PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball entered Saturday's game with an 0-8 record on the season when trailing at the half, but the ThunderWolves reversed that trend against New Mexico Highlands as the Pack turned a 32-28 halftime deficit into a 69-63 home win over the Cowboys in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action in Massari Arena.
 
Saturday's win was the second straight for the Pack as they improved their record to 10-8 overall on the season and moved into a four-way tie for sixth place in the RMAC standings at the halfway point of its league schedule with a 5-5 record, while New Mexico Highlands falls to 8-10 overall and 1-9 in the league. The win also helped the Pack avenge an 85-63 loss earlier this season at New Mexico Highlands. That loss was the first of the 2024-25 season for the Pack.
 
The win was keyed by a strong defensive effort by the Pack as they held the Cowboys to 39 percent shooting from the field and 26 percent shooting from the 3-point line and also forced 19 turnovers that led to 18 points. Meanwhile, the Pack shot 34 percent from the field and 27 percent (4-for-15) from the 3-point line in the win.
 
In the earlier meeting this season on Highlands' home court, the Cowboys shot 51 percent from the field and 40 percent from the 3-point line and committed just six turnovers in the game, while the Pack had 14 turnovers that led to 25 points for Highlands. The Pack had just 11 turnovers that led to 11 points for the Cowboys in Saturday's game.
 
Senior guard Armon Muldrew (Perris, Calif./San Bernardino Valley) paced the Pack offense with a season-high 24 points and added six rebounds, while fifth-year senior guard Brevin Walter (Las Vegas, Nev./South Dakota Mines) came off the bench and tallied 15 points. Junior guard Denim Johnson (Omaha, Neb./Trinity Valley CC) added 13 points, and eight rebounds, including seven offensive boards, and senior forward De'Shaun Cooper (San Diego, Calif./Balboa School) had 10 points and eight rebounds. The 10 points pushed Copper within 25 points of becoming the 28th member of the school's 1,000-Point Club as Cooper has now scored 975 career points.
 
With his 15 points, Walter pushed his career scoring total to 1,911 points and he is now one of four active players in Division II men's basketball to have scored 1,900 or more career points.
 
After trailing 32-28 at the half, the Pack opened the second half on a 15-9 run to turn a four-point deficit into a 43-41 lead following a turnaround jumper by Muldrew with 11:11 left in the game. Muldrew's basket came 48 seconds after his dunk and free throw to complete a 3-point play helped tie the game at 41-all.
 
Kyrie Thomas gave the Cowboys its final lead of the game on a 3-pointer with 10:56 left in the game. Thomas' trey put NMHU in the lead, 44-43.
 
Following Thomas' trey, the Pack scored six straight points to push its lead to 49-44 with 8:48 left in the game. NMHU, though, responded with a 6-1 run capped by two Kenard Richardson free throws with 7:26 left in the game to cut the Pack lead to 50-48.
 
The Pack answered back with a 12-6 run capped by two free throws from redshirt sophomore guard Jaden Kennis (Windsor, Colo./MSU Denver) to give the Pack a 62-54 lead with 1:03 remaining in the contest. Kennis finished the night with just three points but tallied eight rebounds and two steals in the victory.
 
After a driving lay-up by KJ LaMonte brought NMHU within 62-56 with 53 seconds left, the Pack would close the game by hitting 7-of-10 free throws in the final 50 seconds to hold off the Cowboys and seal its second win of the 2025 calendar year and help the Pack win at least 10 games for the fifth time in the six-year tenure of head coach Matt Hammer.
 
Highlands was paced offensively by Richardson, who scored 25 points and added nine rebounds before fouling out late in the game. In addition to Richardson, LaMonte chipped in with 15 points off the bench, while Blessin Kimble added nine points and five rebounds. NMHU's bench outscored the Pack's bench, 21-17, in the game.
 
The Pack jumped out to a 17-12 lead just a little under 10 minutes into the contest, before NMHU used a 15-0 run over nearly five minutes to take a 27-17 lead. The Pack, though, responded with a 6-0 run to pull within 27-23 with 3:02 left in the opening half. Both teams would score five points each down the stretch of the opening half to help NMHU take its 32-28 lead at halftime.
 
CSU Pueblo's win was also keyed by strong free throw shooting as they finished the game 23-for-29 (79.3) at the line, including a 19-for-24 effort in the second half. NMHU finished 16-for-23 (69.6 percent) from the line in the game.
 
The Pack held a 41-37 edge on the glass, including an 18-13 advantage on the offensive boards to help the Pack hold a 16-13 edge in second-chance points. Cooper, Kennis, and Johnson each had eight boards for the Pack.
 
The Pack also had eight steals and blocked three shots, while NMHU had five steals and no blocked shots.
 
CSU Pueblo will look to continue its win streak next week as it continues its four-game home stand with a 7:30 p.m. game next Thursday, Jan. 30 against Colorado Mesa. The Mavericks, who had its seven-game win streak snapped on Saturday with a 69-67 loss at Chadron State, come into the game sporting an 11-7 overall record and a 5-5 mark in the RMAC.