• Final Stats
     • VIDEO: Jobi Wall

SEATTLE –- One gauge of a great team is when the players can overcome a subpar performance and get a win.
 
Jobi Wall scored all of his 13 points in the second half, including a 3-pointer with 6:41 left to play Thursday that gave fourth-ranked Seattle Pacific its first lead of a 59-56 victory over Alaska Anchorage in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball game at Brougham Pavilion.
 
“It's definitely a sign of a great team,” SPU coach Ryan Looney said. “We played the third-place team in the league, we were down for a large stretch of the game and I felt like our team was a little bit uninspired and disinterested tonight. But when it mattered, we found a way to get it done.”
 


The second-place Falcons (22-3) improved to 15-2 in league play. They can still claim a tie for the regular-season conference championship with a home win Saturday night over Alaska Fairbanks paired with a Western Washington loss to Simon Fraser that afternoon. WWU has a 16-1 GNAC record.
 
UAA (17-8) remained in a third-place tie in the GNAC standings despite having its conference record drop to 10-7.
 
Anchorage increased an eight-point halftime lead to 33-22 just 2:45 into the second half.
 
After an exchange of points, SPU scored six straight points, the final four coming on layups by Wall.
 
The Falcons trailed 41-38 before Wall ignited an eight-point run on two free throws with 7:46 left to play. He followed with the go-ahead trey from the right baseline that just beat the shot clock.
 
Sophomore guard Riley Stockton (Spokane, Wash./Ferris HS) set up Wall's pivotal 3-pointer, driving the left baseline toward the hoop before dishing the ball out to the right side.
 
“Our guys made a nice decision,” Looney described. “We say all the time that if it gets in a late shot-clock situation we want to try to attack the basket on the baseline if we can. And the backside wing is supposed to drift to the corner. They did exactly what they're supposed to do.”
 
When teammate Patrick Simon capped the surge with a 3-pointer, SPU owned a 46-41 advantage with 5:45 remaining.
 
“We finally got it figure out defensively and strung a bunch of stops together. And during that time we got a couple shots to fall from Jobi Wall and Patrick Simon,” said Looney.
 
The Seawolves twice drew within one point inside the final 25 seconds, but Wall secured the outcome on a pair of free throws with 4.9 seconds on the clock. The visitors attempted a potential game-tying 3-pointer, but Teancum Stafford's contested jumper went wide of the basket.
 
Junior point guard David Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) scored 13 points to tie Wall for SPU team-high scoring honors. The Falcons shot 50 percent after halftime (9 of 18), including 5-for-7 accuracy behind the 3-point arc.
 
Stockton finished with eight points, five assists and a game-high eight rebounds.
 
Stafford was the lone UAA double-digit scorer with 20 points.
 
The Falcons never led in the first half. After falling behind 4-0, they evened the score at 7-7 with 15:19 left in the period on back-to-back layups from Cory Hutsen.
 
Anchorage answered with consecutive 3-pointers. Treys accounted for 12 straight points for the Seawolves whose lead grew to 24-12 with 6:16 left in the half.
 
SPU closed with an 8-4 run over the final 5:50 of the first half, getting six of those points from the free throw line. The Seawolves led 28-20 at halftime after hitting 44 percent (11 of 25) of their shots, while limiting SPU to 27 percent (6 of 22) shooting.
 
The Falcons won despite shooting just 37.5 percent (15 of 40) from the field. That was their second-lowest percentage of the season and the lowest in a winning effort.
 
“A lot of credit goes to UAA. They made it extremely difficult on us,” Looney said. “They were very physical defensively and made it a little bit more difficult than on a normal night for us to get the ball to the post.
 
“They were extremely patient on offense and, for the first 24 or so minutes of the game, kind of lulled our guys to sleep defensively.”
 
The SPU men close out their regular-season schedule at home on Saturday. They host Alaska Fairbanks at 7 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion.
 
Saturday's game is Senior Night as Falcons seniors Scott Morse, Andy Poling and Wall will be honored with a ceremony just before the game.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.
 
at (#4) Seattle Pacific 59, Alaska Anchorage 56
 
ALASKA ANCHORAGE (17-8, 10-7 GNAC)
Leckband 4-8 0-0 9, Gibcus 3-6 0-0 6, Erickson 2-4 0-0 6, Lauwers 1-1 0-0 3, Stafford 7-13 3-4 20, Little 1-2 2-2 4, MacKelvie 1-3 1-1 3, Demissie 1-7 0-0 3, Weitzel 1-2 0-0 2, Spickerman 0-0 0-0 0, Heard 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-47 6-7 56.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (22-3, 15-2 GNAC)
Wall 3-6 6-6 13, Simon 3-4 2-2 9, Poling 0-4 2-2 2, Downs 3-11 5-6 13, Stockton 3-6 0-0 8, Hutsen 2-4 1-2 5, Weber-Brader 1-2 2-2 4, Todd 0-0 4-4 4, Morse 0-3 1-2 1. Totals 15-40 23-26 59.
 
Alaska Anchorage..........  28   28   -  56
Seattle Pacific...........  20   39   -  59

3-point goals--UAA 8-18 (Stafford 3-6, Erickson 2-3, Leckband 1-4, Lauwers 1-1, Demissie 1-4), SPU 6-11 (Stockton 2-4, Downs 2-3, Simon 1-1, Wall 1-1, Morse 0-2). Fouled out--UAA-Gibcus, SPU-None. Rebounds--UAA 23 (Gibcus 4), SPU 28 (Stockton 8). Assists--UAA 13 (Demissie 5), SPU 11 (Stockton 5). Total fouls--UAA 22, SPU 10. Technical fouls--UAA-None, SPU-None. Att.-512.
 
 
NEXT MEN'S BASKETBALL GAME
Alaska Fairbanks at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, March 2, 7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.