Anchorage Daily News

UAA point guard Luke Cooper earned first-team All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference honors last season in large part because of his offensive prowess.

A passing machine, the Seawolves senior is the all-time assist leader in school and GNAC history and a Bob Cousy Award nominee, which is given to the country's top point guards.

And while he continued to shine as a playmaker in the UAA men's basketball team's 68-62 victory at Western Oregon on Thursday night, Cooper showed off a seldom-seen defensive side of his game.

Sure, shooting stars Carl Arts and McCade Olsen combined to score 55 points. But it was Cooper's nine assists, zero turnovers and stingy defense on Western Oregon's leading scorer that keyed UAA's eighth straight victory.

"Being the leader on the court, people look to you. If you're playing great defense and playing with a lot of energy, I think they can feed off that," Cooper said by cell phone from Monmouth, Ore. "I can't hold other people accountable unless I'm doing my job too."

The 6-foot Cooper held 5-10 Brad Krichevsky to just six points on 2-of-10 shooting, nine below his season average.

"Luke shut him down," Olsen said. "He made it hard for him to catch the ball, and when he did catch it he made it hard for him to do something."

Cooper, one of the captains, picked a great time to unveil his all-around game -- it was the GNAC opener for both teams. Not only that, but the win kept 10-3 UAA unbeaten on the road (4-0) and extended its longest winning streak since it won nine straight in the 1996-97 season.

"There's definitely no doubting this team's toughness," Cooper said.

The Seawolves led wire to wire, taking a 17-9 advantage after the first 10 minutes and using a 7-2 run at the start of the second half to go up 35-24.

From there, Arts and Olsen provided most of the scoring. All-conference selection Arts led the way with 23 points and Olsen added 22 points.

The 6-6 Arts, of Valdez, bounced back from a subpar game last week, easily surpassing his 17-point scoring average on 8-of-16 shooting. He also led UAA with seven rebounds and three blocks.

His fallaway jumper with under a minute left gave the Seawolves a 64-55 cushion.

"Once he gets it going, he's hard to stop," Cooper said. "He is confident now so we're going to go back to him. We rely on him. He's a big part of our team."

The 6-8 Olsen sank 8-of-13 shots and added six boards. Together, he and Arts enjoyed a big night against one of the tallest frontcourts in NCAA Division II. Western Oregon sports 7-3 Liam Hughes, 6-11 Adonal Arrington and 6-8 Travis Kuhns.

"We didn't really post up on them too much," Olsen said. "When we'd catch it we'd face them up and if they wouldn't guard us we'd just shoot it or drive by them."

Western Oregon (7-3) is off to its best start in four seasons and was unbeaten at home in five games before losing Thursday. The Wolves pulled within 65-60 inside the final minute, but Cooper sank three free throws to ice the win.

"We did enough tonight to get a win against a pretty good team on the road," UAA coach Rusty Osborne said. "And they're a pretty good team. Their record isn't an illusion. They'll beat some people."

The Seawolves look to make it nine straight Saturday night at Saint Martin's in Lacey, Wash.

"We've had a tough stretch with four of our last six games on the road," Osborne said. "I'm very pleased. Hopefully we can get some rest and have a good game Saturday."

Find assistant sports editor Van Williams online at adn.com/contact/vwilliams or call 257-4335.

UAA28 40 -- 68

Western Oregon22 40 -- 62

UAA -- Arts 9-18 3-4 23, Olsen 8-13 6-8 22, Cooper 1-1 4-8 7, Bryant 1-9 3-5 6, Ridgeway 1-4 0-0 3, White 1-2 0-0 3, Hardy 1-1 0-0 2, Burney 1-3 0-0 2, Trueman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-51 16-25 68.

WESTERN OREGON -- Arrington 7-11 4-5 18, Kuhns 4-12 9-11 17, McLaughlin 6-8 0-0 12, Krichevsky 2-10 0-0 6, Kelly 2-5 0-0 4, Hughes 2-4 0-0 4, Johnson 0-3 1-2 1, Ratcliff 0-3 0-0 0, Hoffman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-56 14-18 62.

3-point goals -- UAA 6-17 (Arts 2-6, White 1-2, Bryant 1-5, Ridgeway 1-2, Cooper 1-1, Burney 0-1); Western Oregon 2-16 (Krichevsky 2-8, Kuhns 0-4, Kelly 0-2, Johnson 0-2). Total fouls -- UAA 14, Western Oregon 17. Fouled out -- Krichevsky. Rebounds -- UAA 28 (Arts 7), Western Oregon 37 (Arrington 8). Assists -- UAA 14 (Cooper 9), Western Oregon 15 (Kuhns 6). Officials -- Cook, Lloyd, Corson. A -- 275.

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