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SEATTLE –Travante Williams scored 17 points, six of them coming during the final three minutes for Alaska Fairbanks, which defeated eighth-ranked Seattle Pacific 79-75 on Saturday in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball game at Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Falcons (9-3) lost at home for the second time in three days. They entered the week with a nine-game winning streak and an unblemished league record, but are now 2-2 in GNAC play. Alaska Anchorage beat SPU 61-59 on Thursday.
 
"Credit to Alaska Fairbanks, they played extremely well," said SPU coach Ryan Looney. "Our group is mentally still on Christmas break.
 
"Our team, both games this past weekend, didn't played with the same effort defensively that we were before the break. We're not good enough on offense to overcome that and win against anybody."
 
Fairbanks (10-2) remained in a first-place with Anchorage, both sporting 4-0 conference records.
 
Saturday's game was tied 61-61 before UAF captured the lead for good with four consecutive free throws from Almir Hadzisehovic.

 

After a hook by Gilles Dierickx brought SPU within 65-63, Williams followed his own steal and fastbreak layup with a 3-pointer to ignite a 9-point run that put the Nanooks in control. When Joe Slocum capped the surge on two free throws with 1:25 remaining, they owned a 74-63 advantage.
 
The Falcons capitalized on a shaky 2-for-8 stretch of late-game free throw shooting by Fairbanks to draw within 76-72 on two charity shots by Mitch Penner with 12.9 seconds on the clock.
 
Neal Chavez sealed the Alaska win, converting 3 of 4 free throws during the final 11 seconds.
 
Williams nailed 4 of 5 shots from 3-point range, leading his team's 56-percent (10 of 18) performance from beyond the arc. That effort was even more impressive considering that SPU entered the game as the national leader in 3-point defense by holding teams at 21.5 percent.
 
Slocum scored all 12 of his points in the second half for Fairbanks, which also got 12 points from Hadzisehovic and 15 from Bangaly Kaba.
 
Brendan Carroll tallied 18 points to lead SPU and Dierickx added 12. Mitch Penner scored eight points and grabbed 11 rebounds to fuel the Falcons 45-37 edge on the boards.
 
SPU shot 38 percent (24 of 63) and made 8 of 26 treys. Fairbanks converted 42-percent of its shots from the field (26 of 62).
 
To open the game, the teams traded baskets for the opening six minutes and neither led by more than three points.
 
The visitors evened the score at 15-15 on a layup by Isaac Ladines with 12:32 left in the half. They went scoreless over the next 3½ minutes, missing five shots and turning the ball over once during that span.
 
SPU capitalized on the Nanooks drought, netting nine straight points to surge ahead 24-15 with 9:21 until halftime. Four different Falcons scored during the spree that started with a Joe Rasmussen 3-pointer and ended with an alley-oop pass from Carroll that was layed in by Dierickx.
 
Fairbanks responded with a 10-2 run, fueled by four points from Kaba, to draw within 26-25 at 5:03.
 
Trailing by five, the Nanooks outscored their hosts 6-2 during the final 2:23 of the period to trail 32-31 at halftime. Brandon Davis sank two free throws with 4.1 seconds on the clock to set that score.
 
UAF claimed its first lead since 13:02 of the first half when Davis drained a trey 3:14 after halftime. Slocum followed with another 3-pointer, providing a 42-38 advantage.
 
The Nanooks margin was 44-40 before SPU reeled off seven straight points, four of them from Carroll. The senior guard scored eight of 10 SPU points during a stretch that put the Falcons ahead 55-48 with 9:14 left to play.

 

The last six points of SPU's run came on consecutive 3-pointer from reserve point guard Gabe Colosimo.
 
"Gabe Colosimo came off the bench and gave us a little bit of a lift in the second half. He is a good shooter," Looney described.
 
"In all reality, both teams we played this weekend dared us to shoot it all night long. None of our other guys could make any shots so we decided to give Gabe a chance and he knocked a couple down."
 
The Nanooks outscored SPU 13-5 over the next four minutes to inch ahead 61-60 and set up their decisive game-closing effort.
 
The SPU men hit the road for two games next week, beginning on Thursday in Monmouth, Ore. for a clash against defending GNAC regular-season champion Western Oregon. The Wolves were ranked third nationally in last week's coaches poll.
 
On Saturday, the Falcons travel to Portland, Ore. to meet first-year conference member Concordia.
 
Looney hopes some solid practices will get his squad back into its pre-holiday groove.
 
"We're going to have to compete and condition all week in practice to get back to where we were."

NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.

Alaska Fairbanks 79, at (#8) Seattle Pacific 75

ALASKA FAIRBANKS (10-2, 4-0 GNAC)
Kaba 6-10 2-2 15, Williams 6-11 1-4 17, Hadzisehovic 4-9 4-6 12, Slocum 3-11 4-6 12, Davis 2-8 3-4 9, Chavez 1-4 3-4 6, Ladines 3-7 0-0 6, Duncan 1-2 0-0 2, Pederson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-62 17-26 79.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (9-3, 2-2 GNAC)
Penner 2-11 4-6 8, Swanson 3-8 1-2 9, Dierickx 5-7 2-5 12, Leavitt 1-4 4-5 6, Parker 0-3 2-2 2, Carroll 6-12 4-4 18, Colosimo 2-5 1-2 7, Simpson 2-4 1-1 6, Streufert 2-2 0-0 4, Rasmussen 1-7 0-0 3. Totals 24-63 19-27 75.

Alaska Fairbanks..............  31   48   -  79
Seattle Pacific...............  32   43   -  75

3-point goals--UAF 10-18 (Williams 4-5, Slocum 2-7, Davis 2-3, Chavez 1-2, Kaba 1-1), SPU 8-26 (Colosimo 2-3, Swanson 2-6, Carroll 2-7, Rasmussen 1-3, Simpson 1-3, Parker 0-3, Penner 0-1). Fouled out--UAF-Williams, SPU-Dierickx. Rebounds--UAF 37 (Williams 6), SPU 45 (Penner 11). Assists--UAF 9 (Slocum 4), SPU 13 (Leavitt, Carroll 4). Total fouls--UAF 23, SPU 24. Technical fouls--UAF-None, SPU-None. Att-306.

Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Seattle Pacific at Western Oregon
Thursday, Jan. 7, 7:00 p.m. PST
New PE Building / Monmouth, Ore.