Nov. 17, 2006

[box score]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Wells Fargo Sports Complex) -- The Bemidji State University men's basketball team got a season-best 14 points and five assists from junior guard Andre Bell (Chicago, Ill.) but it would not be enough as the University of Alaska Anchorage shot 50-percent from the floor (27-54) en route to a 79-58 victory in their first ever meeting versus the Beavers late Friday evening at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex in Anchorage, Alaska.

In addition to Bell's career night, Daniel Sowu (Sr., G, Chicago, Ill.), Sergej Baskow (Fr., F, Ludwigsburg, Germany) and Jermon Marsh (So., G, Savanna, Ga.) each netted nine points while junior forward Alex Smith (Miami, Fla.) grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.

The Seawolves were paced by the hot shooting hands of Eric Draper and Carl Arts. Draper finished the game with 23 points on 7-of-14 from the floor including a 4-for-8 performance from three-point land while Arts' 9-for-12 night earned him a career-best 20 points. Arts and teammate Cameron Burney matched Smith for rebound honors while Luke Cooper led all players with six assists on the night.

Both teams were a bit sluggish out of the gates shooting a combined 3-10 with seven turnovers during the first 4:55 of play.

Baskow netted his first points of the night on a jumper to give the Beavers the lead, 5-4, 4:13 in. But a Draper three would put the Seawolves back in front and spark a 15-4 run pushing UAA up 10 (19-9) midway through the first stanza.

Back-to-back triples from Bell helped Bemidji State to slice the Seawolves lead to six (21-15) at the 8:22 mark and the Beavers would use a Smith lay-up to reel UAA to within the same margin (23-17) less than a minute later, but UAA would retaliate by rattling off seven straight points to move the score to 30-17 with 5:55 left in the half.

The Seawolves extend their lead to 15 during the final minutes of the half, but Sowu snuck a three-pointer in before the halftime horn sounded to send the Beavers into the break trailing 39-29.

Alaska Anchorage opened the second half with an 18-9 run to stretch its lead to 19 before 10 minutes expired in the second half. But The Beavers were not done. During the next eight minutes BSU gnawed at the UAA lead out scoring the Seawolves 17-7 and cutting its deficit to nine (66-57) on a pair of Sowu free-throws. But that was all the Beavers could muster as they were 0-for-11 from the field during the final 6:29 as Alaska Anchorage coasted to the 79-58 victory.

BSU finished the night 19-for-57 (.333) overall converting 6-of-16 (.375) shots from beyond the arc.

UAA won the battle of the boards collecting 37 rebounds to BSU's 31 and took better care of the ball turning it over 18 times while forcing 20 BSU miscues.

The Beavers (0-2) and Seawolves (3-0) will wrap up their two-game set tomorrow evening. The tip is set for 7 p.m. AST (10 p.m. CST) at Wells Fargo Sports Complex. Live stats, audio and pay-per-view video will be available at www.goseawolves.com.

--bsu--