amy hastings / NL Kemmy Burgess slashes to the hoop against Seattle’s Jeffrey McDaniel late in the Seawolves 52-51 victory. Burgess finished with 16 points and UAA swept their two game home stand. For full story see page 20.   bob martinson / NL Agmata drives for the winning basket following his steal on the inbounds pass.

Drama 101: Seawolves excite home crowd
Two close wins leave fans biting their nails

By Barry Piser
Northern Light

There was more drama in the Wells Fargo Sports Complex last weekend than in the University of Alaska Anchorage theater department. Seawolf point guards Geoffrey Agmata and Aaron Lawrence were the star performers in two close wins over Northwest Nazarene (84-82) and Seattle University (52-51), decided by a total of just three points.

Against Nazarene, Agmata capped one of the greatest comebacks in UAA history with a steal and a lay-up following a Kemmy Burgess three that tied the game at 82.

“After Kemmy’s three, I knew they were going to give it to the point guard so I just tried to find him,” Agmata said. “I got the steal and I was going to pull up but I just decided to go in for the kill.”

For UAA to be in position to win the game had to seem improbable to most of the 923 fans in attendance. The Seawolves had trailed 81-66 with five minutes to play before starting an 18-1 run to close the game. Ten of those points came in the final 52.2 seconds.

Peter Bullock made one of two free throws to pull UAA within six. Eight seconds later Burgess nailed a trey to trim the margin to 81-78. Bullock again split at the line but so did Crusader Derek Olich, leaving the score at 82-79 with 12 seconds on the clock. A UAA rebound and timeout set up Burgess’ tying triple and Agmata’s gutsy heroics.

“You’ve got talk about the first half. I don’t know where we were. I don’t have an answer for that,” UAA head coach Charlie Bruns said. “But they’ve proven that they’re comeback kids. Hopefully, this is a wake-up call to them.”

The first half in question often looked like the Seawolves weren’t even in attendance as Northwest built a 20 point lead before a Burgess three to close the half trimmed the margin to 51-34. The lead grew thanks in part to point guard Derek Olich’s hot-shooting (23 points, 12 assists, 6 of 7 from downtown) and the inside play of Daniel Nyom (14 points, all in the first half.) The Crusaders shot 72 percent in the first half and didn’t cool down much the rest of the way.

“I feel pretty good about the way the kids responded because I said some pretty nasty things to them at halftime,” Bruns said.

Some were expected to respond and others weren’t. Bullock was expected and notched 22 of his game-high 27 points in the second half. Agmata was a pleasant surprise in relief of Lawrence. Bruns expected Burgess to step up and the junior notched 11 of his 16 in the half, including six in the final minute and the game-tying shot.

“Kemmy’s shot was huge. He’s got great confidence and I had a lot of faith he’d make that,” Bruns said.

“I always want the big shot. My teammates got me the ball and God blessed me with the opportunity to make it,” Burgess added. “The win was a big for our team and our season because we’ve got to protect home.”

The Seawolves came out looking to protect home against Seattle and jumped to a 7-0 and only trailed once. But to those watching the game it would’ve appeared the Redbirds were winning. UAA failed to take care of the ball, as the Seawolves had more turnovers in the first half (13) than Seattle (8). The Redbirds took away 11 steals in the contest.

“We’re just not being strong with the ball,” Bruns said. “That’s what kept them in the game.”

What allowed the Seawolves to win was playing tough defense and making just enough plays to stay ahead of Seattle. Seattle shot a paltry 32 percent for the game and UAA’s 52 points tied a school record for the lowest winning score. Burgess again answered Bruns’ call with 16 points on a night leading scorer Bullock was limited to 10, roughly half his average.

But like the Nazarene game, there was still drama. After Seattle’s Bim Makinde (10 points) tied the game at 49 with 2:33 left, the Seawolves struggled to find a shot. With the shot clock winding down, Lawrence pulled up for a 22-foot eventual game-winner that rattled in. Makinde answered back with another drive to the basket to make it 52-51.

On the ensuing possession, Seawolf Adam Simpson had the ball stripped away by Jeffrey McDaniel, who was fouled en route to the hoop. Two missed free throws by McDaniel were followed by a Burgess charge.

With the Redbirds down one, Makinde made a spinning drive to the hoop but was stripped out of bounds by Lawrence. The Redbirds then threw the ball away on the inbounds and UAA ran out the clock.

“When the game comes down to it, you have to make an individual play. Sometimes it’s a lay-up, sometimes it’s defensive or it could be a free throw,” Seattle head coach Joe Callero said. “You’ve got to keep making plays.”

UAA made plays all weekend long and escaped with two wins. But despite the exhilaration of close wins and come-from-behind victories, the Seawolves would much rather leave nothing to doubt.

“We don’t want to be comeback kids,” Burgess said. “We’ve got to start playing forty minutes of basketball.”