Thompson enjoyed a brilliant shooting night on the way to game- and career-highs of 22 points and six rebounds to spearhead the Seawolves' 66-55 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory at Western Oregon University in Monmouth.
Thompson hit his first six 3-point attempts and his first seven field-goal attempts. The sophomore from Anchorage hit five 3-pointers inside the first 12 minutes and his six three-pointers were a season high by a UAA player.
With Thompson racking 17 points in the first half and Marcus Jackson adding nine of his 13 points in the opening 20 minutes -- UAA led 37-22 at intermission -- those two Seawolves outscored the Wolves 26-22 before the break.
The Seawolves (12-4, 6-2 GNAC) were never seriously threatened in the second half, when the Wolves (13-4, 6-2 GNAC) only once briefly closed the gap to as little as eight points.
UAA moved into a three-way tie with Western Oregon and Seattle Pacific for second place in the conference, one-half game behind Western Washington.
With the 6-foot-9 Rohde limited to just four minutes of playing time in the first half and 10 minutes in all -- he scored just four points, 17 below his average -- 6-10 junior Liam Gibcus stood, well, tall.
Gibcus played 23 minutes, triple his average in conference games. He scored five points, grabbed four rebounds and blocked three shots, and coach Rusty Osborne said even those numbers did not do Gibcus' impact justice.
"He just played tremendous defense, and they pressure a lot, and he was a great pressure release for us,'' Osborne said by telephone.
UAA's Kyle Fossman hit three 3-pointers in the second half for his nine points, and Steve White delivered a game-high eight assists.
Osborne said he was especially pleased with his team's effort and performance given its rough travel day Wednesday.
The alarm clocks went off for the Seawolves at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday in Anchorage and they practiced at 7 a.m. That was followed by classes and a 2:30 p.m. flight to Seattle. Before their connecting flight to Portland took off, they sat in a stifling plane on the tarmac for more than two hours, Osborne said, and did not get into their hotel in Monmouth until 1 a.m. Thursday.
"They could have felt sorry for themselves, just mailed it in and moved on to Saturday's (game Saint martin's in Lacey, Wash.), and they didn't,'' Osborne said.
Kyle Long led the Wolves with 12 points, Blair Wheadon added 11 and Jordan Freelander chipped in 10. The Wolves suffered their second straight conference loss after starting 6-0 in the GNAC.
UAA (66) -- Thompson 7-9 2-2 22, White 0-3 5-6 5, Lauwers 0-5 2-2 2, Rohde 2-4 0-0 4, Fossman 3-7 0-0 9, Jackson 5-8 2-2 13, Demissie 2-5 2-3 6, Hearn 0-1 0-0 0, Blossom 0-0 0-0 0, Gibcus 2-5 1-4 5. Totals: 21-47 14-19 66.
WESTERN OREGON -- Wheadon 3-9 3-5 11, Long 5-11 2-3 12, Freelander 4-8 0-0 10, Nelson 2-4 0-0 5, Gehring 4-8 1-4 9, McGill 2-4 0-0 4, Troxel 1-2 0-0 2, Veal 1-2 0-0 2, White 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 22-49 6-12 55.
Three-point goals -- UAA 10-24 (Thompson 6-7, Fossman 3-7, Jackson 1-3, Lauwers 0-4, Demissie 0-2, White 0-1), WOU 5-13 (Wheadon 2-4, Freelander 2-4, Nelson 1-1, Long 0-3, Veal 0-1). Total fouls -- UAA 17, WOU 21. Fouled out -- None. Rebounds -- UAA 33 (Thompson 6), WOU 27 (4 with 4). Assists -- UAA 19 (White 8), WOU 11 (Wheadon 5). Turnovers -- UAA 15 (Demissie 3), WOU 17 (McGill 5). Steals -- UAA 7 (Fossman 2), WOU 8 (Wheadon 3). Blocks -- UAA 4 (Gibcus 3), WOU 1 (Wheadon). Officials -- Spitznagel, Holloway, Leonard. A -- 637.
UAA 37 29 -- 66
WOU 22 33 -- 55
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