It's official: The UAA men's basketball team is unbeatable at home. Well, at least this it was season.
The Seawolves' seniors savored a sweet Senior Night victory 84-72 over Central Washington on Saturday to end their regular season undefeated at the Alaska Airlines Center with a 16-0 record. Seniors accounted for 76 of the Seawolves' points.
Guard Suki Wiggs accumulated 26 points, nine rebounds and five assists on a big night for all five senior starters.
Guard Spencer Svejcar added 21 points, point guard Diante Mitchell racked up 18 points and five assists, forward Corey Hammell pulled down 14 rebounds and center Connor Devine supplied two blocks and seven points.
"It was a bittersweet game of course, Senior Night with eight seniors who have done a lot," UAA coach Rusty Osborne said in the postgame press conference. "With this win tonight, that's 42 victories in the last couple years. They've left a great legacy here."
Of UAA's eight seniors, only Jackson McTier is a four-year Seawolf, but the addition of transfers like Wiggs and the other starters have propelled the Seawolves to back-to-back seasons of 20-plus wins.
"… I'm just real proud of the group for finishing on a good note for all the seniors and their families that were in town," Osborne said.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 7-0 lead before UAA got on the scoreboard on a Svejcar 3-pointer and UAA later pulled ahead at 25-24 on a pair of free throws by Wiggs.
UAA stretched its lead to seven later in the half, but Central Washington bounced back to tie the game at 35-35 by halftime.
A Hunter trey put the Wildcats up 42-41 early in the second half, before a Devine hook shot and a Wiggs triple sparked a 12-2 run that put UAA up 53-44.
The Seawolves led the rest of the way.
With the win, UAA (21-7, 15-5 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) avenged a December loss in Ellensburg, Washington, and eliminated the Wildcats (14-12, 9-11) from postseason contention.
Former Seawolf guard Dom Hunter paced Central Washington with 24 points.
UAA locked up a first-round bye and the No. 2 seed in the GNAC tournament with its Thursday win over Northwest Nazarene.
UAA won't know its opponent until after the first round of the tournament next week in Lacey, Washington. The Seawolves will play in the GNAC semifinals Friday.
"This season is over (so) we're moving on to the next two-game season," Osborne said. "Hopefully we'll continue to get better.
"I think we'll be well rested by the time we get to Friday. It will give us a chance to build on some of the things we've gotten better at offensively over the past couple games."