PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball closed out the first month of the 2024-25 season here Tuesday evening by scoring 52 points in the paint and 49 points off the bench en route to earning an 87-65 non-conference victory over Bethany (Kan.) College in Massari Arena.
Tuesday's victory improved the ThunderWolves to 5-1 overall on the season and run its homecourt win streak to five straight games, while Bethany falls to 4-5. The win helped the Pack rebound from its first loss this season last Saturday at New Mexico Highlands (85-63).
Freshman guard/forward
Jordan Blair (Keller, Texas/Keller Central) paced the Pack with a career-high 15 points and eight rebounds. At the same time, junior forward
Victor Lado (Louisville, Ky./Vincennes University) added 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Junior guard
Kesean Bazile (Victorville, Calif./West Hills Lemoore) and sophomore guard
Shad Levy (Baton Rouge, La./Dunham School) each scored eight points off the bench. Those four players combined to play 70 minutes in the win.
Senior forward
De'Shaun Cooper (Poway, Calif./Balboa School) tallied 11 points in 15 minutes, while freshman forward
Jake Lafferty (Bruner, Mo./Sparta) added nine points and a career-high nine rebounds and junior guard
Denim Johnson (Omaha, Neb./Trinity Valley CC) had eight points, five rebounds and four assists.
The Pack finished the game shooting 47 percent from the field but were just 2-for-17 (11.8 percent) from the 3-point line and was 19-for-26 (73 percent) from the free throw line. Over its last two games, the Pack have gone just 2-for-32 from the 3-point as they were 0-for-15 in the loss at New Mexico Highlands.
Bethany jumped out to a 12-7 lead just five-plus minutes into the game, before the Pack used a 13-3 run over the next four-plus minutes to take a 20-15 lead. The run was keyed by four points from Cooper and three points from Blair.
After JR Cison stopped the Pack with a basket with 11:03 left in the first half cut the Pack's lead to 20-17, the ThunderWolves would score 22 of the next 24 points to push out to a 42-19 lead capped by back-to-back baskets by Johnson. The latter basket was an alley-oop dunk by Johnson.
The Swedes would close the half by scoring five of the final nine points to give the Pack a 46-24 halftime lead.
After Pack opened the second half by scoring 25 of the first 36 points to extend its halftime lead to 71-35 with 10:15 left in the game. The run was capped by back-to-back treys from Bazile. During the run, Bazile, Blair, and Lado combined to score 12 of the Pack's 25 points.
Bethany would respond with a 19-8 run to pull within 79-56 with 3:25 left in the game. After Blair made two free throws and Lafferty scored in a tip-in with 2:03 left to give the Pack an 83-56 lead, the Swedes would close the game by scoring 11 of the final 15 points to close the game.
While the Pack shot 47 percent from the field and 12 percent from the 3-point line, Bethany shot 37 percent from the field and 21 percent from the 3-point line. Bethany was also 10-for-16 (62.5 percent) from the free throw line.
Cison and Ellis Todd paced Bethany with nine points each, while Emmanuel Akpan, who is the Swedes' leading scorer this season, and Will Dominguez each tallied eight points in the loss.
The Pack held a 55-34 edge on the boards as Blair and Lafferty each had eight boards, while Lado and redshirt sophomore guard
Jaden Kennis (Windsor, Colo./MSU Denver) each had seven boards.
CSU Pueblo lost the turnover battle, 18-15, but the Pack held a 14-12 edge in points off turnovers. Each team blocked two shots in the game.
The Pack also dished out 17 assists on 33 made baskets and Johnson and junior guard
Sam Howery (Colorado Springs, Colo./St. Mary's) each had four in the game.
CSU Pueblo will now turn its attention to Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play as they will return to action next Thursday, Dec. 5 with a 7:30 p.m. game in Salt Lake City against Westminster University. That game will be the first of 20 RMAC games this season for the Pack.
