PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball concluded a three-game homestand here Saturday evening with a heartbreaking 91-90 setback to Adams State University in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action at Massari Arena.
 
The setback, which was the sixth consecutive for the ThunderWolves, dropped its record to 9-13 overall and 5-11 in the RMAC, while Adams State won its second straight game and improved to 8-14 overall and 6-10 in the league.
 
Saturday's loss knocked the Pack further back in the conference standings, but they still remain alive for a spot in the RMAC Tournament as they are sitting in a four-way tie for 11th place in the league standings with six regular season games remaining. The top eight teams at the end of the regular season will advance to the postseason league tournament. The Pack are tied with Colorado Christian, New Mexico Highlands and Western Colorado and are just three games out of seventh place Chadron State, who is 8-8 in the league. The Pack will play road games next weekend at Colorado Christian and Chadron State.
 
The Pack, who led 72-67 with 7:57 left in the game, watched ASU respond with a 20-10 run over the next six-plus minutes to take an 87-82 lead. Following that run by the Grizzlies, the Pack used a four-point play on a made trey and free throw by senior guard Brevin Walter (Las Vegas, Nev./South Dakota Mines) to pull within 87-86 with 1:19 left in the game.
 
After ASU missed a trey on its ensuing trip down the court, the Pack retook the lead thanks to two free throws by junior guard Armon Muldrew (Perris, Calif./San Bernardino Valley) with 52 seconds left. Muldrew's free throws gave the Pack an 88-87 lead.
 
Destan Williams would give the Grizzlies an 89-88 lead after hitting two free throws with 42 seconds remaining, but the Pack answered right back on a lay-up by senior guard Makiah Morris (San Diego, Calif./San Diego City College).
 
On the Grizzlies next trip down court, the Pack needed to make a stop defensively, but Austin Fadal's driving lay-up with seven seconds left gave ASU a 91-90 lead that led to a timeout by the Pack to set up a game-winning shot.
 
Trailing by one point with six seconds left, the Pack inbounded the ball to Muldrew and Muldrew dribbled the ball to the top of the key, but his three-point shot attempt with three seconds left hit the front of the rim and bounced off to seal ASU's victory.
 
Walter was one of five Pack players to score in double figures in Saturday's game as he finished with a game-high tying 24 points and added three rebounds, five assists, two steals and a blocked shot. In addition to Walter, who has now scored 1,571 points in his collegiate career, Muldrew tallied 19 points, while Morris added 16 points and 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double this season. Junior forward De'Shaun Cooper (Poway, Calif./Balboa School) scored 15 points and freshman forward Corbin Garver (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) tallied a career-high 12 points off the bench.
 
Adams State, who shot 59 percent from the field and 33 percent from the 3-point line in the game, had three players score 20 or more points in the win as Williams tallied 24 points and added six assists, while Fadal scored 22 points and Kolby Walker added 20 points off the bench. The fourth double-digit scorer for the Grizzlies was Isaiah Sampson, who scored 13 points and pulled down seven rebounds.
 
The Pack finished the game shooting 49 percent from the field and made 12 treys as they shot 46 percent from long distance, including going 6-for-12 from the 3-point line in the second half.
 
Both teams were blitzing the nets in the first half of Saturday's contest as the two teams combined to shoot 55.2 percent (32-for-58) from the field as ASU was 17-for-28 (61 percent) from the field and the Pack was 15-for-30 (50 percent) from downtown as Adams State held a 47-46 lead at the half.
 
It appeared early in the game that the Pack would run away with the game as they jumped out to a 15-6 lead just five minutes into the game. Walter scored eight of the Pack's first 15 points.
 
Following the Pack's nine-point lead, ASU would begin to chip away at the deficit as they used a 26-13 run over a span of nine minutes to take a 32-28 lead.
 
The Pack, though, would respond with an 8-2 run capped by four straight points from Cooper to take a 36-34 lead with 4:18 left in the opening half. ASU would close out the half on a 13-10 run to take a 47-46 halftime lead.
 
The Pack finished the game with a 28-26 advantage on the boards and collected 20 assists on 28 made field goals. ASU had 17 assists and collected 12 steals, including five by Williams.
 
Both teams finished with 14 turnovers as ASU held a 21-17 edge in points off turnovers.
 
The teams also combined to shoot 52 free throws in the game as the Pack were 22-for-25 (88 percent) at the line, while ASU was 24-for-27 (89 percent) from the line.
 
CSU Pueblo will return to road next weekend (Feb. 16-17) with back-to-back road games as they begin the road trip with a 7 p.m. game on Friday, Feb. 16 in Lakewood, Colo., against Colorado Christian, before traveling to Chadron, Neb., for a 7:30 p.m. contest on Saturday, Feb. 17 at Chadron State. The Pack collected a 73-70 home win over CCU on Dec. 2 and opened league play with an 84-82 loss at home to Chadron State.