UAA coach Rusty Osborne thinks his team proved a point Wednesday night, but the Seawolves will have to wait until Friday to find out if he was right.
"I thought we made some big strides tonight," said Osborne, whose team gave Division I Pacific everything it could handle in a 71-62 Great Alaska Shootout loss on Wednesday night at the Alaska Airlines Center.
Osborne said he thinks the Seawolves can come out of the Shootout with a solid result.
"It'll be up to us to see if we can string one together on Friday," he said.
Burly Eric Thompson – a 6-foot-8, 240-pound junior – scored 14 of his game-high 22 points in the second half and grabbed nine rebounds for the Tigers, who got 16 points and nine assists from guard T.J. Wallace and 12 points off the bench from forward David Taylor.
UAA senior guard Travis Thompson scored 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting to lead the Seawolves. UAA also got 12 points and eight rebounds from junior guard Brian McGill and 11 points from Derrick Fain. Christian Leckband chipped in eight points for UAA, which also got six from Boomer Blossom but just four from starting center Kalidou Diouf.
The game was hotly contested in the early going, with UAA cutting an early Pacific lead to 14-13 midway through the half on six straight points off the bench from Fain.
The Seawolves (2-5) used sharp outside shooting to hang with Pacific (4-2) in the first half. Thompson knocked down a pair of treys in the first 20 minutes while Fain and Blossom hit one each.
Blossom's deep ball with 1:30 to go in the first half pulled UAA to within 28-26, and Travis Parrish knocked down one of two free throws in the finals seconds to cut it to 28-27 at halftime.
"I thought they outplayed us in the first half," said Pacific coach Ron Verlin.
Osborne started an Alaska-centric lineup, with Anchorage's Thompson, Nome's Leckband and Soldotna's Blossom starting alongside Oregon native McGill and the German Diouf.
Both teams played a clean, disciplined first half, turning the ball over just four times each. UAA carried that conscientious play into the second half, finishing with just six turnovers.
"For the most part I thought we executed really well," Osborne said.
McGill opened the second half with a corner three to give the Seawolves a 30-28 lead, and UAA pushed its advantage to 38-33 when Blossom hit a three with 15:40 to play. UAA shot 50 percent from behind the arc in the game, going 10-for-20, including four treys from Thompson, two each from Fain and Blossom and one from Leckband and McGill.
"They hit some big threes," Verlin said.
Thompson looked especially sharp, making four of five 3-pointers and making all four of his free throw attempts.
"I'm playing with some confidence and just letting it fly," Thompson said.
The Seawolves got into foul trouble early in the second half trying to check the bigger Tigers. Diouf started the second with three fouls, while Leckband picked up his third just four minutes into the half. Diouf then picked up his fourth with 13:44 left to go in the half, leaving UAA without its top post player for much of the remainder.
"Kal's foul trouble and limited minutes really hurt us," Osborne said of the 6-foot-9 freshman out of Heidelberg.
Diouf played sparingly in the second half, and Pacific – which outrebounded UAA 39-24 – was able to take advantage by wearing down UAA inside.
Neither team was able to build a lead through much of the second half as UAA countered Pacific's superior inside presence by protecting the ball and knocking down jump shots.
"It was an extremely tough, hard-fought game," Verlin said.
The Tigers pushed their lead to 50-45, but Fain and Leckband hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Seawolves up 51-50 at the 7:00 mark. It was the last time they'd lead.
UAA's pair of threes were answered immediately – and emphatically – by Pacific's Thompson, whose thunderous two-handed dunk started a 12-2 run that put Pacific up 62-53 with under three minutes to go.
Thompson said the dunk was a turning point in the game for Pacific, which shot 49 percent from the floor.
"That brought my confidence up," he said.
UAA cut the lead to five points on a tough driving lay-up by McGill with 2:30 to go, but that was as close as the Seawolves would get down the stretch.
UAA will play at noon on Friday in the consolation round against Missouri State, while Pacific advanced to the 5:30 p.m. semifinal against Colorado State, which defeated Missouri State 76-61 in Wednesday's nightcap at the new arena.
Osborne said he has a lot of confidence in his team heading into the consolation rounds.
"We're not into moral victories but I'm encouraged by what we saw tonight," he said.
Contact reporter Matt Tunseth at 257-4335 or mtunseth@alaskadispatch.com
PACIFIC 71, UAA 62
PACIFIC (71) – Thompson 8-11 6-8 22, Eleraky 0-1 1-2 1, Wallace 5-11 6-6 16, Robinson 1-6 0-0 2, Bowles 4-7 1-1 10, Kobre 1-4 0-0 3, Ursery 1-2 1-1 3, Lampkin 0-0 2-6 2, Taylor 4-7 2-2 12. Totals 24-49 19-26 71.
UAA (62) – Leckband 3-8 1-1 8, Diouf 2-6 0-2 4, McGill 3-8 5-8 12, Thompson 6-8 4-4 20, Blossom 2-6 0-0 6, Berg 0-1 0-0 0, Fain 3-7 3-7 11, Parrish 0-0 1-2 1, Burgard 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-49 14-24 62.
Pacific 28 43 – 71
UAA 27 35 – 62
3-point goals – Pacific 4-15 (Wallace 0-1, Robinson 0-2 Bowles 1-3, Kobre 1-4, Ursery 0-1, Taylor 2-4); UAA 10-20 (Leckband 1-2, McGill 1-2, Thompson 4-5, Blossom 2-3, Fain 2-5, Bowman 0-3). Rebounds – Pacific 39 (Thompson 9, Wallace 9); UAA 24 (McGill 8). Total fouls – Pacific 24; UAA 21. Fouled out – Robinson. Assists – Pacific 16 (Wallace 4); UAA 14 (McGill 3). Turnovers – Pacific 9 (Taylor 2, Robinson 2, Bowles 2); UAA 6 (six players with 1). Blocks – Pacific 3 (Thompson 2); UAA 6 (Diouf 3). Steals – Pacific 0; UAA 2 (Thompson, Pearson). Officials – Gattis, Zakarian, Rukasin. Attendance – 2,973.