4 hours Ago By Gavin Struve
The UAF men nearly survived one of their poorest shooting nights of the season, improbably extending the game to overtime after turning the ball over down three points with 11 seconds left. However, the Nanooks again found themselves playing from behind for much of overtime and lost 77-74 to a Simon Fraser team that they defeated earlier this month. UAF head coach Frank Ostanik thought the effort was good enough to win but lamented mental lapses and offensive challenges.
“The lack of focus and the edge that you have to have to compete in a league like this in a night in and night out basis was lost when we became 5-2 (in GNAC play),” Ostanik said postgame. “And that’s obviously my responsibility to maintain that edge and not allow guys to become satisfied, and I clearly failed in that endeavor. And at this point, it’s about trying to figure out how to win one game.
” The visiting Red Leafs got off to a quick 5-0 lead in the opening minute. After junior guard Chris Lee got the Nanooks on the board with an and-one drive, the Nanooks also got their next bucket in the paint when junior forward Elyon Zevenbergen converted following five offensive rebounds in one possession. Irish Coquia, who had 25 points in the teams’ first matchup, hit a dribble-up 3-pointer to give Simon Fraser a 13-5 lead and a pull-up 2-pointer for a 15-7 advantage a couple of minutes later.
Zevenbergen promptly swirled in UAF’s first 3-pointer to cut the deficit to five points. After a stagnant stretch for the Nanooks, junior guard Isaiah Saams-Hoy stole the ball and took it the length of the floor for a lay-in to cut the score to 23-17. Back-to-back 3-pointers from senior guard Paul Johnson cut UAF’s deficit to two points with four and a half minutes left before intermission.
UAF tied the game with a well-executed pick and roll between Lee and Zevenbergen at the end of the shot clock, and a lay-in from redshirt junior guard Jalai O’Keith gave UAF its first lead at 29-28. Lee then stole a pass near midcourt and threw it ahead to Saams-Hoy for a layup. Johnson buried his third 3-pointer in the final minute of the half and then Lee hit an off-balance long 2-pointer as the first-half buzzer sounded.
UAF ended the half on a 14-2 run to take a 36-29 lead into the break. That momentum shifted when the Nanooks scored only four points in the first seven and a half minutes of the second half. Simon Fraser came out and scored the first seven points of the half to tie the game before Johnson momentarily gave the lead back to UAF with another 3-pointer.
After a 3-pointer from Coquia with 15:42 left, Simon Fraser never trailed. After UAF cut its deficit to one point with a dunk from Lee, Coquia hit a pull-up jumper. Then he hit a 3-pointer after UAF got it back down to one point.
Johnson drove and scored, but Coquia drove and put the Red Leafs back ahead by three points and then hit another triple when the Nanooks came up empty on a possession. O’Keith cut the Red Leafs’ lead in half with a 3-pointer, but Simon Fraser answered on the other end. Saams-Hoy then connected on his first triple of the game with 1:14 left and got a stop on Coquia.
Saams-Hoy came up empty on a layup but converted a put-back with 14.5 seconds left. UAF intentionally fouled Coquia, who made both free throws.
Saams-Hoy couldn’t come corral the inbounds pass. After Simon Fraser called a timeout on its first inbounds attempt, Johnson stole the inbounds pass and got the ball ahead to Saams-Hoy, who hit a 3-pointer with four seconds left to force a tie. The moment served as a bit of deja vu given that Saams-Hoy hit the game-winning shot in UAF’s 76-74 road win over Simon Fraser on Jan.
4. Coquia got a heave up before the buzzer, but the game was sent to overtime. UAF came away with one point on its first three possessions of overtime, missing the backend of a shooting foul and the front-end of a one-and-one.
O’Keith connected on a deep 3-pointer to tie the game 68-68, but Simon Fraser got a triple on the other end before Johnson drove, hung and floated in a shot. Saams-Hoy started a fast break off a rebound, was fouled and made both free throws to give UAF a 72-71 lead, its first since early in the second half. The Red Leafs responded with a score.
Saams-Hoy’s layup rattled out, Lee got an offensive rebound but missed a 3-pointer. After Coquia missed a triple, the Red Leafs got an offensive rebound and made both free throws off of a foul for a three-point lead. Saams-Hoy raced up-court and made a layup with eight seconds remaining.
Coquia made both free throws after an intentional foul and Johnson was just off on his tying 3-point attempt. Coquia finished with a game-high 28 points to go with four assists. Luke Howard added 20 points for Simon Fraser.
Johnson led UAF with 20 points along with five assists on 4-of-11 shooting from beyond the arc. Saams-Hoy scored 19 points on 17 shots, pulled down seven rebounds and tallied four steals and two blocks. O’Keith added 12 points and seven rebounds, Zevenbergen recorded a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds and Lee scored seven points with a game-high eight assists.
UAF shot 9-of-32 (28.1%) on 3-pointers, its second-worst shooting effort of the season in terms of percentage, and just 37% overall. Simon Fraser shot 40% overall and 9-of-25 (36%) from deep.
UAF finished with fewer turnovers and more offensive rebounds but made half as many free throws. The win improved Simon Fraser to 7-13 overall and 3-7 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC), while UAF dropped to 9-10 overall and 5-5 in the GNAC. UAF is now on a three-game losing streak with its two latest losses each coming by one score.
The Nanooks are back in action when they host Western Washington on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. The Vikings have won five games in a row after an 0-5 start to GNAC play.
“Western Washington is a very talented team and certainly human nature is on their side I would suspect after we beat them at their place,” Ostanik said. “Very winnable game, but at the same time, we’re going to have to play better than we’re playing now if we want to win a game.”.
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