UAA Athletics

UAA men make basketball playoffs, then beat Billings

Two nights after securing a playoff spot without even playing a game, the UAA men's basketball team earned an on-court victory Saturday in Billings, Montana.

The Seawolves won their third straight game by overcoming the loss of a starter earlier in the day to beat MSU-Billings 59-52 in their final regular-season game.

But their season isn't over yet.

UAA will be one of six teams that will play in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament Thursday through Saturday at Anchorage's Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves clinched a top-six finish by virtue of Northwest Nazarene's loss to Saint Martin's on Thursday. They affirmed their worthiness with the win over Billings, which came despite the loss of Drew Peterson to an injury during Saturday's shoot-around.

"Extremely proud of this group and the way they have battled through adversity and a challenging schedule these last two weeks," said UAA coach Rusty Osborne, whose team played its final four regular-season games on the road.

"We were running on fumes coming into the game and to lose Drew this afternoon was a big loss."

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UAA (15-13 overall, 11-9 GNAC) landed four players in double figures and outscored the Yellowjackets (13-18, 5-15) 15-5 at the foul line.

D.J. Ursery sank all six of his free throws to finish with a game-high 16 points for the Seawolves. He added five rebounds and two steals while committing two turnovers in 36 minutes.

Brian Pearson shot 50 percent from the field (5 of 10) for 12 points to go along with five rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Malik Clements and Josiah Wood each added 11 points while combining for 10 rebounds.

UAA limited Billings to 33.3 percent shooting while hitting 41.7 percent of its own shots from the field. Led by Ursery, UAA was 15 of 19 from the foul line .

"This was a great team win," Osborne said in a press release from the school. "DJ was locked in from the start and his teammates hung in there and got better as the game progressed. Our defense once again carried us home."

The Yellowjackets were led by Kobe Terashima's 11 points, six assists and six rebounds and Kendall Denham's 10 points and eight rebounds.

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