March 4, 2016 Box Score | Game Book 
| Season Stats | Career Stats
LACEY, Wash. - Western Washington sophomore guard Brad Wallace had a good look at the potential game-winning three-pointer with 2.1 seconds remaining, but it hit off the back of the iron as the Vikings were on the losing end of a 91-90 battle against the University of Alaska Friday afternoon in the semifinal game of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference semifinal at Marcus Pavilion.
WWU trailed by as many as 9 points (85-76) late in the second half, but battled back and took a 90-89 lead on a Jeffrey Parker three-pointer with 19-seconds remaining. UAF center Almir Hadzisehovic got an offensive rebound and converted the putback with 7-seconds remaining to give the Nanooks a one-point lead. Wallace, a native of Lacey who attended nearby River Ridge High School, got a good look on the inbounds play but the shot wouldn't go ending the Vikings season with a 16-15 record.
"They fought hard, really fought hard, and did a nice job today against a team that has been playing very well," said head coach Tony Dominguez. ""The guys never backed down, that's the mark of these guys, even though it has been a frustrating season. They never gave up."
Senior point guard Ricardo Maxwell (Cincinnati, OH/Withrow/Edmonds CC) led five Vikings scoring in double figures with 21 points and 8 assists. Sophomore Brett Kingma (Mill Creek, WA/Jackson/Oregon) was 5-for-7 from three-point range and scored 17 points. Also scoring in double-digits were Wallace (Lacey, WA/River Ridge/North Idaho) with 14 points (11 in the second half), senior forward Kyle Impero (Everson, WA/Nooksack Valley/Whatcom CC) with 15 points and Parker with 11 points (all in the second half).
Alaska was led by a double-double from Travante Williams (23 points, 10 rebounds) and 18 points by Joe Slocum (4-for-6 three-pointers).
Both teams combined for 20 three-pointers, with WWU going 12-for-29 from behind the arc. Western shot 47.1% from the field for the game (32-for-68), while Fairbanks was at 52.9% (36-for-68). The back-and-forth battle featured 16 lead changes and 8 tie scores.
Trailing by 5 points at halftime (52-47), the Vikings opened the second half on a 13-8 run to tie the game at 60-60, with Wallace scoring 9 of the 13 points on three-pointers. The back-and-forth continued until claimed a 74-71 lead on a Kingma three-pointer with 10:11 remaining. From that point on, UAF went on an 11-0 run to gain an 8-point lead at 82-74.
The Vikings wouldn't go silently as they staged the comeback going on a 13-5 run to pull to within two points at 89-87 on a putback dunk by Parker with 49-seconds remaining. After a missed free throw by Williams, Parker hit a three-pointer (his first of the game) from the left wing with 19-seconds remaining to give WWU the 90-89 lead. The Vikings appeared to have the stop when William's layup came up short, but Hadzisehovic grabbed the loose ball and put UAF ahead with the layup.
WWU trailed by 5 points at halftime 52-47, playing most of the half without leading scorer Parker, who was held scoreless while playing only one minute after drawing two quick fouls. Maxwell led all players with 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Kingma scored 9 points on 3-for-5 shooting from three-point range. The Nanooks shot a blistering 60.6% (20-for-33) from the field, including 7-for-11 from three-point range. Slocum led UAF with 13 points, including a trio of three-pointers.
The Nanooks (22-7) will face the winner of the Western Oregon/Seattle Pacific game in tomorrow's GNAC Championship.
Game Notes: Jeffrey Parker finished his junior season averaging 17.9 points per game (556 total points), the 16th-best single-season scoring average in school history...556 points are 8th-most in school history...will enter his senior season ranked 11th in WWU history with 1,375 career points (15.3 points per game), 469 points shy of the school-record mark of 1,844 points by Grant Dykstra.
