ARCATA — (March 3) Pounding the ball consistently inside, Humboldt State came back from a seven-point deficit to earn a 68-61 win over Alaska Anchorage in Friday's last quarterfinal of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball West Region Championships.

With the win, the No. 1 seeded Lumberjacks advanced to the 7:30 p.m. semifinal against Grand Canyon on Saturday. Only 70 tickets remain, and will go on sale at 4 p.m. in the Forbes Complex lobby.

On Friday, Devin Peal scored 19 points, Jeremiah Ward contributed 12 and Kevin Johnson chipped in 11 to help the Lumberjacks hand Head Coach Tom Wood the 400th victory of his career.

“This was a very special night,” Wood said. “I'm proud of our players, and I'm proud of our fans. They make this a great college basketball environment.”

Carl Arts paced Alaska Anchorage, scoring 21 points, all in the first half. Arts suffered a hip-pointer and was limited to five minutes playing time in the second half.

Humboldt State had trailed throughout, but finally pulled even with the Seawolves at 49-49 when Peal scored a layup and converted a free throw after being fouled with nine minutes, 36 seconds remaining. The score was tied four more times before HSU took the lead for good on a pair of Will Sheufelt free throws with 2:05 left.

Offensively, the Lumberjacks finished the game with a 7-0 run, and a big defensive play came when Johnson cut into the passing lane, stole a pass and fed Ward for a layup that put HSU up by four. Sheufelt blocked Eric Draper's three-point attempt with 31 seconds remaining for another defensive gem that helped seal the win.

Alaska Anchorage vs Humboldt State
03/09/07 8 p.m. at Arcata, Calif.
HUMBOLDT STATE 68, ALASKA ANCHORAGE 61
ALASKA ANCHORAGE (19-9)
Arts,Carl 9-11 2-3 21; Draper,Eric 3-9 2-2 10; Bailey,Buddy 3-4 2-2 9; Burney,Cameron 4-8 0-0 9; Olsen,McCade 3-8 1-2 7; Platenik,Ivan 2-5 1-2 5; Spencer,Clayton 0-1 0-0 0; Mitchell,Steve 0-0 0-0 0; Cooper,Luke 0-5 0-0 0; Millar,Trenton 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-52 8-11 61.
HUMBOLDT STATE (25-3)
PEAL, Devin 7-11 5-7 19; WARD, Jeremiah 5-9 0-0 12; JOHNSON, Kevin 2-10 7-8 11; SHEUFELT, Will 2-5 4-4 9; VANDERMEER, Cy 2-5 2-3 6; MOYER, Grayson 2-6 2-3 6; CORRAL, Carlos 1-3 0-0 3; BURNS, Tyler 1-1 0-0 2; DEL RIO, Efren 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-50 20-25 68.
Alaska Anchorage..............   38   23  -   61
Humboldt State................   33   35  -   68
3-point goals-Alaska Anchorage 5-15 (Draper,Eric 2-6; Burney,Cameron 1-4; Bailey,Buddy 1-1; Arts,Carl 1-1; Cooper,Luke 0-1; Millar,Trenton 0-1; Olsen,McCade 0-1), Humboldt State 4-14 (WARD, Jeremiah 2-6; SHEUFELT, Will 1-3; CORRAL, Carlos 1-2; MOYER, Grayson 0-2; JOHNSON, Kevin 0-1). Fouled out--Alaska Anchorage-Platenik,Ivan, Humboldt State-None. Rebounds-Alaska Anchorage 28 (Olsen,McCade 8), Humboldt State 33 (JOHNSON, Kevin 12). Assists-Alaska Anchorage 12 (Cooper,Luke 7), Humboldt State 9 (MOYER, Grayson 2; JOHNSON, Kevin 2). Total fouls-Alaska Anchorage 22, Humboldt State 15. A-1400 Game 4 of NCAA DII West Region Championships

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