Boxscore
ANCHORAGE - Drew Eisinger went five-of-six from the three point line to lead the Northwest Nazarene University men's basketball team to a 78-76 upset at the University of Alaska Anchorage on Thursday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex on the UAA campus.
The Crusaders (15-11, 7-8 GNAC) may have played the role of playoff spoiler for the Seawolves (16-10, 7-8 GNAC), as UAA entered the game ranked 9th in the NCAA West Region, with the top eight teams earning a bid to the NCAA D.II National Tournament.
West Region #1 Seattle Pacific lost at Alaska Fairbanks in overtime (105-113), while MSU-Billings stormed into Ellensburg, Wash. and defeated West Region #8 Central Washington 92-85, in the game that would have the most effect on UAA's playoff hopes.
Eisinger, who finished with a team-high 21 points, was eight-of-11 from the floor and also had five steals and three assists. Jamie Eisinger added 17 points and five assists, while Kendall Gielow scored 12. Jamie Eisinger converted all six of his free throw attempts, helping the Crusaders to a 16-of-18 (88.9-percent) effort from the line and the second-straight season sweep of the Seawolves.
Casey Robinson led UAA with a game-high 26 points, with Brandon Walker scoring 19 and Aaron Stevens coming off the bench for 10.
The Crusaders out-rebounded the Seawolves 27-21 and shot 60.5-percent (26-43) from the floor and 58.8-percent (10-17) from the three-point line. It was the ninth game this season that the Crusaders converted 10 or more three-pointers.
NNU took a seemingly commanding 45-31 lead into the locker room after shooting 69 percent in the first half, but the Seawolves wasted no time making a comeback.
Trailing 51-40, the Seawolves went on a 13-2 run to tie the game at the 12-minute mark. UAA then took a 57-53 lead when Robinson made all three free throws after a foul beyond the arc with 11:26 remaining.
A few minutes later, Stevens inspired the crowd with a steal and breakaway slam dunk for a 63-60 lead, but the momentum would not hold.
The Crusaders responded with a 10-2 spurt of their own, highlighted by two treys from Eisinger.
The Seawolves had several chances to slice into the deficit, but they made just 4 of 11 free throws and committed two turnovers in the final two minutes. Despite those numbers, UAA still had a chance to tie or win when the Crusaders knocked the rebound out of bounds on Kevin White's purposeful free-throw miss with 3.8 seconds on the clock. UAA got the ball inbounds to Robinson, who was forced to take a fall-away attempt from the corner that was never online.
NNU will close out the 2009-2010 season on Saturday afternoon with a 3:00 p.m. AST tip-off at the Patty Center on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.
