Unlike the first two games of the Great Alaska Shootout, the Ball State men's basketball team struggled to put the ball in the basket against Alaska Anchorage on Saturday.
The Cardinals (3-3) shot 29.2 percent on their way to a 62-44 loss to the Division II Seawolves.
Poor shooting overshadowed Jarrod Jones's third double-double of the season. He led the team with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Jones was the only Cardinal to reach double figures in either category.
The Cardinals got off to a strong start, scoring the first seven points of the game. Alaska Anchorage, the tournament's host, responded with a 24-7 run to take the lead. The Seawolves held the lead for the rest of the game, allowing their fewest points against a Division I opponent ever.
Runs of 14-2, 14-6 and 24-7 by opponents in three games erased Ball State's quick starts throughout the tournament.
Jones led the team in points and rebounds in the tournament while Randy Davis tallied 21 assists in the three games.
The loss to Alaska Anchorage was a poor finish to the tournament for Ball State, which otherwise had a successful showing. The team opened with an overtime loss to eventual champion St. John's, followed by a 19-point win against Southern Utah. But a sixth-place finish is all Ball State has to show for its effort.
A 1-2 record in the Shootout drops the Cardinals' record to .500 on the season. The team has two games left on its road trip, which ends just before Finals Week. Ball State will get more than a week off before visiting Eastern Illinois on Dec. 8 for the second part of a home-and-home series.
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