PUEBLO, Colo. – The Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball team picked the wrong to play one its worst games of the season as the ThunderWolves suffered a 70-47 setback University of Colorado-Colorado Springs in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play at Massari Arena.

With the loss, the Pack were officially eliminated from postseason play as their record fell to 11-16 overall and 7-14 in the league heading into Saturday's regular season finale with Regis University. UCCS kept its postseason hopes alive with the win as they improved to 15-13 overall and 9-12 in the league.

Prior to Friday's game and at halftime, CSU Pueblo celebrated the 60th Anniversary of the school's final JUCO team that competed during the 1962-63 season as Pueblo Junior College.
Entering play on Friday, CSU Pueblo needed to win both of its games this weekend to get to nine conference victories, which would give themselves a chance to earn one of the final two available spots in the 2023 RMAC Tournament.

In Friday's game, the Pack, who suffered its largest home defeat of the season, shot 28 percent (17-for-61) from the field and made just three of its 22 3-pointers for a season-low 13.6 percent. The 47 points were also a season low as the previous season low came last Friday at Westminster as the Pack scored 49 points in an 87-49 loss to the Griffins. Additionally, the Pack scored a season-low 21 second half points.

CSU Pueblo's postseason hopes were dashed early in the second half of Friday's game as the Mountain Lions turned its 33-26 halftime lead into a 23-point lead at 55-32 just seven minutes into the half. The lead would eventually balloon to as much as 26 points at 70-44 with 1:26 left in the game.

The lone bright spot offensively for the Pack in Friday's game was the play of sophomore forward Isaiah Thompson (Colorado Springs, Colo./Fountain-Fort Carson), who finished with a game-high 18 points and added seven rebounds. Thompson has now scored in double figures in nine of his last 10 games and 19 games overall on the season.

No other Pack player expect for Thompson scored in double figures in the game as the next highest point scorer was sophomore guard Lian Ramiro (Aurora, Colo./Grandview), who finished with nine points and six rebounds, but he was just 3-for-10 from the field and 1-for-6 from the 3-point line. The nine points pushed his career total to 1,045 points, which is 21st on the school's all-time scoring charts.

The Pack offense took a big hit just about two minutes in the game as junior guard Makiah Morris (San Diego, Caif./San Diego City College) suffered what appeared to be a knee injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the game. Morris came into the game as the Pack's No. 3 scorer on the season as he was averaging nearly 11 points per game. Morris' status for Saturday's game has not yet been determined.

UCCS jumped out to a 16-12 lead just seven minutes into the game, but the Pack would respond with a 5-2 run capped by two free throws from freshman guard Sam Howery (Colorado Springs, Colo./St. Mary's) to pull within 18-17 with 9:48 left in the opening half.

The Mountain Lions, though, responded with a 13-2 run to push its lead to 31-19 following two free throws by William Becker with 6:29 left in the half. The Pack would score seven of the final nine points of the first half to pull within 33-26 at the half. The Pack are now 1-13 this season when trailing at the half.

UCCS got off to a strong start in the second half as they used a 22-6 run over a span of nearly seven minutes to push out to a 55-32 lead.

The Pack would get the game as close as 18 points following a monster dunk by Thompson with 5:34 left in the game. Thompson's dunk brought the Pack within 59-41. UCCS would answer right back with a driving lay-up by Jon'il Fugett and that lay-up would start a 9-3 run by UCCS to push its lead to 70-44 with a little les than a 90 seconds left in the contest.

Thompson would cap his 18 point night and score the final points of the game on his 3-pointer with 41 seconds to go.

Beni Fungula and Mac Stodart each scored 16 points to pace the Mountain Lions, while Fugett added 14 points and seven rebounds. Jayden Washington scored 10 points off the bench in the win.

The Pack were outrebounded, 42-37 as along with Thompson's seven boards, sophomore forward De'Shaun Cooper (Poway, Calif./Balboa School) pulled down a career-high eight boards. Becker had eight boards to lead the way for UCCS.

While the Pack struggled to shoot the ball on Friday, UCCS finished the game shooting 46 percent from the field and 39 percent from the 3-point line.

Both teams took care of the ball as UCCS had 11 turnovers, while the Pack had 10 turnovers. The Mountain Lions, though, held a 13-9 edge in points off turnovers.

The Pack outshot the Mountain Lions at the free throw, 14-6, as UCCS was 5-for-6 (83 percent) at the line and the Pack were just 10-for-14 (71 percent) at the line.

CSU Pueblo will close out the 2022-23 season on Saturday, Feb. 25 as they host Regis University for a 7:30 p.m. Senior Night contest. Regis (12-15 overall, 9-12 RMAC) kept their postseason hopes alive thanks to an 80-76 win on Friday at New Mexico Highlands. Prior to Saturday's game, the Pack will honor its two seniors – forwards Meekness Payne (Phoenix, Ariz./University of New Hampshire) and Elijah Moleon (Killeen, Texas/Angelo State) – in a pregame ceremony.