UAA’s Caleb Larsen drives to the hoop. Photo by Jacob Thompson
In a season defined by comebacks, the Seawolves erased a 15-point deficit but ran out of gas down the stretch Saturday night in Ellensburg, Wash.
Urged on by a sellout home crowd of 2,500 at Nicholson Pavilion, the Central Washington men’s basketball team pulled out a 78-69 victory over UAA in the championship game of the GNAC Tournament.
This was a one-possession game at the 5-minute mark and the Wildcats nursed a 70-65 advantage at the two-minute warning before converting a circus-shot layup that put them over the top, hyping up an already frenzied crowd as fourth seeded Central claimed an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats hit 6-of-8 free throws in the final 90 seconds to stretch it out, handing the sixth seeded Seawolves just their second loss in 30 days.
“Even though it ended up nine points, it was a one or two possession game with about two minutes left. They made a tough layup, we missed a tough layup,” said UAA coach Rusty Osborne. “Time got away from us there.”
UAA rallied from a 15-point first-half deficit to pull even at 49-49 and then got as close as 66-63 with 4:57 to play. But in the end, Central made a few more plays down the stretch and that was the difference.
“We played just about as poorly (in the first half) as we have over the last month,” Osborne said. “We were not ourselves. Credit to them. A lot of it was what Central Washington did.”
In that first half, the Wildcats made 5-of-10 3-pointers and all six free throws while holding UAA without a field goal for nearly nine minutes.
Rusty Osborne
“Our guys are resilient and once we talked about it at halftime, we were able to regroup, come out and put a run together,” Osborne said. “These guys refuse to give up. I think every team establishes a culture and an identity, and that’s ours.”
This was Osborne’s 19th season as head coach for the Seawolves and arguably his finest on the bench. The team’s 22 wins were the most in 12 years and the program made a nine-win improvement from last season.
He’s had more talented teams in the past, but this group is perhaps the most close-knit. The guys play together, for each other. They seem to genuinely like one another and it shows on the court. The Seawolves maximized their potential and overachieved in virtually every metric:
- Finished 9-3 in games decided by five points or fewer (1-10 last season).
- Posted eight come-from-behind victories.
- Registered three wins over nationally ranked competition.
- Beat league champion Montana State Billings in regular-season finale to clinch berth in GNAC Tournament.
- Upset third seeded Saint Martin’s and second seeded Northwest Nazarene in playoffs.
“Our guys showed their character right through the end and even after the game, standing there patiently for them to celebrate, which they well deserved, shaking everybody’s hand and cleaning up the bench,” Osborne said.
“That’s the character of this bunch. They are great representatives of UAA, Anchorage and Alaska, and I’m going to miss coaching this group.”
The season may not be finished for the Seawolves as their NCAA Tournament will be announced in tonight’s D2 Sunday Selection Show when the 64-team field is announced.
UAA features five seniors in Tyson Gilbert, Sawyer Storms, Jaron Williams, Dathan Satchell and Caleb Larsen.
Led by Gilbert’s 24 points, the seniors combined to score 44 of the team’s 69 as each of them found the scoring column. Williams was the hero of UAA’s quarterfinals win over Saint Martin’s and Sawyer was the man in a semifinal win over Northwest Nazarene. And Gilbert was the go-to guy when it mattered most Saturday.
Early on, Central threatened to blow the doors off UAA as the Wildcats raced out to a 39-24 lead before Gilbert sank a jumper right before halftime to make it a 13-point spread at the break.
“We missed some shots guys normally make,” Osborne said of the first half. “That’s athletics; that’s the crazy part, that you can do the right things and the ball still doesn’t go through the hoop.”
The shots fell in the second half, especially in the first eight minutes when the Seawolves went on a 20-7 run to forge a 49-49 deadlock.
UAA Sloan Lentfer of Anchorage had his best game of the season Saturday. Photo by Jacob Thompson
Freshman Sloan Lentfer of Anchorage provided the muscle to lift UAA as he scored 10 straight points to power the comeback. Last season’s Alaska high school player of the year out of Grace Christian finished with 14 points for his third double-figure scoring effort since Feb. 15 as the 6-foot-7 center blossomed nicely late in the season.
Lentfer’s growth was on display against Central as he showed aggressiveness and showcased his old-school back-the-basket post moves. He kissed a hook shot off glass, bullied his defender in the lane, ripped down offensive rebounds and added a left-hand finish.
Gilbert’s 3-point pulled UAA within 44-43 and moments later Anchorage native Hasaan Herrington grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw that led to Dillon Barrientos’ 3 that tied the game 46-46 with 12 minutes to play.
Central’s 6-foot-6 forward Samaad Hector – a Division I transfer from Brooklyn, N.Y. – collected 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting and 14 rebounds and was named tournament MVP.
The previous night, Hector hit the winning 3 in the final seconds to lift the Wildcats into the title game, where he continued his hot hand and routinely made big shots against good defense, bouncing off contact and muscling his way for offensive rebounds.
GNAC Tournament MVP Samaad Hector of Central Washington. Photo by Jacob Thompson
“Our first-shot defense was pretty good tonight all the way through, but they got a lot of second-chance points, which really hurt us,” Osborne said.
Hector fed off the crowd and gave the student section a little flex after his and-1 put the Wildcats in front 64-56 with 5:50 to play.
Storms and Gilbert combined to score UAA’s next 16 points before Williams – a former all-state playmaker out of East High – made a gorgeous spin move in the paint to set up a finger roll that made it 70-65 with 2:30 left.
Even for a team that trademarked crazy comebacks, the Seawolves couldn’t pull a rabbit out of the hat this time.