Thursday, March 7, 2013

LACEY, Wash. – Stefan Tica scored 17 points to lead fourth-seed Alaska Fairbanks to a 87-73 win over defending champion Montana State Billings in Game 2 of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championships Thursday at Marcus Pavilion.

The win sends the Nanooks (16-11), making their first post-season appearance since 2005, into Friday’s 7:30 p.m. semifinal game against top-seeded Western Washington (26-1).

Sixth-seed Central Washington (15-12), which eliminated Alaska Anchorage 79-78 in Thursday’s first game, will play No. 2 seed Seattle Pacific (23-3) in Friday’s first semifinal at 5:15 p.m.

Tica made five of seven shots, including his only three three-pointers, to key an outstanding shooting performance by the Nanooks who shot 58.2 percent connecting on 32 of 55 including 16 of 24 in the second half (66.7 percent). UAF's percentage is the second best in conference tournament history.

UAF also got 13 points from Sergej Pucar, 11 each from Ronnie Baker and Andrew Kelly, and 10 from Dallen Bills. Guard Pat Vouet, who had six points, led the Nanooks in both assists (8) and rebounds (6).

Jarrell Crayton led MSUB with 23 points and had a tournament record-tying 13 rebounds.  Crayton matched the record set by Brian Barkdoll of Northwest Nazarene against Central Washington in 2011.

Omar McDade had 17 points and David Arnold finished with 16 as the Yellowjackets completed their season with a 16-14 record.

UAF took command of the game midway through the first half outscoring MSUB 10-2 over a 2:26 stretch to go ahead 25-17 with 7:20 left in the first period.

The Yellowjackets climbed back to within four points with under four minutes remaining but the Nanooks answered back with an 8-0 to lead 35-23 with 1:37 to play before setting for a 37-27 lead at the break.

The teams traded buckets for much of the early going of the second half before a 6-0 run gave UAF a 56-41 lead with 11:43 remaining. The ‘Jackets cut it back to 11 thrice until five in a row by UAF  gave it its largest lead of the game at 67-51 with 7:49 on the clock.

MSU Billings never got the deficit to single digits again as Alaska Fairbanks led by as many as 17 twice down the stretch.