FAIRBANKS — Pressure defense put the Alaska Nanooks in position for a win, but T.J. Benson’s five pressure-packed points in the final minute enabled Grand Canyon to prevail at the Patty Center.

Aided by strong 3-point and free-throw shooting, Grand Canyon survived 77-72 on Friday in the opening night of the Glacier Classic. The Nanooks, who slipped to 2-4, let another close game get away after overcoming a late six-point deficit to grab a 69-68 lead on a Boe Edwards free throw with 1:05 remaining.

“We’re that close,” Alaska coach Clemon Johnson said, nearly touching his thumb to a finger.

The Grand Canyon women completed a sweep with a 78-58 win over the Nanooks at the AT&T Classic in Anchorage.

Benson, a senior guard, came off a pick and drained a NBA-range 3-pointer with 43 seconds remaining to put the Antelopes ahead for good at 71-69. The shot from about four feet beyond the top of the key went halfway down and nearly popped out before falling through the hoop.

“It was (from) a little further than I intended to shoot it, but hey, it went in. So that’s all that matters,” said Benson, who scored 20 points and drilled 6 of 8 attempts from behind the arc.

Benson credited 6-foot-7 teammate Brad Carroll for springing him with a screen on Nanooks guard Melvin Conn-Baird.

“I’m not sure if Mel got picked or not. He just lost sight of his man until it was too late,” Johnson said. “It shouldn’t have come down to that.”

On Alaska’s ensuing possession, Parrish West missed on a drive, then fouled Benson, who was shooting just 58 percent from the line this season. Benson calmly drained both shots for a four-point advantage. After Alaska’s Emmanuel Jenkins turned the ball over, Grand Canyon (5-8) iced the game with four free throws.

The Antelopes, from Phoenix, shot 48 percent on 3-pointers (11 of 23) and 82 percent from the charity stripe (18 of 22) to offset 24 turnovers.

The undersized Nanooks, who pressed and trapped relentlessly, scored 30 points off those miscues but felt they should have had even more.

“We had our hands on a lot of balls that we just didn’t get. If we had those, it’s a different game,” said Alaska guard Jon Moe, who led all scorers with 23 points.

Benson said the Nanooks’ “scramble defense” was bothersome.

“If definitely affected us. They did a great job of kind of confusing us and getting us sped up,” Benson said.

But when the Antelopes got past the pressure, they often found themselves with layups or wide-open looks from the perimeter.

“If you do break it, then that’s when you get easy buckets,” Benson said.

Easy buckets were also created when the Nanooks turned the Antelopes over. After falling behind by 10 points early in the second half, Alaska went on a 12-1 run to grab its first lead of the game at 44-43 on a dunk from West that energized the 235 spectators. Point guard Emmanuel Jenkins started the fast break with a steal.

West contributed 17 points, Jenkins had 13 and Edward chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

However, the Nanooks had virtually no inside presence because starting forwards Nashorn Maynard and Tony Wilson were plagued with foul trouble (Maynard fouled out with 2:32 remaining) and center Deante Jones was sidelined for an unspecified “minor” violation of team rules, Johnson said. Jones is expected to return for tonight’s 5:30 contest against Grace Bible College.

Grace Bible challenges UAA

Alaska Anchorage fell behind by 13 points early before dominating the second-half en route to an 81-68 win over Grace Bible College in Friday’s Glacier Classic opener.

The Seawolves erased a 30-17 deficit against the defending National Christian College Athletic Association Division II national champions from Grand Rapids, Mich.

UAA sophomore center Malcolm Campbell notched his first career double-double (20 points and 10 rebounds) to lead five Seawolves in double-digit scoring.

Campbell converted an alley-oop from guard Kevin White just before the halftime buzzer to give the Seawolves the lead for good at 40-38.

UAA will face Grand Canyon in today’s opener at 3 p.m.

Forward Allen Durham of Grace Bible led all players with 27 points and 11 rebounds. The Tigers fell behind by 22 points before finishing the game on a 12-2 run.

UAF women fall

A slow start, poor shooting and 23 turnovers doomed the Nanooks women against Grand Canyon at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex in Anchorage.

The Antelopes leaped to a 15-3 lead after 5 1/2 minutes before the Nanooks closed to gap to 19-15 on a Ronisha Edwards 3-pointer. But then Grand Canyon scored 10 straight and the rout was on.

“Once they played with the lead, we had a tough time clawing our way back in,” Alaska head coach Dave Thompson said.

The Nanooks (1-7) lost their seventh straight while Grand Canyon improved to 5-2.

“They pressured us. They denied the wings really hard and made us work to run our offense,” Thompson said. “That’s where most of our mistakes were made.”

Alaska trailed 49-25 at halftime before outscoring Grand Canyon 33-29 after intermission.

Forwards Lakeshia Levi tallied 21 points and Edwards had 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Grand Canyon guard Samantha Murphy scored 17 as a dozen Antelopes made a mark in the scoring column.

The Nanooks will take on BYU-Hawaii at 5 p.m. today. The Nanooks fell 81-54 to the Seasiders on Thursday in a game that was not part of the AT&T Classic.

Contact staff writer Matias Saari at 459-7591.