PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball closed out the home portion of its 2023-24 schedule here Saturday evening with a gut-wrenching 82-80 setback to sixth-ranked Colorado Mesa in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action on Senior Night at Massari Arena.
 
Prior to Saturday's game, the ThunderWolves honored their two seniors – guards Isaiah Morris (San Diego, Calif./Cal State Dominguez Hills) and Makiah Morris (San Diego, Calif./San Diego City College) – in a pregame ceremony.
 
The Pack had its two-game win streak snapped with the loss and dropped its record to 11-14 overall and 7-12 in the RMAC, while Colorado Mesa improved to 22-3 overall and remained tied for first in the RMAC standings with a 19-1 record.
 
Since Friday's game at home against Westminster was postponed with 9:07 left in the game holding a 66-52 lead after a power outage that hit the northside of Pueblo and the CSU Pueblo campus, the Pack are still ninth in the league standings, but are 0.5 games behind eighth place Chadron State, who has dropped six straight games and is now 8-12 in the league play. The top eight teams at the conclusion of the regular season next weekend will advance to the 2024 RMAC Tournament, which begins with quarterfinal round games on Tuesday, March 5.
 
Saturday's game featured nine ties and 11 lead changes, including the Pack holding a two-point lead at 73-71 following two free throws by junior forward De'Shaun Cooper (Poway, Calif./Balboa School) with 3:54 left in the game.
 
That would be the final lead change of the game as the Mavericks, who have now won eight straight games in the series against the Pack, closed the game by scoring 11 of the final 18 points, including hitting six straight free throws over the final 37 seconds of the game. The Pack did have a chance to tie the game in the final eight seconds, but an inbounds pass by the Pack was picked off by Trevor Baskin and he was fouled after collecting the steal and hit wo free throws to seal the win.
 
Makiah Morris did all he could to keep the Pack within striking distance of the Mavericks as he finished with a game-high tying 19 points and added eight rebounds and seven assists while playing with four fouls. In addition to Morris' 19 points, junior guard Armon Muldrew (Perris, Calif./San Bernandino Valley) also scored 19 points, including tallying 12 of those points in the second half as the Pack outscored the Mavericks, 39-37, after halftime.
 
Senior guard Brevin Walter (Las Vegas, Nev./South Dakota Mines) added 17 points, Cooper tallied 14 points and freshman guard/forward Corbin Garver (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) just missed double figures with nine points and six rebounds.
 
One night after scoring 116 points and hitting 12 3-pointers, the Mavericks were held to 82 points and nine made treys by the Pack defense. The 82-point game snapped a five-game streak for the Mavs of scoring 88 or more points.
 
The Pack, who trailed 45-41 at the half, opened the second half on a 12-6 run keyed by six points from Muldrew to take a 53-51 lead just three minutes into the second half.
 
Christopher Speller retied the game at 53-all after his lay-up with 15:48 left in the game, before the Pack scored four of the next six points to push out to a 57-55 lead following a lay-up by Garver with 13:36 remaining in the game.
 
The Mavs, though, responded with a 12-2 run to push its lead to 67-59 with 9:42 remaining. The run was capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from Sam Goulet and Michael McCurry.
 
After the Pack pulled within 67-65 following a free throw by Walter with 9:04 remaining, CMU used a 4-0 run to take a 69-65 lead. That lead would ignite the Pack as they used an 8-2 run capped by those two Cooper free throws to take a lead at 73-71 with 3:54 remaining.
 
Colorado Mesa put four players in double figures with Baskin leading the way with 17 points and added eight rebounds. In addition to Baskin, Speller added 16 points and six boards, while McCurry tallied 14 points off the bench and Owen Koonce finished with 12 points.
 
In the first half, the Mavericks shot 50 percent from the field and made six treys to hold a 45-41 halftime lead. The Pack shot 48 percent from the field and was just 1-for-6 from the 3-point lead in the opening half.
 
Walter, Makiah Morris, and Cooper recorded 28 of the Pack's 41 first half points as Walter scored 10 points and Morris and Cooper each scored nine.
 
For the game, the Pack outshot the Mavericks, 46 percent to 44 percent from the field, but Mesa held a 9-6 edge in made 3-pointers as the Mavs were 9-for-30 (30 percent) from long distance, the Pack was 6-for-16 (38 percent) from downtown.
 
The Pack were outrebounded, 37-30, but the Pack won the turnover battle, 17-14 as they turned those 17 turnovers by CMU into 14 points.
 
CMU, who set an NCAA Division II record on Friday night by making 58 consecutive free throws over a three-game span, finished the night making 21 of its 22 free throws and is now 82-for-84 (97.6 percent) from the free throw line over its last four games. The Pack finished 20-for-26 (77 percent) at the line as they were 10-for-13 from the line in each half.
 
The Pack will look to bounce back and make one final push for the postseason next weekend (March 1-2) as they travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., for a 7 p.m. game on Friday, March 1, before concluding the regular season with a 7 p.m. game on Saturday, March 2 at Regis.