BURNABY, British Columbia (Jan. 2) – Senior guard Sean Evans scored a career-high 32 points and the Alaska Anchorage men’s basketball team used a late second-half surge Thursday to claim a 94-87 victory over Simon Fraser at the SFU West Gymnasium.
The Seawolves (9-7, 2-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 18 points from junior guard Tyler Burraston as they sank a season-high 17 three-pointers at a 46 percent clip.
The Red Leafs (4-9, 0-3) were led by 28 points and five assists from guard Irish Coquia, but the hosts could not take advantage of their own strong shooting effort, making 11 of 22 from long range.
“This is a tough trip coming out of the break, with a short practice window and a border crossing, so it was great to get this road win,” said UAA head coach Rusty Osborne. “We were uncharacteristically poor defensively, but better offensively. Sean really carried us in the first half, then we got good contributions from of a number of different guys in the second half. We will need to clean up our missed defensive assignments, however, on Saturday night (at Western Washington).”
Hunting their program’s 14th win in 15 trips to Burnaby Mountain, the Seawolves forged a 46-37 halftime advantage behind the blazing-hot shooting of Evans. The Nebraska-Kearney transfer shot 8-of-12 from the floor and 4-of-7 on threes in the opening 20 minutes, eventually surpassing his previous career-best 26 points from his time with the Lopers.
Burraston nailed a trey to push the lead to 57-47 with 15:17 remaining, but the hosts began to chip away, taking a 64-62 lead on a basket by Coquia at the 10-minute mark. Tied 70-70 after exchanging several scores, the Seawolves snapped a 70-70 tie when Hasaan Herrington was left alone on the wing and calmly drained a three-pointer. Herrington’s rebound on the ensuing defensive possession led directly to a layup by Dillon Barrientos, and Evans capped a 7-0 run with a layup at the five-minute mark.
Evans fed Jesse Stines for two of his career-high 10 points to push the lead back to 82-72 with two minutes left, and the Seawolves would seal it from the foul stripe.
Evans also finished with six assists and just one turnover in a team-high 36 minutes, becoming the first Seawolf to crack the 30-point barrier since Oggie Pantovic against Western Washington on Feb. 5, 2022.
Burraston shot 6 of 13 from long range, while Stines shot 4 of 5 from the field and nabbed seven boards. Herrington had 11 points (3-5 3FG), eight rebounds and three assists, and Barrientos contributed 10 points and three assists as UAA scored its most points this season against an NCAA opponent.
The Seawolves conclude their trip Saturday with a 6 p.m. AST tip against Western Washington in Bellingham. Find links to live video and stats at GoSeawolves.com.
