PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball extended its Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference win streak to two straight games here Tuesday evening as the ThunderWolves collected a 75-55 victory over New Mexico Highlands at Massari Arena.
 
With Tuesday's win, the Pack improves to 9-7 overall and moves to .500 in the league at 5-5, while New Mexico Highlands dropped its fourth straight game and fell to 7-9 overall and 4-7 in the RMAC. The Pack is now alone in eighth place in the league standings at the halfway mark of conference play.
 
Tuesday's win was aided by five Pack players scoring in double figures with senior guard Makiah Morris (San Diego, Calif./San Diego City College) leading the way with a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds. The double-double was Morris' second straight and third overall in his collegiate career.
 
In addition to Morris' double-double, junior guard Daeyon James (Stockbridge, Ga./Seward County CC) added 12 points off the bench, while senior guard Brevin Walter (Las Vegas, Nev./South Dakota Mines) and junior guard Armon Muldrew (Perris, Calif./San Bernardino Valley) each scored 11 points and those two combined for nine assists as Walter had five assists and Muldrew finished with four assists.
 
The fifth double-digit scorer for the Pack was junior forward De'Shaun Cooper (Poway, Calif./Balboa School) as he scored 11 points and pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds for his first career double-double.
 
While the Pack offense scored 75 points in the win, the Pack defense also played a strong role in the victory as the Pack held the Cowboys to just 55 points, including allowing just 17 first half points. The 55 points are the fewest allowed by the Pack in an RMAC game this season, while the 17 first half points tied a season low allowed by the Pack in the first half.
 
In addition to allowing 55 points, the Pack defense held NMHU to 32 percent from the field and 20 percent (4-for-20) from the 3-point line, while forcing 20 turnovers and held a 49-40 edge on the boards. The 49 rebounds were a season-high by the Pack.
 
The Pack jumped out to a 17-6 lead just 10 minutes into the opening half, before NMHU used a 9-4 run to pull within 21-15 with 5:43 left in the half. Following that run, the Pack closed the opening half on an 11-2 run to take a 32-17 lead at half. The run was capped by back-to-back treys from James, including hitting a trey from about 30-feet away that just beat the first half buzzer.
 
Highlands opened the second half with a trey from Kyrie Thomas just 11 seconds into the period to cut the Pack's lead to 32-20, but the Pack responded with a 21-11 run capped by a Walter free throw with 13:13 left to take a 53-31 lead. Muldrew scored six of the Pack's 21 points during the run.
 
After the Cowboys scored five straight points to cut the Pack's lead to 53-36 with 12:40 remaining in the game, the Pack used a 20-12 run over the next nine-plus minutes to push its lead to 73-48 following a trey by Walter. In fact, Cooper and Walter scored 10 of the Pack's points during the run. The 25-point lead was the largest of the game for the Pack.
 
Highlands would close the game by scoring seven of the final nine points to cap the scoring and set the final margin.
 
Rodney Mason II led the Cowboys with 11 points, while Ezichi Kalu and Kenard Richardson each scored seven points in the loss. Kalu collected nine boards, while Eric Sonnenberg added eight rebounds in the contest.
 
For the game, the Pack shot 44 percent from the field and 38 percent (8-for-21) from the 3-point line.
 
The Pack dished out 20 assists with Walter and graduate student guard Isaiah Morris (San Diego, Calif./Cal State-Dominguez Hills) each had five assists and both teams had 10 steals each in the game.
 
Both teams also blocked four shots each with Cooper being credited with three of the Pack's four blocked shots.
 
Both teams struggled from the free throw line in the game as the Pack shot 57 percent (13-for-23) from the line, while Highlands shot 39 percent (5-for-13) at the line.
 
The Pack will look to make it three wins in a row this coming Friday, Jan. 19 as they begin a three-game road trip with a 7 p.m. RMAC game against Western Colorado (4-10 overall, 1-7 RMAC) in Gunnison, Colo.