Dipping into the small but sometimes rich talent pool that produced Carl Arts, Chris Bryant and Lonnie Ridgeway, the UAA men's basketball team added a player from one of Alaska's smaller schools this week.

Jesse Blandford, a two-time all-state player who helped Nome to a runner-up finish at last season's Class 3A state tournament, is the eighth new player and the third freshman on the roster.

A 6-foot, 180-pound guard, Blandford was all over the court for the Nanooks in high school. In his senior year, he led them in scoring (23 points a game), steals and three-point shooting. At UAA, he's likely to be used as a long-distance specialist.

"He is a great shooter," UAA coach Rusty Osborne said in a press release.

Blandford drilled more than 200 three-pointers during his high school career -- hitting with 42 percent accuracy his senior year -- to finish as the highest scorer in Nome history with 1,863 points.

At the Class 3A state tournament in March, he scored 48 points in three games, including a first-round win over Sitka in which he sank nine of 10 free throws.

The Class 3A ranks also produced Arts (Valdez), Bryant (Metlakatla) and Ridgeway (Heritage Christian). Arts and Bryant were senior starters on the 2007-08 team that went to the NCAA Division II Final Four, and as a sophomore last season Ridgeway emerged as a key player, though he has since quit the team.

"We expect Jesse to continue in the recent tradition of success we have had with Alaska 3A high school standouts," Osborne said.

UAA returns a handful of players from last season's 15-14 team -- brother Kevin and Steve White, Brandon Walker and Casey Robinson.

New to the team are three freshmen -- Blandford, 6-1 guard Bryce Arnott of Australia and 6-9 forward Liam Gibcus of Australia; and five transfers -- 6-9 sophomore center Malcolm Campbell of Hartford, 6-6 junior forward Nick Pacitti of Los Angeles Trade Tech College, 6-2 junior guard Donnie Lao of Snow College, 6-7 junior forward Ryan Parker of Sierra College and 6-1 junior guard Drew Robinson of Salt Lake Community College.

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