PUEBLO, Colo. (GoThunderWolves.com - Feb. 22, 2013) - CSU-Pueblo suffered a very costly loss to a Black Hills State team clinging to its playoff lives, falling 50-46 on its own home floor Friday.
The loss, the ThunderWolves' third in its past four games, drops CSU-Pueblo to 16-7 overall and 13-6 in RMAC play, severely injuring its chances for an at-large NCAA Division II Tournament berth as well as its hope for a home first-round RMAC Tournament game.
As has been the case in recent games, poor shooting did the Pack in as it hit just 30.8 percent of its shots from the field. It also had trouble hitting foul shots, going just 8-for-15 compared to Black Hills State's 7-for-10 figure, very well explaining the difference in the game.
The game began to fall out of CSU-Pueblo's favor five minutes into the game as a 9-0 Black Hills State run turned an early 9-8 CSU-Pueblo lead into a 17-9 Yellow Jacket advantage, and remarkably, the ThunderWolves would never again regain the lead.
After responding with an immediate 8-0 run to tie the game at 17-7, Black Hills State ended the first half outscoring the Pack 10-2 and maintained a three-plus-score advantage for most of the remainder of the game.
CSU-Pueblo did make a too-little-too-late comeback, taking the game over after Black Hills held a 48-35 lead at the 7:26 mark. CSU-Pueblo didn't allow Black Hills State to score another field goal after that point, but despite the shutdown defense, the ThunderWolves couldn't use its opportunities to complete the comeback.
The Pack would get as close as 49-46 with 30 seconds left after a Jenay Locke (Jr., Gilbert, Ariz.) three-pointer, and even had a shot to tie after Alex Evans (Jr., Louisville, Colo.) forced a backcourt violation to give the Pack the ball back with 22 seconds remaining. But Black Hills guarded well on the perimeter, forcing Erica Hicks (Sr., Lakewood, Colo.) to take a contested three that hit the iron.
CSU-Pueblo will look to rebound from the loss Saturday when it faces Chadron State, currently the last-place team in the RMAC.
