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Seasiders NCAA II Basketball Run Closed off

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — In a great game that was neck and neck until the final minute the BYU-Hawaii Seasiders' memorable season came to an end in a 73-67 heartbreaking loss to the tournament hosting team, Alaska Anchorage, today. This match-up of two talented teams came down to the wire as it was a two point game with under a 30 seconds to go and both teams scrambling to try to take advantage. In the end the number-four ranked team in the nation pulled away in front of a packed house at home.

This game was a great example of how the BYU-Hawaii team battled all year long in every game, playing with a lot of heart and determination to win. They never gave up and were scrappy all night and all season long to give themselves a fighting chance to win. Their hustle paid off especially tonight in dominating the battle of the boards as the Seasiders out-rebounded Alaska Anchorage 35-28, but the outstanding stat was the number of second chance opportunities the Seasiders created from winning the offensive rebounds — 16 in all compared to only 6 for the Seawolves. That allowed the Seasiders on a poorer shooting night than normal, shooting only 44% from the floor, 13 more shot attempts in the game than their opponent, keeping things close to the very end.

The dagger in the Seasiders dreams of pulling off their third upset this week against a ranked team came from the free throw line as the home team managed to sink 22 of 25 free throw attempts compared to only 7 of 14 for BYU-Hawaii, which proved to be the difference in the end. The Seawolves only managed to score one basket in the final 9 minutes of the game, but managed to score ten points from the charity stripe during that stretch to preserve the victory.

With the loss the Seasiders end a superb season with an overall record of 20-8 and their first trip to the Sweet 16 for the NCAA tournament since going NCAA Division II a decade ago. This will be a season to be remembered as fans and supporters even in tonight's away contest flocked to the gym with over 300 fans applauding and cheering their Seasider team on from Hawaii. It was loud in there even on the big screen as chants and cheers for BYU could be heard through-out the arena in Laie. This was the final game for seniors Jeremy Brown, Paul Peterson, Micah Casey and Corey Nielson and caps a great run in their final year and through-out the NCAA tournament.