UAA Athletics

Seattle Pacific pummels UAA men with fast start, strong finish and big rebounding edge

The UAA men’s basketball team absorbed a bruising defeat Saturday in Seattle.

Seattle Pacific raced to a huge early lead and didn’t let the Seawolves cut the gap to single digits until the final minutes, and then only briefly, in an 87-74 victory.

The loss drops UAA (7-7 overall, 2-4 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) to eighth place in the 11-team league. Seattle Pacific (8-3, 5-1) moved into a first-place tie with Western Oregon.

The Falcons surged to a 17-0 lead in the opening five minutes, led 47-21 at the half and were up by as many as 28 points early in the second half.

“We got off to a slow start and it’s difficult to be successful when you dig a big hole against a good team like that,” UAA coach Rusty Osborne said in a press release from the school. “I’m glad that our players continued to fight through the adversity and never show any quit though.”

The Seawolves used a 10-0 run midway through the second half to get within 16 points, 65-49. With 2:39 to go they made it 75-65 on Matt Seymour’s 3-pointer, and with 1:58 they got within single digits, 76-67, on Tyler Brimhall’s layup, but they came no closer.

Jack Macdonald led UAA with 18 points on 8 of 11 shooting. Niko Bevens added 14 points and a career-high seven rebounds, Brennan Rymer added 12 points and four assists and Brian Pearson blocked five shots.

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Seattle Pacific killed UAA on the boards 46-26, an effort that included 22 offensive rebounds that led to 13 second-chance points. The Falcons put five players in double figures with Gavin Long’s 17 points leading the way.

UAA will try to get back on track Thursday when it returns to the Alaska Airlines Center for a 7 p.m. game against Central Washington.

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