By: Jenessa Gladstone
Box Score
Anchorage, AK – Despite a strong effort in the second half, the Simon Fraser University men's basketball team fell to the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, 78-68.
“I'm proud of our guys,” said Head Coach
James Blake. “They never gave up and continued to fight to the end. We have to bounce back and be ready to go on
Saturday.”
Forward Anto Olah (Gold Coast, AUS) led the team with 20 points, eight rebounds, and four assists.
Ibrahim Appiah (Montreal, QC) added 11 while
Taylor Dunn (Vancouver, WA) chipped in 10.
Seawolves forward Liam Gibcus led UAA with a double-double, earning 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Jalen Little followed with 19 points and Christian Leckband scored 14.
SFU's strong second half effort showed up in the boxscore, as the Clan outscored UAA 42-34 in the final half of play.
SFU also shot 60 percent from field goal range while shooting 86 percent from the free-throw line in the final twenty minutes of the game, but it was not enough to overcome the home side.
The Clan came out of the gate strong, taking an 11-5 lead over in the first three and a half minutes of play.
Answering with a deep three-pointer, the Seawolves took the lead with 15:05 remaining in the half at 13-11. The Clan would not lead again.
With 10:25 on the clock until the break,
Matt Staudacher (Kirkland, WA) knocked down a shot from beyond-the-arc to tie the score at 16.
The Seawolves then took off on an 11-1 run to build a double-digit lead, putting the visiting team in a 10 point deficit with 6:43 left until halftime at 27-17.
By the break, UAA expanded their hold to 18 points as SFU trailed 44-26.
“We started the game off playing with a ton of energy and doing great things on both ends of the floor. They went on one little run midway through the first half and we never really recovered,” continued Blake.
The Clan used the second half to slowly whittle away at the Seawolves' lead.
Using a 20-10 run, Simon Fraser broke down the double-digit deficit to come within nine with 8:25 left in the game, at 60-51.
Despite a strong showing from the Clan in the final minutes, SFU could not erase the 18 deficit from the first half, losing by 10.
“I thought we outplayed them for most of the second half but the margin at the half was a bit too much to overcome,” finished Blake.
The loss drops the Clan's record to 1-15 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and 6-18 overall.
Simon Fraser will turn their attention to Saturday,
February 23, when they face the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks at 4:15 p.m. PST
