CSU-Pueblo gets hot from three-point land, passes up Mavericks.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (GoThunderWolves.com - Jan. 6, 2012) - The ThunderWolves were dominant in the second half Friday against a strong Colorado Mesa team, outscoring the Mavericks 41-32 in the second half en route to a 68-65 win.

The ThunderWolves trailed 33-27 at halftime, but turned up the heat in a big way in a second half and methodically took over the game.

The Pack scored the first five points of the second half, including a three-pointer by Arden Dennis (Jr., Aurora, Colo.), one of his five treys and part of his team-leading 21 points, cutting the deficit to 33-32. 

Dennis engineered perhaps the biggest play of the game in terms of changing momentum to the ThunderWolves, snagging a steal from Chandler Burgon and taking it home for a three-point play, the back end of which tied the game at 42-42 with 15 minutes remaining.

After several free-throws put the Pack up 45-42, Dennis again sank a three, putting the Pack up 48-42 and giving the ThunderWolves some much-needed breathing room that it would ride to the end.

Overall, CSU-Pueblo hit a total of 10 three-pointers, a huge difference maker considering that Mesa relied chiefly on its big men to create opportunities down low.

"[Dennis] made some huge threes for us," Pack coach Ralph Turner said.  "He got hot and was blasting.  It helped us get a great win on the road against a really good team."

Four ThunderWolves finished in double-digits, including 15 from Andre Martin (Sr., San Diego, Colo.), 10 from Ty Trahern (Sr., Kit Carson, Colo.) and 12 from Bryse Velasquez (Jr., Colorado Springs, Colo.), who scored six of his points, including 4-for-4 from the charity stripe, in the game's final two minutes.

CSU-Pueblo, now 7-5 and 4-4 in RMAC play, will try to sweep the weekend when it takes on a struggling Western State squad Saturday.