ALAMOSA, Colo. – One night after nearly picking up an upset of 13th-ranked Fort Lewis, Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball was outscored 44-30 in the second half here Saturday evening as the ThunderWolves suffered a gut-wrenching 80-68 loss to Adams State University in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play at Plachy Hall.
Saturday's loss was the fourth straight for the ThunderWolves as they fall to 10-12 overall and 6-10 in the RMAC, while Adams State snaps a 13-game losing skid and improves to 4-18 overall and 2-14 in the league. The loss dropped the Pack into a two-way tie with MSU Denver for 10th place in the league standings.
The Pack led 38-36 at the half, but the Grizzlies went on 15-6 run over a span of four-plus minutes to turn a 47-40 deficit into a 55-50 lead with 12:50 left in the game. The Grizzlies lead eventually reached 15 points at 76-61 following four straight free throws from Maison Adeleye.
CSU Pueblo, though, would use a 7-1 run over the next 1:45 to pull within 76-68 with 1:09 left in the game. The run began with two free throws from sophomore guard
Noble Robinson (Lubbock, Texas/Clarendon College) and was capped by a three-pointer from freshman guard
Sam Howery (Colorado Springs, Colo./St. Mary's).
That would be as close as the Pack would get as the Grizzlies hit four straight free throws over the final 30 seconds to post its first win since a 73-71 home win over Western Colorado on Dec. 2.
Senior forward
Meekness Payne (Phoenix, Ariz./New Hampshire) led the way offensively for the Pack with 15 points and seven rebounds, while junior guard
Makiah Morris (San Diego, Calif./San Diego City College) added 11 points and sophomore forward
Isaiah Thompson (Colorado Springs, Colo./Fountain-Fort Carson) tallied a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. His double-double was his second straight and seventh of the season.
The Pack jumped out to an 11-8 lead just six-plus minutes into the contest, but that lead would be shortlived as the Grizzlies used an 8-0 run capped by a trey from Kolby Walker to push out to a 16-11 lead with 12:25 left in the opening half.
After that run, the Pack would respond by scoring five straight to retie the game at 16, but ASU would answer with an 11-7 run to push out to a 27-23 lead with six minutes left in the half. The Pack, though, would respond with 13-3 run to push out to a 36-30 lead with 2:04 left in the half. The run was keyed by eight points from sophomore forward
De'Shaun Cooper (Poway, Calif./Balboa School).
Adams State would then score six straight points to retie the game at 36, before Payne made a lay-up with one second left to give the Pack a 38-36 halftime lead.
CSU Pueblo would open the second half on a 6-0 run to extend its halftime lead to 44-36 just two-plus minutes out of the locker room, before Adams State began their second half comeback.
Adeleye and Kolby Walker each scored 18 points for the Grizzlies in the win, while Isaiah Sampson and Sterling Benjamin each had 12 points. Rhaven Brown and Jaylin Reed scored 10 point each in the win.
For the game, CSU Pueblo shot 35 percent from the field and 37 percent from the 3-point line, while Adams State shot 43 percent from the field and made 12 3-pointers as they shot 40 percent from the 3-point line.
The Pack was outrebounded, 42-31, but forced ASU into 16 turnovers that led to 19 points. The Grizzles, though, scored 26 points off of 15 Pack turnovers.
CSU Pueblo finished the game 16-for-21 (76 percent) from the free throw line, while ASU shot 67 percent at the line.
The Pack will look to rebound next weekend (Feb. 10-11) as they return home to Massari Arena for 7:30 p.m. home games against Colorado Christian on Friday, Feb. 10 and on Saturday, Feb. 11 against Chadron State.
