Pack men fall in carbon copy of women's loss two hours earlier.

KEARNEY, Neb. (GoThunderWolves.com - Feb. 17, 2012) - They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but the last thing the CSU-Pueblo men's basketball team wanted to do late Friday is emulate the collapse the Pack women suffered just two hours before against Nebraska-Kearney. 

But unfortunately, the Pack men met the same fate as their female counterparts, watching as a tidy 20--point lead late in the first half crumbled, losing 67-65 to the Lopers.

CSU-Pueblo saw its game-high 19-point advantage disappear, first as Nebraska-Kearney chipped away at the lead in the second half, cutting the disadvantage to nine points with 9:44 remaining, then kicking it into high gear.

After a lone bucket gave the Pack a 59-48 lead with 9:21 remaining, Kearney went on an 11-0 run to tie the game at 59-59.  The home team kept it up by getting just enough breathing room, keeping a bucket between themselves and the ThunderWolves, and watching as CSU-Pueblo struggled through a monumentous cold streak.

In the game's final nine minutes, CSU-Pueblo mustered just two field goals, the second of which was simply a gimme bucket as time expired.  The ThunderWolves were just 2-for-12 down the stretch, committing seven turnovers. 

Kearney, meanwhile, ended the game on a 19-6 run and potentially sunk the Pack out of the playoff discussion in the process.  CSU-Pueblo now likely has to win at least two of its final three games to even have a shot at the final RMAC playoff spot - at 12-11 overall and 9-10 in conference play, the ThunderWolves are in 9th place in the conference standings.