GAME NOTES: The Colorado State Rams try to remain perfect on the season as they clash with the Missouri State Bears in the first round of the annual Great Alaska Shootout on Tuesday night.

The Rams are hitting the road for the first time in 2014-15, after having run off three straight victories at Moby Arena in Fort Collins. The latest win came against Mercer on Sunday by a score of 75-62.

Meanwhile, the Bears also started off the campaign in a positive manner with back-to-back victories over Eastern Illinois and Avila, before bowing to Texas Tech on Saturday, 80-68.

The Bears won the first and only meeting between the programs back in 1941 by a score of 34-30.

The winner of this matchup will be back in action on Friday in the semifinals versus the survivor of the Pacific/Alaska-Anchorage meeting.

When a team shoots 11-of-21 from 3-point range in a single game it us just assumed that the results favored that squad, but in the case of Missouri State it was just the opposite. The Bears may have converted 52.4 percent on the perimeter, but overall from the field the squad was just 43.1 percent accurate during the loss to Texas Tech in Lubbock over the weekend. Marcus Marshall tallied a game-high 27 points and Austin Ruder 19 as the pair combined to make 10-of-18 on the outside.

Marshall, who is actually shooting better from 3-point range (.722) than he is from the floor overall (.676) for the Bears through three games, leads his team in scoring with 26.0 ppg, while Ruder checks in with another 11.3 ppg thanks to his 7-of-17 showing on the outside as well. Missouri State has made good on 44.2 percent behind the 3-point line, compared to 28.6 percent for the opposition.

Daniel Bejarano led the charge for the Rams as he converted all four of his 3- pointers and finished with 22 points, to go along with seven assists and six rebounds, in the triumph over Mercer a few days back. Also scoring in double digits for CSU were Joe De Ciman with 15 points, while Stanton Kidd and JJ Avila logged both 14 points and eight rebounds to keep the Rams undefeated in the early going.

Bejarano, a 56.3 percent shooter on the perimeter, heads a list of three double-digit scorers currently for CSU with his 17.7 ppg. The guards is also tied for first with 12 assists and is among the team leaders with 7.0 rpg. Kidd (16.3 ppg) is the top man on the glass with 7.7 rpg and yet he too is shooting well on the outside at a 54.5 percent clip for a team hitting at 42.0 percent beyond the arc.

Even though the Rams tend to use a short bench, they are still capable of running an opponent off the floor and that could easily happen tonight in Alaska.