PUEBLO, Colo. (Jan. 29) – The Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball team dropped its fourth consecutive conference contest on Saturday evening in a 96-80 loss to No. 20 Regis at Massari Arena.
 
The ThunderWolves (8-12, 5-9 RMAC) controlled the game out of the jump ball as Lian Ramiro (Fr., Aurora, Colo.) found Elijah Moleon (Jr., Killeen, Texas) who kicked-off the game with a one-handed slam. Ramiro later found Isaiah Thompson (Fr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) wide-open on the top of the key for a three ball as the ThunderWolves took an early 5-1 lead in the first minute of play.
 
The Rangers (16-2, 11-1 RMAC) used a 13-6 run after Regis guard Aaron Bokol knocked down a three that made it 14-11 Rangers with 15:39 in the first half but back-to-back buckets in the paint from Thompson and Moleon gave the Pack the lead. A 3-pointer from Ramiro later in the contest gave the ThunderWolves a 22-18 advantage with 11:28 remaining in the first.
 
The Pack maintained a 4-point lead before a three ball and mid-range jumper from the visiting team made it 44-41 in Regis favor with 35 seconds in the half. Regis went in to halftime with a 44-43 lead after Moleon knocked down a pair of free-throws to end the half.
 
Ramiro and Thompson both had 11 points at the break with Ramiro recording five assists and Thompson grabbing four rebounds. The ThunderWolves went 14 of 22 (63.6%) in the half while the Ranger went 16 of 30 from the field at the break.
 
The Rangers opened the second half with a 16-6 run and quickly took control of the game but the ThunderWolves answered with a 15-3 run of their own that was sparked by three straight free-throws from De'Shaun Cooper (Fr., Poway, Calif.) that cut the Regis lead down to 71-69 with 8:18 remaining in the game.
 
Regis ended the game connecting on their last nine field goals while the Pack failed to score a field goal in the last four minutes of the game as the Rangers held on to a 96-80 win.
 
Ramiro finished the night with 21 points and dished out a team-high 6 assists while Thompson finished with 15 points after going 6 of 8 from the field and a perfect 2 of 2 from deep. Tristan Hurdle (Fr., Highlands Ranch, Colo.) added 11 points while Noble Robinson (Fr., Lubbock, Texas) chipped in 10 points and 3 assists.
 
The ThunderWolves will hit the road next week to travel to Nebraska and South Dakota to take on Chadron State on Friday and Black Hills State on Saturday.