PUEBLO, Colo. (January 9, 2015) – The Colorado State University-Pueblo men's basketball team used a balanced scoring attack to defeat Colorado Mesa University Friday at Massari Arena in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference contest.
Seven different players hit at least two field goals, while senior center Tyrone Marshall (Denver, Colo.) guided the Pack (9-5, 5-3 RMAC) with 18 points. Senior guard Jed Knafelc (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) added 17 points, which included a 9-for-10 performance from the line.
Freshman Josh Smith (Colorado Springs, Colo.) guided a ThunderWolves bench that totaled 27 points, as he scored 15 points (10 in the second half), including three 3-pointers. Junior guard Alexander Merriex (Parkhill, Colo.) was the first half boost off the bench, as he scored nine and added four rebounds.
The ThunderWolves shot 49.1 percent from the field, while holding the Mavericks (11-4, 6-3 RMAC) to 38.3 percent. The Pack forced 15 CMU turnovers, while allowing just 12 and added 18 assists.
CSU-Pueblo's third 3-pointer of the game with 11:34 showing on the game clock handed the home team its largest lead since the first 30 seconds of the game at 16-11. CMU responded with an 8-2 run during the next 2:07 to earn its first (and last) lead of the contest, 19-18.
A Merriex 3-pointer with 6:51 left in the frame gave the ThunderWolves a 21-19 lead and jumpstarted a 12-1 run to hand the Pack a 10-point advantage, 30-20. During the run, Merriex totaled six points and junior Odessa Lear (G, Parkhill, Colo.) added four.
Lear finished the game with second points and a team-high eight rebounds.
The Mavericks won the final 3:55 6-3, but CSU-Pueblo owned the halftime lead, 33-26 behind 14 bench points by the Pack. Merriex led the ThunderWolves with nine points, while Lear added four points and six rebounds.
The ThunderWolves started hot in the second half and posted a 9-2 run during the first three-plus minutes of the fresh 20 and opened their largest lead of the game, 42-28 with 16:42 remaining.
The teams traded buckets for the next six minutes until back-to-back 3-pointers by the ThunderWolves pushed the home team's advantage to 14 at 56-42 at the media timeout with 9:30 remaining.
An old-fashioned 3-point play by the Mavericks with 5:43 left cut the CSU-Pueblo lead to eight at 60-52, but a Marshall bucket underneath on a sweet feed from Knafelc and a 3-point dagger by Smith gave the Pack a more comfortable 65-52 lead with 3:58 to play.
The lead would hold during the last four minutes, as the Mavericks only got as close as 10 and the Pack avoided back-to-back losses to improve to 4-1 after a setback in 2014-15.
The ThunderWolves welcome Western State Colorado University Saturday in a 7:30 p.m. contest at Massari Arena.
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, Colorado State University – Pueblo competes in 22 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.
