HONOLULU, Hawai'i – Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball opened play here late Thursday evening in the Hoops in Hawai'i Holiday Classic with a 72-53 non-conference setback to Alaska-Anchorage at the Shark Tank.

With the loss, the ThunderWolves fall to 8-3 overall, while Alaska-Anchorage improves to 7-7 on the season. The Pack will conclude the two-day Hoops in Hawai'i Holiday Classic with an 11 p.m. MT game on Friday, Dec. 20 against the host school, Hawai'i Pacific.

In Thursday's game that tipped off at 11 p.m. MT, the Pack was outscored 30-3 from the 3-point line and was outrebounded, 41-25, including a 16-4 disadvantage on the offensive glass and struggled from the free throw line as they were just 11-for-19 (57.9 percent) from the line. The Seawolves finished with a 23-5 edge in second chance points.

Senior forward De'Shaun Cooper (San Diego, Calif./Balboa School) paced the Pack with 17 points, including scoring 11 of the Pack's 24 first half points. In addition to Cooper, senior guard Armon Muldrew (Perris, Calif./San Bernardino Valley) finished with 10 points in the loss.

The Seawolves defense, though, held fifth-year senior guard Brevin Walter (Las Vegas, Nev./South Dakota Mines) scoreless for the first in his collegiate career as he finished the game 0-for-6 from the field and 0-for-3 from the 3-point line. Walter entered the game tied with Cooper for the team lead in scoring at 12.2 points per game. It marked the first time in 109 collegiate games that Walter failed to score in a game, including scoring in all 35 games he had played with the Pack.

UAA, who is now 3-0 all-time against the Pack, opened the game by scoring 18 of the first 23 points to lead 18-5 just five-plus minutes into the contest. The Pack, though, responded with a 14-4 run capped by a pull-up jumper from junior guard Denim Johnson (Omaha, Neb./Trinity Valley CC) with 8:44 left in the opening half to cut UAA's lead to 22-19. The run was aided by six points from Cooper.

Following that run, the Seawolves outscored the Pack, 24-5, over the final eight-plus minutes of the first half to take a 46-24 halftime lead. The run was aided by 11 points from Tyler Burraston, who hit five treys in the first half.

In the first half, UAA was 7-for-14 from the 3-point line, while the Pack missed all three of its 3-point shot attempts.

The Pack opened the second half on a 10-5 run to cut UAA's lead to 51-34 following a lay-up by freshman guard Jordan Blair (Keller, Texas/Keller Central) with 13:34 left in the game.

That would be as close as the Pack would get as UAA used a 12-5 run over the next six-plus minutes to push its lead to 63-39 with 7:12 left in the game. The Seawolves lead eventually reached 24 points at 73-49 with 1:38 left in the game, before junior guard Sam Howery (Colorado Springs, Colo./St. Mary's) made the Pack's lone 3-pointer of the game with 1:22 remaining in the contest.

Prior to Howery's trey, the Pack had missed its first nine 3-point shot attempts.

UAA was paced offensively by 23 points from Burraston as he finished the game 8-for-18 from the field, including going 7-for-14 from the 3-point line. In addition to Burraston, Sean Evans added 14 points and Bishop Tosi finished with 11 points.

For the game, the Pack shot 44 percent from the field, but just 10 percent from the 3-point line, while UAA shot 42 percent from the field and 37 percent from the 3-point line.

Junior guard Kesean Bazile (Victorville, Calif./West Hills Lemoore) led the Pack with five rebounds, while Blair added four boards.

The Pack committed 11 turnovers that led to 11 points for the Seawolves, while UAA had nine turnovers that led to 10 Pack points.

The Seawolves were 9-for-11 (81.8 percent) from the free throw line on the night.