PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball hit a season-high tying 14 3-pointers en route to opening the home portion of its 2023-24 schedule here Friday evening with a 73-58 victory over Alaska-Fairbanks on the first day of the Al Kaly Shrine Classic at Massari Arena.
 
With the win, the ThunderWolves improve to 1-2 on the season, while Alaska falls to 1-2 on the season. The Pack will conclude the Al Kaly Shrine Classic with a 4 p.m. game Saturday afternoon against Fairbanks.
 
Six of the Pack's 14 treys came from junior guard Daeyon James (Stockbridge, Ga./Seward County CC) as he finished with a season-high tying 18 points. In addition to James' game-high 18 points, junior guard Armon Muldrew (Perris, Calif./San Bernardino Valley) added 15 points in just 19 minutes as he picked up four fouls in the first half. All two of Muldrew's points were scored in the second half, including scoring 11 of the Pack's final 14 points to seal its first victory of the season.
 
Junior forward De'Shaun Cooper (Poway, Calif./Balboa School) added eight points and four rebounds, while freshman forward Corbin Garver (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) also added a season-high eight points and pulled down a season-high nine rebounds.
 
The Pack jumped out to an 11-5 lead just seven minutes into the game, before Alaska responded with a 5-2 run to push within two points at 13-10 with 10:22 left in the first half. The Pack, though, would respond with an 18-8 run to push its lead to 31-18 following a trey from senior guard Makiah Morris (San Diego, Calif./San Diego City College).
 
Alaska would close the half by scoring six of the final 10 points to cut the Pack's lead to 35-24 at the half.
 
The Pack opened the second half on a 13-7 run to push its halftime lead to 48-31 with 14:26 left in the game. The run began with a trey by Garver and was capped by James trey.
 
Fairbanks would mount a rally following James' trey as they used a 15-4 run over a span of nearly six minutes to drop the Pack's lead to 52-46 with 8:45 left in the game. The Pack responded with a 9-5 run to extend its lead back to double digits at 61-49 with 5:05 left in the contest.
 
Following a turn-around jumper by Kachjaani Mawich to pull the Nanooks within 10 points at 61-51, the Pack closed out the game by scoring 12 of the final 19 points with Muldrew hitting three consecutive treys and James hitting another trey during the closing run.
 
Paul Johnson paced the Nanooks with 16 points, while Abdullahi Mohamed added 14 points and eight boards. Eight of his 14 points came from the free throw line as he was 8-for-9 at the line in the loss.
 
Tyriq Luke just missed double figures in scoring as he tallied nine points on the night.
 
For the game, the Pack shot 41 percent from the field and 47 percent from the 3-point line, while Alaska shot 40 percent from the field and 22 percent (2-for-9) from the 3-point line.
 
The Pack held a 35-34 edge on the boards as along with the nine boards by Garver, Morris added six boards and dished out seven assists in win.
 
CSU Pueblo forced the Nanooks into 16 turnovers that led to 16 Pack points, while the Pack had a season-low nine turnovers, including just three in the second half.
 
Alaska held an edge at the free throw line as they shot 24 free throws and made 18 of them as they shot 75 percent at the line. The Pack was just 11-for-17 at the line, including being 4-for-7 at the line in the first half.
 
The Pack will look to make it two in a row of the Nanooks as they close the Al Kaly Shrine Classic with a 4 p.m. game on Saturday afternoon in Massari Arena. The Pack women will open the second day of the 39th Annual event with a 2 p.m. game against Langston (Okla.) University.