One game remained for the Nanooks in the regular season. With a win-and-in scenario for the GNAC Championships, UAF took down the Western Oregon University Wolves by a score of 85-71 on Saturday to punch their ticket to the conference tournament.
Alaska entered the contest on a four-game winning streak, sitting at 13-13 overall and 9-8 in the GNAC. They faced the last-place Wolves, who stood at 5-22 overall and 2-15 in conference play.
They led for the majority of the game and took over for good with 6:39 left to play in the first half on a Jalai O’Keith three-point shot. It gave them the lead at 22-20, which grew to 35-27 by halftime.
Neither team shot well starting out, seeing the Nanooks go 14-33 (42.4%) and the Wolves at 10-28 (35.7%) from the floor. Both teams connected on four three-point attempts, and went 3-4 at the free-throw line.
The Nanooks were much more efficient coming out of halftime, as they put up 50 points over the final 20 minutes on 21-31 shooting (67.7%). It saw them build their lead to as many as 20, which was their largest of the game at 66-46, after Paul Johnson capped off a 10-3 run.
Western Oregon chipped back, but never within single digits. It resulted in a 85-71 win for Alaska. They were led by four scorers with 10 points or more – O’Keith (19), Johnson (19), Chris Lee (17) and Elyon Zevenbergen (10).
Overall, Alaska went 35-64 (54.7%) from the floor, 8-22 from three (36.4%) and 7-8 on free throws (87.5%). They outrebounded WOU, 35-30, and committed nine turnovers to 13.
The win pushed the Nanooks to a final regular season record of 14-13, giving them their first winning season since 2015-16. They also moved to 10-8 in the GNAC, securing the sixth and final spot in the conference tournament – their first time since 2022, where they won it as the 10th seed in an expanded format.
UAF closed out the regular season with five straight wins, defeating Alaska Anchorage, Seattle Pacific, Montana State Billings, Saint Martin’s, and Western Oregon. Two of those opponents – Seattle Pacific and Montana State Billings – will join them in the six-team conference tournament field.
The 2025 GNAC Championships will be held from March 6-8 at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington. Teams are seeded one through six based on their conference record from the regular season.
The top two seeds receive byes into the semifinals, while the third and sixth seeds face off in one quarterfinal matchup, and the fourth and fifth seeds compete in the other. The tournament champion secures an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II national tournament.
Contact Caleb Jones at (907) 459-7530 or at cjones@newsminer.com.
