HONOLULU, Hawai'i – Colorado State University Pueblo closed out non-conference play here late Friday night as the ThunderWolves fell 80-66 to Hawai'i Pacific in its final game of the two-day Hoops in Hawai'i Holiday Classic held at the Shark Tank.
The loss was the second straight for the Pack as they moved its record to 8-4 overall and finished non-conference play with a 5-3 record, while Hawai'i Pacific improved to 6-4 overall on the season.
Friday's game was a tale of two halves as the Sharks outscored the Pack, 42-17 in the first half, before the Pack outscored the Sharks, 49-38, in the second half.
Fifth-year senior guard
Brevin Walter (Las Vegas, Nev./South Dakota Mines) paced the Pack offense with a team-high 16 points, including tallying 11 of the Pack's 17 first half points. In addition to Walter, senior guard
Armon Muldrew (Perris, Calif./San Bernardino Valley), who was named to the Hoops in Hawai'i Holiday Classic All-Tournament Team, added 13 points and junior forward
Victor Lado (Louisville, Ky./Vincennes University) added 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Three Pack players each tallied eight points as freshman forward
Jake Lafferty (Bruner, Mo./Sparta) scored all eight of his points in the second half and added six rebounds, while junior guard
Denim Johnson (Omaha, Neb./Trinity Valley CC) also had eight points, all of which came in the second half and junior guard
Kesean Bazile (Victorville, Calif./West Hills Lemoore) also had eight points, three assists and two steals. All of Bazile's points came in the second half, including going 6-for-7 from the free throw line.
After shooting just 5-for-30 from the field and 3-for-12 from the 3-point line in the first half, the Pack shot 57 percent (17-for-30) from the field and 33 percent (3-for-9) from the 3-point line in the second half.
The Pack opened the second half on a 17-15 run over the opening six-plus minutes to pull within 57-34 following a dunk by Muldrew. HPU, though, responded with a 13-7 run over the next six minutes to push out to 70-41 lead. That 29-point lead was the largest of the game for the Sharks, who has now won eight straight home games dating to last season.
Following that run by the Sharks, the Pack answered with a 14-7 run capped by two Johnson free throws with 3:30 left in the game to push the Pack within 22 points at 77-55.
After HPU hit three of its next four free throws to push its lead to 80-55 with 2:48 left in the game, the Pack closed the game by outscoring the Sharks, 11-0, to set the final margin. Lado scored four of the Pack's final 11 points, including scoring on a lay-up right before the final buzzer.
HPU put five players in double figures led by a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds from Sherman Brashear. In addition to Brashear, Jonas Visser added 14 points and seven rebounds, while Maj Dusanic and Charlie Weber each had 12 points. The fifth double-digit scorer was Tucker Pellicci with 10 points.
The Pack got off to a slow start once again in Friday's game as they missed their first 12 shots and trailed 13-0 just seven-plus minutes into the game. The Pack's first field goal was a trey by Walter with 11:39 left in the first half. Walter's trey cut HPU's lead to 13-3.
Following Walter's trey, HPU scored eight of the next 10 points to take a 21-5 lead with 8:56 left in the opening half. The Pack, though, used a Walter trey, along with a Lado lay-up and a turn-around jumper by Muldrew to pull within 21-12 with 7:20 left in the opening 20 minutes of play.
The Sharks would respond with 12-2 run to push its lead to 35-14 with 4:05 left in the half. After another trey by Walter cut the Pack deficit to 35-17, HPU would close the first half by scoring seven straight points to take a 42-17 halftime lead.
For the game, the Pack shot 37 percent from the field and 29 percent from the 3-point line, while HPU shot 44 percent from the field and 27 percent from the 3-point line. In the opening half, HPU shot 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from the 3-point line.
The Pack were outrebounded 48-29, including 12-3 on the offensive glass. In the second half, the Pack was outrebounded 20-17. The 12 offensive boards by the Sharks led to a 14-2 advantage on second chance points.
CSU Pueblo forced 12 turnovers and had 12 assists and blocked three shots, while HPU forced eight turnovers and had 14 assists and one blocked shot.
The Pack was outscored 38-26 in the paint and HPU held a 26-21 edge in bench points, but the Pack was strong from the free throw line as they shot 89 percent (16-for-18) from the line, including going 12-for-13 from the line in the second half. HPU was just 19-for-25 (76 percent) at the line.
The Pack will now take nearly 20 days off (including seven days off as part of the NCAA Division II's mandatory break from Dec. 22-28) before returning to action on Thursday, Jan. 9 with a 7:30 p.m. Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference game in Massari Arena against Colorado Christian. The Pack is 3-1 in RMAC play this season and is currently sitting in a three-way tie for second place in the league standings.
