska

ALASKA ANCHORAGE 72, SEATTLE PACIFIC 67

SEATTLE PACIFIC (19-9)
Sweet 6-13 4-4 16, Morse 1-1 0-0 3, Poling 8-16 4-5 20, D. Downs 5-9 0-1 12, J. Downs 4-12 0-1 10, Niang 1-2 0-0 2, Carel 1-1 0-1 2, Moll 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 27-56 8-12 67.

ALASKA ANCHORAGE (23-8)
Ridgeway 6-10 3-4 16, Walker 6-11 0-0 16, Rohde 5-8 6-9 16, Gill 3-5 0-0 9, Robinson 2-7 2-2 6, White 1-3 0-0 3, Thompson 1-3 0-0 3, Peterson 1-2 1-1 3, Robinson 0-6 0-0 0. Totals 25-55 12-16 72.

Halftime – SPU 34-28.

3-point goals--SPU 5-18 (J. Downs 2-7, D. Downs 2-5, Morse 1-1, Moll 0-1, Sweet 0-4), UAA 10-21 (Walker 4-6, Gill 3-4, Ridgeway 1-2, White 1-1, Thompson 1-1, Robinson 0-5, Robinson 0-2). Fouled out--SPU-Poling, UAA-None. Rebounds--SPU 35 (Sweet 10), UAA 24 (Gill 6). Assists--SPU 20 (D. Downs 6), UAA 16 (Walker 4; Gill 4). Total fouls--SPU 16, UAA 17. Technical fouls--SPU-None, UAA-None. A-775.