The UAA men's basketball team remains tied with the in-state rival Nanooks for the final playoff spot in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference after both teams lost road games Thursday night.
The Seawolves lost to Western Washington 66-56 and UAF lost to Simon Fraser 83-51 to remain locked in a tie for sixth place in the GNAC. The top six teams will advance to the conference tournament March 1-3 in Anchorage.
The teams swap opponents Saturday, and on paper, the Nanooks face a tougher challenge than UAA.
Western Washington is the GNAC's second-place team and has only lost three conference games this season. Simon Fraser is 10th in the 11-team conference, and the win over UAF was its fourth of the season.
Three games remain in the conference season for both Alaska teams.
UAA (12-12 overall, 8-9 GNAC) dictated the pace at Carver Gym in Bellingham, Washington, but fell victim to a monster run by the Vikings (19-6, 14-3) that spanned the two halves.
The Seawolves took a 24-22 lead on a 3-pointer by Curtis Ryan with a little more than two minutes left in the first half, but Western Washington went on a 17-2 tear to secure a big lead early in the second half.
Deandre Dickson scored seven of his team-high 17 points in the final two minutes of the first half and the first 3 1/2 minutes of the second half to lift Western Washington to a 39-26 lead.
Dickson connected on 8 of 12 shots from the field and grabbed seven rebounds to help the Vikings to a huge 35-21 rebounding advantage. He added three steals, two blocks and one assist and made three turnovers in 33 minutes.
D.J. Ursery led UAA with 11 points, a team-high four rebounds and three assists while committing four turnovers. Malik Clements added 10 points and three Seawolves chipped in nine points apiece — Ryan, Brian Pearson and Josiah Wood. Wood also contributed three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Three GNAC teams have clinched playoff spots — Western Oregon, Western Washington and Saint Martin's. Five teams remain in the hunt for the remaining three playoff spots — Central Washington (10-7), Seattle Pacific (9-8), UAA and UAF (both 8-9) and Northwest Nazarene (7-10). All have three games remaining.