ABERDEEN, S.D. (Nov. 23, 2019) – The Colorado State University-Pueblo men's basketball team suffered a 77-70 setback at the hands of University of Sioux Falls Saturday, in a neutral site at Northern State University.
The ThunderWolves won or were close in a lot of statistical categories, but just didn't have enough to pull out the win.
The Pack outshot the Cougars with a 42.9 percentage, while allowing 41.3 percentage. The difference was USF had seven more shot attempts, thanks to 17 offensive rebounds. Sioux Falls shot 21-of-26 (80.8%) from the free throw line, while CSU-Pueblo had a similar amount of attempts, but hit 17-of-24 (70.8%).
Senior
Brandon McGhee (G, Oakland, Calif.) came off the bench and led the team with 21 points on 9-of-16 (56.3%) shooting from the field. He added six rebounds and a game-high five assists with just one turnover.
Guard
David Simental (R-So., Pueblo West, Colo.) was the only other member of the Pack in double figures, as he shot 5-for-10 (50%) from the field and went 6-for-6 from the charity stripe to finish with 17 points.
The lead changed three times and the game was tied on another three occasions, but all that happened in the first 11 minutes of action. CSU-Pueblo scored and converted on an and-one situation to open scoring, but USF scored the next four points and never trailed the rest of the game.
A McGhee layup tied the game 22-22 with 8:52 remaining in the first half, but the Cougars posted a 10-0 run until the Pack scored 3:36 later to break the spell. The USF lead went to 11 before settling at seven, 41-34, at the break.
Sioux Falls extended their lead to 13 at 52-39 nearly six minutes into the second half, but the ThunderWolves didn't back down and rattled off a 13-3 run to get with in one possession at 55-52 with 7:46 showing on the game clock. Simental took over during the stretch and scored 10 of the team's 13 points.
USF pushed its lead back up to seven, but the Pack battled back and with 4:52 remaining, just trailed by two, 59-57. Unfortunately that would be as close as CSU-Pueblo would get, as a 9-0 run by the Cougars put the game out of reach with just minutes to play and the ThunderWolves fell by seven.
The Pack moved to 2-2 on the year in the loss and will complete their nonconference schedule at the Emerald Beach Thanksgiving Tournament in Kingsville, Texas, Nov. 29-30. CSU-Pueblo will play host Texas A&M University-Kingsville Friday at 6 p.m. MST and then battle Angelo State University at 2 p.m. MST Saturday.
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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.
