The UAA men's basketball team suffered its second straight conference loss Saturday, falling 81-74 to Seattle Pacific.
The Seawolves never led the Great Northwest Athletic Conference game in Seattle, trailing 18-9 early, 41-28 at the half and by as many as 16 points in the opening minutes of the second half.
But they whittled away at the lead, cutting it to four points, 63-59, on Christian Leckband's basket with 41/2 minutes left.
The teams traded buckets to keep it a four-point game for the next minute. Seattle Pacific only scored one field goal the rest of the way, but the Falcons expanded their lead at the free throw line, hitting 14 of 18 fouls shots to keep the Seawolves at bay.
"I believe despite the loss, we grew as a team tonight," UAA coach Rusty Osborne said in an email. "Unlike earlier games, we kept our composure and got better as the game went along.
"It would have been easy to collapse when we got down big early in the second but gave ourselves a chance at the end."
Osborne said UAA (9-7 overall, 2-3 GNAC) got good open looks at the basket late in the game, as well as a number of chances at the foul line.
"Unfortunately, we missed more than we usually do," he said.
The Seawolves, normally a hot-shooting team behind the arc, were 6 of 20 from 3-point range.
Seattle Pacific (13-4, 4-2) got a game-high 21 points from David Downs, who spent much of the final two minutes shooting free throws. He hit 7 of 9 in the final 1:44.
SPU was 28 of 38 from the foul line; UAA was 22 of 30.
The game featured just 11 turnovers, six for UAA and five for the Falcons. SPU owned a 37-31 rebounding advantage.
The Seawolves got double-figure scoring from four players -- Teancom Stafford (18), Kyle Fossman (17), Travis Thompson (13) and Brian McGill (13).
"Proud of the effort our guys gave tonight," Osborne said. "We struggled rebounding early but kept chipping away at the deficit.
"We will regroup and learn from these games and be better as we move forward."
The Seawolves return home this week to host Northwest Nazarene on Thursday and Central Washington on Saturday.
UAA (74) -- Mears 1-6 0-0 2, McGill 6-13 1-3 13, Thompson 2-10 9-9 13, Stafford 4-11 7-10 18, Fossman 6-8 3-4 17, Leckband 2-2 0-2 5, Lauwers 1-5 2-2 4, Blossom 0-0 0-0 0, McTier 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 23-56 22-30 74.
SEATTLE PACIFIC (81) -- Simon 3-9 7-8 13, Hutsen 3-7 2-6 8, Downs 4-9 12-14 21, Stockton 2-6 0-0 5, Borton 3-6 1-2 7, Jordan 0-0 0-0 0, Carroll 2-4 2-2 8, Todd 1-1 0-0 2, Penner 6-10 4-6 17. Totals 24-52 28-38 81.
UAA 28 46 -- 74
Seattle Pacific 41 40 -- 81
3-point goals -- UAA 6-20 (Thompson 0-4, Stafford 3-8, Fossman 2-4, Leckback 1-2, Lauwers 0-3), SPU 5-18 (Simon 0-1, Downs 1-5, Stockton 1-4, Borton 0-1, Carroll 2-4, Penner 1-3). Rebounds -- UAA 31 (Stafford 6, Fossman 6), SPU 37 (Carroll 9, Stockton 8). Total fouls -- UAA 29, SPU 23. Fouled out -- Thompson, Hutsen, Borton. Assists -- UAA 7 (McGill 2, Blossom 2), SPU 11 (Downs 4). Turnovers -- UAA 6 (McGill 2), SPU 5. Blocks -- UAA 1, SPU 3 (Simon 2). Steals -- UAA 1, SPU 2. A -- 581. Officials -- Sturdivan, Corson, Doolittle.
Anchorage Daily News