GAME NOTES: In the second round of the Great Alaska Shootout, the Missouri State Bears will contend with the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves at the Alaska Airlines Center.

UAA, which serves as host of this event every year, was treated rudely by its guest on Wednesday night, falling to Pacific in a 71-62 final. The setback ended a modest two-game win streak for the Seawolves, who are 2-4 this season, with the game against Pacific being their first challenge against a Division I program.

Missouri State also fell flat in the first round on Wednesday, taking a 76-61 loss against Colorado State. It was the second straight defeat for the Bears, who started the season 2-0, but have fallen to 2-2 with the recent setbacks.

In three previous meetings, UAA has claimed as many victories over the Bears, with decisions of 82-66 (1980), 85-69 (1980) and 71-67 (1981). The winner this time will go up against the winner of the Rice/Washington State matchup on Saturday. The losers will face each other as well.

Travis Thompson finished with 20 points, but it wasn't enough to push UAA past Pacific. The Seawolves only made 38.8 percent of their shots on their home floor, although they did knock down 10-of-20 tries from beyond the arc, while the Tigers had only four 3-pointers. The Seawolves may have been the better team from the perimeter, but they were roughed up inside, suffering a 39-24 deficit on the boards.

Obviously the spike in competition level had a negative effect on UAA's offensive production, as it is averaging 78.9 points per game on 47.9 percent shooting for the season. However, the Seawolves' showing from 3-point range against the Tigers was a nice improvement, as they are hitting 38.9 percent of their attempts from that distance. Brian McGill (16.7 ppg) and Thompson (15.3 ppg) are each solid scorers, with each hitting better than 40 percent from 3- point range. McGill had 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists against Pacific, but he only made 3-of-8 shots from the field overall.

A slow start in the first half sank Missouri State against Colorado State. The Bears only made 32 percent of their field goal tries in the opening period, which amounted to 19 points. They picked up the pace a bit in the second half (.419), but it was not enough to overcome the Rams, who also had an improvement from 30.8 percent shooting to 44.4 percent between the two halves.

Dorrian Williams was the top performer in the loss, netting 16 points to go with seven rebounds and four assists. Austin Ruder had plenty of chances to match or exceed Williams' efforts, but he managed only eight points on 3-of-15 shooting, including a ghastly 2-of-10 performance from 3-point range. Marcus Marshall (26 ppg), who has easily been the team's best offensive option this season, did not play on Wednesday.

It is unclear whether Marshall will be back in action on Friday and that could mean Missouri State is in for another slow offensive game. UAA may not be able to handle most D-I teams, but this might be its best chance this weekend, although it will still require a stronger performance than it exhibited on Wednesday.