A bad start and bad finish doomed the UAA men's basketball team Friday at the GCI Great Alaska Shootout.
The Seawolves missed 10 shots to fall into a deep hole against Missouri State, then staged an impressive comeback to seize the lead early in the second half, only to stumble on three straight possessions in the final minutes of a 55-51 loss at the Alaska Airlines Center.
"I'm not real happy with the end result or the beginning of the game, but the stuff inbetween I'm really excited about," UAA coach Rusty Osborne said.
Sandwiched around those spells of bad play was tireless defense that helped UAA rally from early deficits of 12-0 and 16-3 and go on the attack against Missouri State (3-2). And though the shots never fell with consistency for the Seawolves, their offense clicked in spurts, particularly in a 10-1 run that started the second half and gave them a 32-26 lead.
"We punched them in the mouth, and they came back and we really got back on our heels," Bears coach Paul Lusk said.
"... It was not a thing of beauty, but we're not giving it back."
The loss puts UAA in Saturday's noon game for seventh place against Rice. Since the Shootout began in 1978, the Seawolves have finished last only seven times. A loss would mark just the second time they've gone through back-to-back Shootouts without a win -- UAA placed eighth last year.
Yet between the resiliency UAA showed in two straight games against Division I teams -- the Seawolves came up short against Pacific on Wednesday 71-62 -- and a roster with a lot of new players, Osborne is encouraged.
"We're nowhere near our ceiling," he said.
But at game's end, up 49-47 with less than three minutes to go, UAA failed to execute on three straight possessions.
First came an ill-advised, mid-range jumper by freshman center Kalidou Diouf, whose miss was rebounded by the Bears. Missouri State quickly tied the game with a dunk by Camyn Boone, who had the baseline to himself for the shot that made it 49-49 with 2 minutes, 36 remaining.
A steal by guard Austin Ruder put the ball right back in Missouri State's hands, and at 2:08 Dorrian Williams drove for a basket that put the Bears on top for good, 51-49.
UAA's next possession ended when Boone blocked Christian Leckland's short-range attempt, leading to a layup by Ruder for a 53-49 lead with 89 seconds left.
UAA missed its next three shots, including a 3-point attempt by Travis Thompson that Leckband rebounded and converted to make it 53-51 with 2.1 seconds left. Leckband was fouled on the shot but missed the free throw on purpose, with the hope UAA would get the rebound and make a game-tying shot. But the rebound went to Williams, who drew a foul and sealed the win with a pair of free throws.
"(We) were treading water and ready to drown out there, but we didn't go under," Lusk said.
Williams was a Seawolf slayer. The 6-foot-3 guard poured in 19 points and had five steals, including two that led to baskets during a 6-0 run by Missouri State that came after UAA made its big run at the start of the second half.
Boone added 14 points, nine rebounds and four blocks for the Bears of the Missouri Valley Conference.
Thompson led UAA with 14 points and four steals, a testimony to his hard work on defense. Diouf finished with 11 points, 8 rebounds and a pair of blocks, and Brian McGill added 12 points.
Trailing 32-25 at the half, UAA forced four turnovers and buried three of six shots in the first three minutes of the second half to grab a 32-25 lead. Thompson and Diouf accounted for all 10 points in the run, a stretch that represented the best offensive play of the game for the Seawolves.
Though UAA's defense played strong most of the game, the Seawolves lost the ball 13 times, only hit 29.8 percent of their shots, including 23.5 percent in the first half. The Bears did a good job shadowing Thompson, a preseason Division II All-American who finished with 14 points on 4 of 11 shooting.
Osborne said he isn't panicked by his team's offensive struggles. Although UAA has an outstanding, veteran guard tandem in Thompson and McGill, six of the 10 players who logged minutes Saturday are seeing their first season of action as Seawolves.
As a result, Osborne said, defense has gotten more attention than offense in early season practices.
"We weren't gonna win many games if we didn't get better defensively," he said. "We've shown the last couple of games we can defend people."
MISSOURI STATE (55) -- Thompson 1-2 0-2 2, Boone 5-7 4-6 14, Kendrix 3-6 2-3 8, Ruder 1-8 0-0 2, Williams 7-13 3-4 19, Gerring 2-8 0-0 4, Roundtree 0-8 2-4 2, Kirk 0-1 4-4 4, McCullough 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-53 15-23 55.
UAA (51) -- Berg 0-2 0-0 0, Diouf 5-8 1-2 11, McGill 4-10 2-2 12, Thompson 4-11 2-3 14, Blossom 0-3 2-2 2, Leckband 2-10 0-1 4, Fain 0-4 1-2 1, Parrish 0-1 0-0 0, Bowman 2-6 0-0 6, Pearson 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 17-57 9-14 51.
Missouri State 25 30 -- 55
UAA 22 29 -- 51
3-point goals -- MSU 2-16 (Kendrix 1-2, Ruder 0-5, Williams 2-5, Gerring 0-1, Roundtree 0-4), UAA 8-25 (McGill 2-3, Thompson 4-10, Blossom 0-2, Leckband 0-5, Fain 0-2, Bowman 2-3). Rebounds -- MSU 40 (Boone 9), UAA 36 (Diouf 8, Leckband 8). Total fouls -- MSU 17, UAA 15. Fouled out -- none. Assists -- MSU 10 (Roundtree 6), UAA 13 (McGill 3, Blossom 3). Turnovers -- MSU 13 (Williams 4), UAA 13 (McGill 3). Blocks -- MSU 6 (Boone 4), UAA 2 (Diouf 2). Steals -- MSU 9 (Williams 5), UAA 7 (Thompson 4). A -- 2,414. Officials -- Lujan, McNew, Spitznagel.