Anchorage Daily News

For a basketball game that started out so ugly, it sure turned into a thing of beauty for the Seawolves.

The UAA men's basketball team chalked up its first victory of the season and avoided matching the worst start in school history Saturday with a gritty 62-57 Great Alaska Shootout win over Louisiana Tech at Sullivan Arena.

The win was UAA's first in six games.

"It's nice to get in the victory column," coach Rusty Osborne said, and it was nice to do so in front of a Sullivan Arena crowd, which for the second day in a row included Gov. Sarah Palin, who posed for pictures with the Seawolves after the game.

The Seawolves outrebounded the significantly bigger Bulldogs 46-32, with outsized Jeremiah Trueman coming up with two critical boards in the final 70 seconds.

Louisiana Tech coach Kerry Rupp called the battle of the boards "an affair of the heart," and said the Seawolves showed more desire and put in more effort while blocking out the Bulldogs.

"They did a good job of out-hustling us," Rupp said. "They blocked our ass off. They out-toughed us."

Louisiana Tech's lineup includes 6-foot-11 Magnum Rolle and 6-10 Kenneth Cooper, who combined for 11 rebounds -- matching the effort of UAA's Kenny Barker, a 6-3 guard.

Trueman, a 6-9 forward, who took on Louisiana Tech's bigger post players, had eight, despite spending a long time on the bench in the first half with two fouls.

"He's our only true post player, and we just had to save him," Obsorne said of Trueman's rest.

Unfortunately for Trueman, the time on the bench gave him a front-row seat to watch his teammates play some awful basketball in the first half.

UAA averaged a turnover a minute for the first five minutes, and not necessarily because of Louisiana Tech. Plenty of the Seawolves' 13 turnovers were the result of bad passes.

"We were trying to thread passes when we had guys wide open," Osborne said. "At the end of the half, we started making easy passes and got a little rhythm going."

The Bulldogs didn't capitalize on the turnovers nearly as much as they should have, thanks to 33 percent first-half shooting.

But all the giveaways had the expected result for UAA. In the opening five minutes, Louisiana Tech had nine shots to UAA's three. Five minutes later, UAA's shot count had inched to six, yet thanks to their rebounding and Louisiana Tech's haphazard shooting, the Seawolves only trailed 12-10.

"We thought with our length and our size, the ball would fall in," said Rupp, who was unhappy with his team's impatience on offense.

Things settled down for UAA in the final five or six minutes of the half, when the Seawolves took better care of the ball and Brandon Walker, Kevin White and Lonnie Ridgeway all sank 3-pointers. A traditional three-point play by Barker with five seconds left made it 30-29 at the half.

Things stayed close in the second half, but Louisiana Tech continued to struggle on the boards while the Seawolves began to penetrate through all those big Bulldogs for some inside baskets.

And 6-foot Steven White, younger brother of starting point guard Kevin White, got his first significant minutes of the season for the Seawolves and showed surprising poise for a freshman.

He checked in when his brother picked up his third foul halfway through the half and immediately drew a foul, sinking one of his two free throws. Those were his only points, but White moved the ball well and didn't cost the Seawolves anything even though he was easily the smallest guy on the court.

"I'm always ready to go," White said. "I was just trying to stay in control, and I think I did a good job doing that."

White's free throw tied the game 49-49. It was tied again at 51-51, and then Barker's 3-pointer with 6 minutes, 38 seconds left gave UAA the lead for good.

Barker had 23 points on 7 of 17 shooting to go along with his 11 rebounds, both game-highs. He attacked the basket all night, and with 2:44 left he drove the lane, drew a foul and hit both foul shots for a 60-54 UAA lead.

But it was far from over. Barker had to rush a shot as the shot clock ticked down and missed, and Louisiana Tech answered with a free throw to make it 60-55.

UAA again had to rush a shot to beat the shot clock on its next possession, but Trueman came up with the rebound to keep the ball in UAA's hands with 70 seconds left. Barker drove the baseline, David Jackson rejected his shot, and White got the offensive rebound, so again UAA hung onto the ball. White launched a 3-pointer that Jackson got a piece of, and this time the Bulldogs got the rebound.

With about 30 seconds left, Louisiana Tech's Kyle Gibson -- who already had hit three 3-pointers and was shooting better than 50 percent from long range -- missed one. Rolle got the rebound but missed the follow shot, and this time Trueman came up with the rebound.

He got the ball to Barker, who was quickly fouled -- and missed his free throw. Seconds later, Gibson sank two foul shots to make it a three-point game with 9.6 seconds left.

UAA kept the ball in Barker's hands, and again he was fouled. This time, with 8.5 seconds left, Barker swished both shots to make it a two-possession game.

"The early one, I was just doing what I usually do, rolling it off my fingers. I just missed," Barker said. "The second time I felt pretty confident."

Gibson's last-gasp 3-pointer was an airball, and the Seawolves dribbled out the remaining time.

When the buzzer sounded, Kevin White wrapped Barker in a full-body hug as the Seawolves celebrated their first win of what's been a difficult season.

Before Saturday, they had lost five games by a combined 22 points, never once losing by double figures. Even worse, injuries have left them without a pair of players who were projected to be their No. 2 and No. 3 scorers this season.

The Seawolves spent the Shootout moving players into new positions, juggling their lineup and learning about life with a short bench -- there's nine players on the roster, and all nine of them played Saturday, including Colin Voreis, who sports a knee brace from an injury that sidelined him for most of last season.

"We're a work in progress," Osborne said for the third time this tournament. "I know that sounds like Groundhog's Day, but it's just a process."

Find Daily News sports reporter Beth Bragg at adn.com/sports/bbragg or 257-4335.

Louisiana Tech 30 27 -- 57

UAA 29 33 -- 62

LOUISIANA TECH -- Gibson 5-11 3-5 17; Cooper 5-9 5-7 15; Rolle 3-11 4-7 10; Guyton 3-10 0-0 7; Jackson 1-4 3-3 5; Rogers 0-0 1-2 1; Loe 0-2 1-3 1; Ashaolu 0-2 1-2 1; Oliverson 0-0 0-0 0; Berhe 0-0 0-0 0; Gibson 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 17-51 18-29 57.

UAA -- Barker 7-17 6-10 23; Ridgeway 5-12 1-2 13; Walker 3-8 0-0 8; Trueman 3-6 1-1 7; K. White 2-3 0-0 6; Doerr 1-6 2-2 4; S. White 0-1 1-2 1; Voreis 0-0 0-0 0; Nye 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-53 11-17 62.

3-point goals -- Louisiana Tech 5-17 (Gibson 4-8; Guyton 1-5; Jackson 0-1; Loe 0-1; Gibson 0-2), UAA 9-21 (Barker 3-8; Ridgeway 2-4; Walker 2-4; White 2-2; White 0-1; Doerr 0-1; Trueman 0-1). Fouled out -- Louisiana Tech-None, UAA-None. Rebounds -- Louisiana Tech 32 (Rolle 6), UAA 46 (Barker 11). Assists -- Louisiana Tech 9 (Rolle 3), UAA 15 (Barker 5). Total fouls -- Louisiana Tech 17, UAA 22. Technical fouls -- Louisiana Tech-None, UAA-None. A -- 5465.

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