The season is over for the UAA men's basketball team, which played catch-up all night but couldn't overcome a deep early hole Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament.
Seattle Pacific outshot and outrebounded the Seawolves in a 64-51 victory at the Alaska Airlines Center. The loss ended the season for the Seawolves, who finished with a 15-14 record.
Seattle Pacific (17-11) advanced to a Friday semifinal game against
top-seeded Western Oregon (27-1), which received a first-round bye.
The other men's semifinal will pit Saint Martin's (23-6) against second-seeded Western Washington (21-7). Saint Martin's stayed alive with a 87-83 overtime win over Central Washington in Thursday's other men's game.
In women's action, Montana State-Billings held on for a 75-73 win over Central Washington and Seattle Pacific crushed Simon Fraser 85-59.
Billings will meet top-seeded Northwest Nazarene and Seattle Pacific will face second-seeded UAA in Friday's semifinals. Seattle Pacific and UAA split their season series, with UAA taking the second game, 73-47, two weeks ago in Anchorage.
Championship games are Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center. The winners will earn automatic berths in next week's West Region tournament.
The UAA men fell victim to a fast start by Seattle Pacific, which raced to leads of 7-0 and 19-2 in the afternoon game.
The Falcons crushed UAA on the boards, 43-25, and shot 41.5 percent while holding the Seawolves to 31.5 percent shooting.
"I think it's pretty simple — they outplayed us," UAA coach Rusty Osborne said after the game. "Definitely there were things that we could have done better, No. 1 being rebounding. They attacked us on the glass, and we did not respond. That's really the difference in the game."
Seattle Pacific got 11 rebounds from Nathan Streufert and had six others with four rebounds or more. Three players scored in double figures for the Falcons, who outscored UAA 24-6 from 3-point range.
Seattle Pacific built its lead to 21 points with five minutes left in the game before UAA rallied to slice the deficit to 13.
"I thought the game was kind of a microcosm of our season. I think after that first five minutes when it was 19-2, people had us buried, and our guys didn't give up," Osborne said. "They continued to fight. But it takes a lot of energy, and when you face some of the challenges that we do offensively, you've almost got to play perfect in that circumstance."
UAA's season hit a roadblock in mid-December when its leading scorer and rebounder, Jacob Lampkin, suffered a season-ending injury. By early January, the team lost its starting point guard when Maleke Haynes was declared academically ineligible.
The Seawolves spent the rest of the season fighting to stay at or above the .500 mark. They came on strong at the end of the regular eason, winning five of their final six games to clinch a spot in this week's GNAC tournament.
D.J. Ursey, a senior who transferred to UAA this season from Division I University of the Pacific, ended his brief career with the Seawolves by scoring a career-high 24 points.
Malik Clements added 11 points and four assists, and Brian Pearson chipped in six points, six rebounds and four blocks for the Seawolves.
Ursery and Drew Peterson, who was scoreless in 20 minutes, are the only seniors on the squad. Thursday's lineup included three juniors, two sophomore and three freshmen.
In Thursday's other games:
— Saint Martin's put five players in double figures to fend off the Central Washington men in overtime, 87-84.
The Saints squandered a 10-point lead in the second half and trailed by three points in overtime. They took the lead for good with one minute left on a dunk by Jordan Kitchen (12 points, 6 rebounds).
Matt Dahlen (9 points, 8 rebounds) denied Central Washington's attempt at a game-tying 3-pointer at the end of overtime with his fifth block of the game.
Khalil Shabazz led Central Washington (15-13) with 23 points, 13 rebounds and five assists.
— Rylee Kane's traditional 3-point play with less than three minutes left broke a tie and put MSU-Billings in the lead for good in a 75-73 women's win over Central Washington.
Kane finished with 25 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the field and 9 of 11 shooting from the foul line. Billings outscored the Wildcats 18-9 from the foul line.
Alisha Breen, the GNAC's Player of the Year, pumped in 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Yellowjackets (20-11).
Central Washington (15-14) was led by Taylor Baird's 18 points.
— Seattle Pacific rode double-figure scoring from five players to an 85-59 rout of Simon Fraser.
Courtney Hollander's 17 points and Julia Haining's 10 points and 12 rebounds sparked the Falcons (22-6).
Jessica Jones and Sophie Swant combined for 31 points for Simon Fraser (14-15).
GNAC Tournament
at the Alaska Airlines center
Women
Thursday's results
MSU-Billings 75, Central Washington 73
Seattle Pacific 85, Simon Fraser 59
Friday's semifinals
5:15 p.m. — MSU-Billings vs. Northwest Nazarene
7:30 p.m. — Seattle Pacific vs. UAA
Saturday
7:30 p.m. — Championship
Men
Thursday's results
Saint Martin's 87, Central Washington 84, OT
Seattle Pacific 64, UAA 51
Friday's semifinals
Noon — Saint Martin's vs. Western Washington
2:15 p.m. — Seattle Pacific vs. Western Oregon
Saturday
5:15 p.m. — Championship