Friday, March 4, 2016

LACEY, Wash. – With as hot as both teams were shooting, you knew it was going to come right down to the end.

Almir Hadzisehovic’s lay-in with seven seconds left proved to be the winner for No. 2 seed Alaska Friday, giving the Nanooks a 91-90 win over No. 6 Western Washington in the semifinals of the GNAC Men’s Basketball Championships at Saint Martin’s University’s Marcus Pavilion.

Hadzisehovic was in the right place to clean up Travante Williams’ missed lay-in, collecting the rebound and the put-back lay-up. Western Washington raced right back down the floor and head a chance to run a set play when the ball sailed out of bounds off an Alaska defender with 2.1 seconds left. The Vikings went to the hot hand of Brad Wallace, but his long-range shot came up short.

Williams, the First Team All-GNAC selection, led the Nanooks with 23 points and 10 rebounds as the Nanooks finished the game shooting 52.9 percent from the field (36-68) and 8 of 18 from three-point range. Joe Slocum scored 18 points, 13 of which came in the second half, and Hadzisheovic finished with 17.

Ricardo Maxwell led five Western Washington players in double figures with 21 points, connecting on 8 of 15 from the field. Brett Kingma added 17 points and Kyle Impero scored 15. Wallace had all of his 14 points in the second half while Jeffrey Parker finished with 11.

With the win, Alaska (22-7 overall) advances to its first GNAC Championships final on Saturday where it will face the winner between No. 1 Western Oregon and No. 4 Seattle Pacific. Western Washington finishes its season at 16-15.

Both teams came out with the hot shooting hand, combining to shoot 5 for 9 from three-point range over the first eight minutes. While Western Washington lost the use of Parker early due to foul trouble, Maxwell stepped up to score 13 in the first 10 minutes. While the Vikings shooting cooled a bit, the Nanooks never did. Hadzisehovic converted two free throws that gave Alaska a 50-43 lead, but the Vikings came back to within three on Trey Dreschel’s lay-in. Slocum closed the half with a 17-footer that gave Alaska a 52-47 halftime lead.

The first half shooting performance for both teams was nothing less than torrid. The Nanooks finished the period shooting 60.6 percent from the field and 7 of 11 from three-point range. Western Washington shot 47 percent from the field and were 5 of 10 from outside.

Neither team slowed down in the second half as Western Washington charged back to go ahead 57-56 on Impero’s jumper at the 17:53 mark. The lead never strayed above three points until a pair of Williams’ free throws with 9:42 left opened an 8-3 run that gave the Nanooks an 82-74 lead on Slocum’s three-pointer with 6:57 remaining. Bangaly Kaba made it an 85-78 lead on his jumper just before the under four-minue media timeout.

Western Washington, however, was not done. Parker pulled the Vikings within 89-87 on hit put-back dunk and made a three-pointer on their next possession to put WWU ahead 90-89 with 19 seconds left. The Nanooks wasted no time getting the ball to Hadzisehovic, whose lay-up with seven seconds left sealed the win. Western Washington had a loom at the win, but Wallace’s three-point attempt came up short.