Anchorage Daily News

Late in the first half UAA senior Luke Cooper was getting an ear full -- and Montana State-Billings coach Craig Carse wasn't even talking to him.

Carse was screaming at his own player, freshman John Brooks, who was tearing up Cooper and the nationally ranked Seawolves with one long-range jumper after another. Brooks bagged 13 points in the final five minutes of the first half with Carse pumping his tires.

"You're better than he is," Carse chirped to Brooks, referring to his matchup with Cooper.

There for a while he was right. But in the second half Cooper responded like the first-team all-conference player he is.

The 6-foot Aussie turned up his level of play, passing off a school- and conference-record 17 assists to spark the ninth-ranked UAA men's basketball team to a 90-46 blowout over the visiting Yellowjackets in a meeting between the first-place and last-place teams in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Cooper said he didn't let what Carse was saying or what Brooks was doing throw him off his game, but it was obvious he used it as motivation, because in the second half Cooper came out looking like a man on a mission.

"I heard it but I dismissed it straight away," Cooper said. "He hit some tough shots and I probably didn't play as well (defensively) as I could have in the first half. I was worried about his penetration more than his shot and probably didn't respect him as well as I should have. That was my fault. He played well tonight."

It's just that Cooper was better.

Already the most prolific point guard in school and conference history, Cooper only added to his already long list of accomplishments by taking over the only record he didn't have all to himself. (Cooper previously shared the record of 16 in a game with former Seawolves point guard Bryson Vaughan.) Now the Seawolves captain holds the mark for most assists in a game (17), season (230, last year) and career (793) with at least six games left this season, and probably more if UAA advances far into the NCAA Tournament.

"To get it outright and hold every record is nice," Cooper said. "I put it on the money tonight. We had guys who finished. I think there were probably only three assists I didn't get because guys missed shots, so to get 17 out of 20 is a fair effort."

Cooper's precise passing highlighted separate runs of 20-0 and 14-0 almost right on top of each other that allowed the Seawolves (21-4, 12-1 GNAC) to turn a relatively close game into a rout. He delivered four assists in the first run and handed off five during the second one.

With his single-game record, Cooper moved into seventh on the NCAA Division II all-time list. He is eight short of No. 6 and 12 shy of No. 5, which he could do Saturday when the Seawolves take on surging GNAC opponent Seattle University at 7 p.m. on campus.

"It's not a high priority but it's nice to get an honor like that for a kid who has done what he has and helped us win as many games as he has," UAA coach Rusty Osborne said.

UAA senior Carl Arts -- sporting a throwback handlebar mustache -- sank 11-of-15 shots and finished with a game-high 23 points. Fellow seniors Chris Bryant (21) and McCade Olsen (17) also scored in double figures, with Bryant draining 5-of-7 3-pointers and Olsen 6 of 8 in the paint. Combined, the trio shot 75 percent from the field.

Those three gobbled up most of Cooper's assists on a night when the Division II seasonal leader committed one turnover and played nearly flawless basketball. The Seawolves finished with a ridiculous 30-4 assist-to-turnover ratio, with the four turnovers the fewest in UAA's 31-year history.

Brooks finished with a team-high 19 points to lead Billings (1-24, 1-13 GNAC). Credit Brooks' shooting and Carse's coaching for keeping the Yellowjackets close despite traveling with only seven players. They trailed 37-31 at the beginning of the second half before the Seawolves got going in a big way.

"We knew they were going to fight. They play hard. I told people that from the very beginning -- Craig gets his kids to play hard," Osborne said. "They were just overmatched and they came up short-handed."

Now the West Region-leading Seawolves take on a Seattle University squad that's won five in a row coming in Saturday's game. If the playoffs were to start today, in fact, Saturday's game would be a first-round preview.

"Seattle's gonna be huge because they're playing good basketball. They're eighth in the region so they're playing for their (playoff) lives," Cooper said. "They got us both times last year so we owe 'em one. We'll be ready to go."

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

MSU-Billings28 18 -- 46

UAA37 53 -- 90

MSU-Billings -- Brooks 7-16 2-4 19; Taylor 3-7 2-2 11; Khoury 3-8 0-0 9; Ruff 2-7 0-0 5; Terry 0-2 2-4 2; Barton 0-0 0-0 0; Blaine 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 15-43 6-10 46.

UAA -- Arts 11-15 1-2 23; Bryant 7-9 2-2 21; Olsen 6-8 5-6 17; Ridgeway 3-7 0-0 6; White 2-4 0-0 5; Hardy 2-4 0-0 5; Trueman 2-3 0-0 4; Voreis 2-4 0-0 4; Cooper 1-3 0-0 3; Burney 1-3 0-0 2; Kettler 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 37-62 8-10 90.

3-point goals -- MSU-Billings 10-27 (Taylor 3-5; Khoury 3-5; Brooks 3-8; Ruff 1-5; Blaine 0-3; Terry 0-1), UAA 8-17 (Bryant 5-7; Cooper 1-3; White 1-3; Hardy 1-1; Burney 0-2; Ridgeway 0-1). Fouled out -- MSU-Billings-None, UAA-None. Rebounds -- MSU-Billings 17 (Khoury 6), UAA 37 (Bryant 7). Assists -- MSU-Billings 6 (Taylor 2; Blaine 2; Khoury 2), UAA 30 (Cooper 17). Total fouls -- MSU-Billings 12, UAA 11. Technical fouls -- MSU-Billings-None, UAA-None. A -- 1060.

UAA BASKETBALL

At Wells Fargo Sports Complex

SATURDAY

5 p.m. -- UAA women vs. UAF 7 p.m. -- UAA men vs. Seattle University

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