At this rate, UAA men's basketball coach Rusty Osborne won't have any nails left.
In their second consecutive down-to-the-wire road thriller, the Seawolves prevailed this time, topping Western Washington 88-77 in overtime Saturday night at Carver Gym in Bellingham, Wash., behind center Jeremiah Trueman's 28 points and Brandon Walker's nine in overtime.
UAA's stunning road victory against what had been the first-place team in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference avenged a 15-point home loss to Western Washington earlier this month and gave the Seawolves their third road victory of the season.
And it probably left some of them wondering what might have been. Had Seattle Pacific's Casey Reed not nailed a 35-foot prayer at the buzzer in UAA's game two nights ago, the Seawolves would be riding a four-game winning streak awash in optimism.
Instead, despite Saturday's victory, UAA finds itself barely over .500 (13-12, 7-5 in the GNAC) and still looking up to Western Washington (16-5, 8-3) -- which had been ranked No. 25 nationally -- and at least two other teams.
At the same time, Western fell out of first and into a second-place tie with Central Washington.
Neither team led by more than seven points until the Vikings used a 10-0 run to go up 59-50 with 6:31 remaining in regulation. But Osborne called a key timeout that seemed to rejuvenate his team.
The Seawolves scored the next 14 points, getting points from six different players, but Western Washington didn't fold. Vikings center Michael Duty's layup with 18 seconds left tied the score at 69.
Seawolves guard Lonnie Ridgeway had his shot blocked just before the horn sounded, but UAA dominated in overtime, scoring in bunches and ending the night with seven turnovers.
"If we take care of the basketball and take good shots, we're going to make a lot of them," Osborne said afterwards on KUDO-AM 1080.
Walker bagged two 3-pointers in the extra session, and the Seawolves pulled away.
Kenny Barker again delivered his usual balanced effort, with 16 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals, while Kevin White had 13 points. Darren Nye added nine points, four assists and no turnovers.
But UAA's defense may have won the game. Western scored 11 points under its average, despite the extra five-minute overtime session.
UAA 31 38 19 -- 88
Western Washington 30 39 8 -- 77
UAA (88) -- Trueman 9-15 7-8 25; Barker 6-11 3-4 16; Walker 4-8 5-6 15; K. White 4-9 2-2 13; Nye 2-4 4-4 9; Ridgeway 3-10 0-0 6; Doerr 2-5 0-0 4; Voreis 0-0 0-0 0; S. White 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 30-64 21-24 88.
WESTERN WASHINGTON (77) -- Graham 4-11 15-17 25; Schell 7-9 1-3 15; Duty 4-13 3-3 11; Alford 3-7 0-0 7; Brittinen 2-3 2-3 6; Severson 2-5 1-2 5; Vanderjagt 1-2 2-2 4; McAllister 0-2 4-4 4; Blanche 0-0 0-0 0; Anderson 0-5 0-0 0; Wiederkehr 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-57 28-34 77.
3-point goals -- UAA 7-15 (K. White 3-7; Walker 2-3; Nye 1-1; Barker 1-3; S. White 0-1), Western Washington 3-17 (Graham 2-5; Alford 1-4; Duty 0-1; McAllister 0-2; Anderson 0-5). Fouled out -- UAA-none, Western Washington- Schell; Alford. Rebounds -- UAA 31 (Walker 6; Trueman 6), Western Washington 43 (Duty 7). Assists -- UAA 21 (Barker 6), Western Washington 15 (Anderson 7). Total fouls -- UAA 23, Western Washington 21. A -- 1,327
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