PUEBLO, Colo. – For the third time in the last six seasons the Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball team has opened the season by winning its first games following its 80-60 victory here Sunday afternoon over Midwestern State at Massari Arena. The ThunderWolves also started the season 2-0 in both 2019-20 and 2021-22.
With the win, the Pack improves to 2-0 on the season and has now won four straight regular-season games dating to last season, while Midwestern State falls to 1-1 on the season. The Pack opened the 2024-25 season with an 83-64 win against Cameron.
In Sunday's win, the Pack never trailed in the game as they outscored the Mustangs, 37-18 in the first half and then held a 43-42 edge in the second half to post the 20-point win. Through 80 minutes and two games, the Pack has trailed for a total of just two minutes and 53 seconds.
Senior guard
Armon Muldrew (Perris, Calif./San Bernardino Valley) paced the Pack with 16 points and added five rebounds. In addition to Muldrew, sophomore guard/forward
Corbin Garver (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) tallied 13 points, and seven rebounds, and freshman forward
Jake Lafferty (Bruner, Mo./Sparta) had 10 points and six rebounds.
Fifth-year senior guard
Brevin Walter (Las Vegas, Nev./South Dakota Mines) and redshirt sophomore guard
Jaden Kennis (Windsor, Colo./MSU Denver) each had nine points in the victory.
The Pack jumped out to a fast start in Sunday's contest as they led 9-4 in the opening three-plus minutes and after MSU pulled within 9-8, the Pack used an 11-3 run to push out to a 20-11 lead following a basket by junior guard
Denim Johnson (Omaha, Neb./Trinity Valley CC) with 9:38 left in the opening half.
Following a basket by Mason Gibson to stop the Pack run, the home team answered back with a 17-4 run over the next eight-plus minutes to push its lead to 37-15. The run began with a lay-up by Muldrew and capped by a Muldrew three-pointer. Kennis, Muldrew and Lafferty combined 13 of the Pack's 17 points.
MSU used a trey by Noah McDavid with 51 seconds left in the opening half to cut the Pack's halftime lead to 37-18.
The Mustangs would open the second half on a 12-2 run to cut the Pack lead to 38-30 just three minutes into the period. The Pack, though, responded with a 15-3 run capped by back-to-back treys from Garver to push its lead back out to 21 points at 53-32 with 12:23 left in the game.
MSU would score seven of the next 10 points to pull within 56-40 with a little more than 10 minutes left, but the Pack used one scoring flurry of 11-0 to take its largest lead of the game at 67-40. The run began with a lay-up and free throw to complete a 3-point play by senior forward
De'Shaun Cooper (Poway, Calif./Balboa School) and was capped by a trey from Kennis, who was 3-for-5 from the 3-point line in the game.
The Mustangs would close out the game by scoring 20 of the final 37 points to set the final margin.
Gibson led MSU with 23 points, while Antwan Taylor tallied 11 points off the bench.
The Pack shot 42 percent from the field and 50 percent (13-for-25) from the 3-point line, while MSU shot 38 percent from the field and 23 percent from the 3-point line.
After getting outrebounded in the opener against Cameron, the Pack outrebounded the Mustangs, 47-35, as Cooper led the way with eight boards, while Garver added seven. Lafferty and Johnson each had six boards. The Pack also had a 16-8 edge on the offensive glass that led to a 20-14 edge in second-chance points.
The Pack committed 10 turnovers and had 19 assists, including five by Johnson and a career-high four by Cooper. MSU had 13 turnovers and 11 assists. The home team scored 17 points off those 13 MSU turnovers.
The Pack were 7-for-8 (87.5 percent) at the free throw line, while MSU was just 13-for-22 (59.1 percent) at the line.
CSU Pueblo will look to open the season 3-0 as they return to action next Saturday, Nov. 16 as they host Texas A&M-Kingsville in a 7 p.m. game at Massari Arena. That will be the third straight opponent for the Pack from the Lone Star Conference.
