GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball team opened the New Year here Friday evening with a hard-fought 94-82 setback to 14th-ranked Colorado Mesa in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action at Brownson Arena.
With the setback, the ThunderWolves fall to 6-6 overall on the season and 2-4 in the RMAC, while CMU improves to 10-0 overall and remains undefeated in RMAC play at 6-0. Friday's loss was the third consecutive in league play for the Pack.
Friday's game, which was the first in the 2024 calendar year for both teams, was a tale of two halves as the Pack shot 46 percent from the field and made four 3-pointers en route to holding a 40-38 lead at the half, while CMU would shoot 61 percent from the field as they outscored the Pack 56-42 in the second half to post their seventh straight win against the ThunderWolves. The Pack entered the game 6-0 this season when leading at the half.
Junior guard
Armon Muldrew (Perris, Calif./San Bernardino Valley) paced the Pack offense with 20 points, while junior forward
De'Shaun Cooper (Poway, Calif./Balboa School) added a season-high 18 points, including scoring 11 of those points after halftime and senior guard
Brevin Walter (Las Vegas, Nev./South Dakota Mines) also finished with 18 points, including an 8-for-8 effort at the free throw line. Walter (10), Muldrew (9) and Cooper (7) combined for 26 of the Pack's 42 first half points.
Colorado Mesa opened the second half 7-4 run to take a 45-42 lead just a little over two minutes into the period. The Pack, though, responded with a 4-1 run capped by lay-up from freshman forward
Ty Adam (Severance, Colo./Severance) to tie the game at 46 with 15:37 left in the contest.
Following Adam's basket, the Mavericks would score 10 straight points to push out to a 56-46 lead with 13:14 left in the game. The Mavs lead would eventually grow to 65-54 following a trey from Adam Kuhl with 9:41 remaining in the contest.
The Pack wouldn't back down against the home team as they responded with a 9-2 run to drop the Mavs lead to 67-63 with 7:12 remaining. The Pack's run began with two free throws from senior guard
Makiah Morris (San Diego, Calif./San Diego City College) and was capped by Cooper lay-up.
CMU, though, answered right back as they used 20-11 run over the next five minutes to extend its lead to 13 points at 87-74 with 2:22 left in the game. That 13-point lead was the largest of the game for the Mavs.
The Pack would mount one last rally as they used an 8-0 run keyed by back-to-back treys from Muldrew and Walter and capped by two Walter free throws to pull within 87-82 with 58 seconds remaining.
On the Mavs' ensuing possession following Walter's two free throws, Mac Riniker scored on a dunk and added a free throw with 53 seconds left to give the Mavs a 90-82 lead. The Mavs would cap the scoring by hitting 4-of-4 free throws in final 46 seconds.
Riniker paced the Mavericks offense with a game-high 22 points, including scoring 18 of those points after halftime. In addition to Riniker, Kuhl added a career-high 21 points as he was 5-for-10 from 3-point line on the night. Isaac Jessup, who hit five treys and Owen Koonce each tallied 15 points in the win. Trevor Baskin, who entered the game averaging 16.8 points per game, was held to just 12 points before fouling out.
In the first half, CMU held 22-19 lead with 9:53 left in the period, before the Pack responded with a 6-0 run to take a 25-22 lead with 8:28 left in the half. After CMU tied the game on a trey by Jessup, the Pack used a 5-0 run capped by two Muldrew free throws with push out to a 30-25 lead with 7:44 left in the half.
The Mavs would respond with a 7-2 run to tie the game at 32-all with 4:29 remaining, but the Pack responded with a basket by Muldrew to retake the lead at 34-32. CMU, though, used a 6-3 run to take 38-37 lead on a trey by Kuhl with 52 seconds left. Junior guard
Daeyon James (Stockbridge, Ga./Seward County CC) gave the Pack a 40-38 halftime lead thanks to his trey with four seconds left in the half.
For the game, the Pack shot 38 percent from the field and 39 percent (9-for-23) from the 3-point line, while CMU finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field and hit 15 treys as they shot 35 percent (15-for-43) from the 3-point line in the win. The 15 treys were a season-high allowed by the Pack.
The Pack won the free throw battle in the game as they were 27-for-33 (81.8 percent) at the line, including going 15-for-16 from the line in the second half, while Mesa was 15-for-27 (55.6 percent) from the line. A total of 49 fouls were called in the game as the Pack were whistled for a season-high 24 fouls and CMU was called for 25 fouls.
Mesa held a 42-38 edge on the boards, including a 17-16 advantage on the offensive glass. Muldrew led the Pack in rebounding with five, while three Mavs each had six boards in the game.
The Pack finished with 13 turnovers, while CMU had 14 turnovers. The Pack held a 21-10 edge in points off turnovers.
Mesa finished with 21 assists and the Pack recorded just nine assists, including three by Walter.
The Pack will look to snap its three-game losing streak on Saturday, Jan. 6 as they play a 7 p.m. RMAC contest in Salt Lake City against Westminster. Westminster suffered a 76-69 home loss to New Mexico Highlands on Friday night.
