PUEBLO, Colo. (GoThunderWolves.com - Dec. 1, 2012) - It was a horror movie sequel.
Just like it saw Friday night, when a three-point lead late was squandered when the Pack gave up a buzzer-beater three which eventually led to an overtime loss to Adams State, CSU-Pueblo replayed the same bad movie as Fort Lewis carved away a five-point lead inside the final 30 seconds of regulation only to bury a buzzer-beater three and eventually claim a 82-80 victory.
Leading 73-68, Fort Lewis' Matt Mazarei buried a second-chance three-pointer with seven seconds left. On the ensuing foul, committed on normally failsafe free-throw shooter Bryse Velasquez (Sr., Colorado Springs, Colo.), he only hit one of two attempts, setting up last second heroics by Nick Tomsick, who drained the tying three as the clock hit zeroes to send the game into overtime, tied 74-74.
In the overtime period, the score shifted back and forth, but the Skyhawks obviously held the momentum. It wasn't until a pretty fast break pass from Jed Knafelc (Jr., Highlands Ranch) to Derick Agbaroji (So., Houston, Texas), leading to an earth-shattering dunk that the Pack began to get its mojo back, going up 79-78 with 58 seconds remaining in the overtime.
But all it did was set up another round heroics for Fort Lewis as Torrey Udall converted a put-back layup to give the Skyhawks the win.
The ending wasn't foreshadowed at all by a dominant start from the ThunderWolves. CSU-Pueblo went up early and often, keeping the Skyhawks from never leading in regulation and holding them to just 1-for-15 shooting in the game's first nine minutes as it built a practically insurmountable 19-3 lead to start the contest.
While Fort Lewis was ice cold, CSU-Pueblo began the game shooting 6-for-10, stroking four threes to build up the early 16-point advantage.
Despite the smooth start for the Pack, Fort Lewis did what good teams tend to do, battling its way back into the game.
After reaching its high lead of 16 points, 47-31, at 18:37 in the second half, Fort Lewis warmed up and went on a 14-2 run to come within four, 49-45, with 13:55 left. From there, Fort Lewis slowly but surely chipped into the Pack lead before eventually tying the game for the first time at the end of regulation.
CSU-Pueblo will remain at home next weekend, hosting Regis and Metro State, currently ranked third in the nation, at Massari Arena on Friday and Saturday.
