The night began with a brief ceremony honoring Marc Matthews for reaching the 1,000-point scoring threshold for Montana State-Billings.
It ended with Matthews draining a 3-pointer that sent the UAA men's basketball team to defeat.
Matthews, a 6-foot-2 senior guard, buried the game-winning shot with two seconds left Thursday, lifting the Yellowjackets to a 69-68 win over the Seawolves.
The loss knocked UAA out of a second-place tie in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The Seawolves fell to fourth place with a 5-3 conference record (11-5 overall), while Billings (10-5, 5-2) vaulted ahead of them in the standings.
UAA's Suki Wiggs, who poured in a game-high 25 points, missed a half-court desperation shot at the buzzer.
The teams traded the lead five times in the final five minutes at Alterowitz Gym.
The Seawolves had a chance to take control early in the second half when they opened with a 10-0 run to pull away from a 34-34 halftime tie.
But Billings chipped away at the deficit before finally claiming a 57-56 lead on a 3-pointer by Jace Anderson with less than six minutes to go.
After the teams traded a couple of baskets, UAA scored five straight points to take a 65-61 lead on a dunk by Wiggs with less than three minutes remaining.
But that was the final field goal for the Seawolves, who missed their final four shots from the field. Their final three points came at the foul line, where Spencer Svejcar was 3 of 4 down the stretch.
Svejcar finished with 12 points to give UAA four players in double figures. Corey Hammell supplied a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Diante Mitchell added 10 points, all of them in the first half.
Mitchell's three assists led the Seawolves, who had only six assists on 28 buckets. Connor Devine was a force on defense with six blocked shots.
UAA held Matthews below his 16.1 scoring average – he finished with 10 points on 4 of 11 shooting — but couldn't contain Preston Beverly.
A 6-foot-7 sophomore forward who was the GNAC's Freshman of the Year last season, Beverley delivered 22 points, six rebounds, six assists and three blocks.
UAA returns home next week for Thursday and Saturday games at the Alaska Airlines Center.