PUEBLO, Colo. (Feb. 13, 2020) – The Colorado State University-Pueblo men's basketball team returns home Feb. 14-15 for two Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference contests against University of Colorado Colorado Springs and Colorado School of Mines. Game time at Massari Arena both evenings is 7:30 p.m.

PROMOTIONS

Friday, CSU-Pueblo Athletics will celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day. All girls ages 17 and under will be admitted for free.

Saturday is CSU-Pueblo Alumni Night at Massari Arena. All CSU-Pueblo Alumni will receive a free general admission ticket and two additional general admission tickets. Both CSU-Pueblo Basketball teams will also celebrate their alumni by welcoming them back to the floor during a halftime. The women's team will have an alumni game at 1 p.m. Saturday, while the men have a game at 2 p.m. Both alumni contests are free and open to the public. 

VERSUS THE OPPONENTS

• Just two weeks ago, the Pack hit the road to battle Mines and UCCS. In those games, the ThunderWolves struggled shooting the ball, while their opponents shot 50 percent or higher from the field. CSU-Pueblo ended up losing to Mines 89-61 and falling to UCCS by the score of 86-72. 

• The ThunderWolves have won five straight at home against the Mountain Lions. In the last five games against the Orediggers, the Pack are 1-4.

RMAC STANDINGS

• With five regular season games remaining, CSU-Pueblo is currently in 10th with an 8-9 conference record. The Pack are one game out of a tie for seventh, as the top eight teams advance to the conference tournament. Both Mines and UCCS are in the top four, as the Orediggers are third (12-5) and the Mountain Lions are fourth (11-6). 

LAST WEEKEND

• The ThunderWolves (10-13, 8-9 RMAC) secured a weekend split on one of the toughest road trips in the league, as the Pack traveled to Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines. CSU-Pueblo knocked off the league-leading Yellow Jackets, 68-67, on a Tyson Gilbert layup with just one second remaining in regulation. The ThunderWolves then fell to the Hardrockers, 73-44.

• The Pack stunned the Yellow Jackets Friday with a last second layup to win, 68-67. CSU-Pueblo led the majority of the second half, but trailed 67-66 with only six seconds remaining. On the in-bounds pass, guard Tyson Gilbert ended up getting the ball and he took it coast-to-coast, as the sophomore looked calm, cool and collected going to the rack and laying in the game-winning shot with one tick showing on the game clock. BHSU (16-6, 13-3 RMAC) had won 13 straight and owned a 9-2 home record this season until the ThunderWolves came in and spoiled the streak. CSU-Pueblo lost to BHSU, 94-76, at home just two weeks earlier, but were able to limit the home team to just 46 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from long range. The Pack shot 46.3 percent from the field and knocked down 10-of-20 (50%) from long range. Forward Bryce Sanchious had 21 points with four 3-pointers and a 5-of-6 (83.3%) effort from the free throw line. He also added five rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Center Jason Anderson came off the bench and produced 15 points in 24 minutes of play. He shot 7-of-9 (77.8%) from the field and brought down four rebounds. Gilbert also came off the bench, but played in 36 minutes. He had 11 points, a team-high five assists and four rebounds. 

• The ThunderWolves lost 73-44 to South Dakota Mines, but were down just two at the half. The Pack went ice cold in the second half and scored only 15 points in the final 20 minutes. On the other side, the Hardrockers (13-10, 10-7 RMAC) heated up in the second frame to run away with the victory. Guard David Simental was the lone player in double figures with 12 points.

THE PACK

• David Simental was named RMAC Offensive Player of the Week Dec. 9 after the first weekend of RMAC play. He averaged 30 points per game, shot 56.1 percent from the field (23-of-41) and 50 percent from long range, as he went 8-for-16. He was 6-for-8 (75%) from the free throw line. The 42 points in an overtime loss at Fort Lewis is the fifth most in program history, the most by an RMAC player this season and is T-20th in NCAA Division II in 2019-20.

• Five different players are scoring at least 9.3 points per game and four different players have 4.0 or more rebounds per contest. 

• Redshirt-sophomore guard David Simental leads the team with 16.0 points per game to rank 10th in the RMAC. His 17.4 points per conference game is 6th. He is the only player to have started each of the 23 contests. He is 90-for-102 from the free throw line for an 88.2 percentage that ranks 2nd in the RMAC and T-26th in NCAA Division II. His 33.7 minutes per game ranks 3rd in the league. 
 
• Senior guard Brandon McGhee adds 10.8 points per game and is shooting 50.2 percent from the field. He leads the team with 4.0 assists per game that is 6th in the RMAC. He adds 4.0 rebounds per contest. His 1.7 assist/turnover ratio is T-5th in the conference. McGhee's 21 steals is a team-high.
 
• Junior forward Bryce Sanchious owns 10.8 points per game and has pulled down 5.3 rebounds per contest to sit 2nd on the team. The junior leads the team with 20 blocks, as his 0.9 blocks per game average ranks T-6th in the RMAC. He recorded back-to-back double-doubles the first RMAC weekend at Adams State (10 points, 13 rebounds) and Fort Lewis (17 points, 10 rebounds). 

• Sophomore guard Tyson Gilbert has started nine games and leads the team with 41 3-pointers with a 44.1 percentage from long range. He is averaging 10.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. He knocked down six 3-pointers Dec. 18 in a road loss to New Mexico Highlands.
 
• Senior center Jason Anderson owns 9.3 points and a team-high 5.5 rebounds per game. He has a 63.0 percentage from the field this season. Anderson has two double-doubles on the year. 
  
• Freshman forward Jaedon Bowles has produced 8.3 points per game. He is second on the squad with 34 3-pointers.
  
• Senior forward Donovan Oldham adds 7.3 points and 4.0 rebounds with 32 3-pointers. 
 
• Milestone Watch: Donovan Oldham is currently at 981 points for his career. He is 19 points shy of becoming the 24th member of the Pack men's basketball team to reach 1,000 career points. 
 
• The Pack average 75.3 points per game to rank 10th in the RMAC and allow 78.7 points per contest for 11th in the conference. 
 
• The team is shooting 46.8 percent from the field to rank 6th in the RMAC.  

• CSU-Pueblo ranks 5th in the league in blocks with 3.4 swats per game. 

THE MOUNTAIN LIONS

• The Mountain Lions are riding a four-game win streak into the weekend and are 15-7 overall with a 11-6 conference record that places them alone in fourth in the league standings. UCCS swept its last weekend series with wins at MSU Denver (70-47) and Chadron State (75-62). 
 
• UCCS averages 73.9 points per game to rank 12th in the RMAC, but are first in scoring defense, as it allows 67.8 points per contest. 

• The Mountain Lions lead the league in rebounding margin at +6.1 and are tops in blocks with 4.7 swats per game. The team is 2nd in the league in field goal percent defense, as they allow 42.2 percent. UCCS is 4th in assists with 14.6 helpers per game. 
 
• Pagiet Wang leads the team with 16.4 points per game to rank 7th in the conference. His 2.0 steals per game not only leads the team, but ranks 3rd in the RMAC. He adds 5.4 rebounds per game. Wang and Parker Gaddis each have 3.8 assists per game to rank T-9th in the RMAC.
 
• Blend Avdili adds 13.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
 
• William Becker has 30 blocked shots (1.4 bpg) this season to sit 2nd in the league. He leads the team and ranks 3rd in the RMAC with 6.9 rebounds per game in 21 contests, all off the bench.

THE OREDIGGERS

• The Orediggers are 16-8 overall and 12-5 in RMAC play to sit alone in third. Mines went on the road last weekend and picked up a pair of victories against Chadron State (81-47) and MSU Denver (73-61). 
 
• Mines averages 76.6 points per game to rank 9th in the RMAC and allow 68.3 points per contest for 2nd in the conference. 

• The Orediggers are 2nd in the league in blocks per game (4.6 bpg), 3rd in free throw percentage (75.6%), T-3rd in 3-pointers made (8.8 mpg) and 4th in 3-point percentage (39.3%). The team ranks 4th in rebounding margin at +3.9 and 5th in assist/turnover ratio at 1.09. 

• Mines has six players with 8.5 or more points per game. Mason Baker's 16.2 points per game is good for 8th in the RMAC. His 87.4 percent shooting from the free throw line ranks 3rd. He also leads the team with 3.5 assists per game. His 1.7 assist/turnover ratio is T-5th in the conference. 
 
• Brendon Sullivan adds 14.0 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. He is 9th in the conference with a 52.2 field goal percentage and T-9th with 1.5 steals per contest. 
 
• Michael Glen leads the RMAC with 38 overall blocks and a 1.6 blocks per game average. He has 6.8 rebounds per game to lead the team and rank T-4th in the league. Glen owns 11.3 points per game.
 
NEXT UP
 
The ThunderWolves head out on the road for the final time in the regular season Feb. 21-22, as the Pack travel to Chadron State College and Metro State University of Denver.