PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball opened the 2025 calendar year here Thursday evening, suffering a disappointing 83-72 defeat to Colorado Christian in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action at Massari Arena.
 
With the setback, the ThunderWolves dropped its third straight game and moved its record to 8-5 overall and 3-2 in the RMAC, while CCU improved to 7-7 overall and 3-3 in the league. The loss moved the Pack into a four-way tie for fourth place in the league standings heading into Saturday's road game at UCCS.
 
The Pack, who were playing its first game in 20 days, showed some rust in Thursday's game against the Cougars as the Pack committed 12 turnovers that led to 18 points by CCU and those points off turnovers proved to be one of the biggest differences in the game as CCU held an 18-5 edge in points off turnovers in the 11-point win.
 
Freshman forward Jake Lafferty (Bruner, Mo./Sparta) had a career night in Thursday's game as he finished the game with a career-high 19 points, including scoring 12 points in the first half. In addition to Lafferty, senior guard Armon Muldrew (Perris, Calif./San Bernardino Valley) added 16 points and a career-high tying five assists, and redshirt sophomore guard Jaden Kennis (Windsor, Colo./MSU Denver) tallied 12 points. The fourth double-digit scorer was fifth-year senior guard Brevin Walter (Las Vegas, Nev./South Dakota Mines) had 10 points to push his career total to 1,844 points, which is third among active Division II players.
 
CCU jumped out to a 10-5 lead just three-plus minutes into the game, before the Pack responded with an 8-2 run capped by a Muldrew trey to give the Pack a 13-12 lead with 14:39 left in the opening half.
 
The Cougars would answer back with a 20-10 run over the next eight-plus minutes to take a 32-23 lead with 5:55 left in the half. The Pack would respond with an 8-2 run keyed by two treys from Lafferty to pull within 34-31 with 3:40 left in the opening half.
 
CCU would score four straight points to take a 38-31 lead, before the Pack closed the half by scoring seven of the final nine points to cut CCU's lead to 40-38 at the half, including capping the first half scoring with a trey by Muldrew with 29 seconds left.
 
After holding a 40-38 at the half, CCU outscored the Pack 43-34 in the second half to post its first win over the Pack since collecting a 54-52 win in Massari Arena in the first round of the 2017 RMAC Tournament. The Pack had reeled 10 straight wins in the series before Thursday's setback.
 
CCU's second half was aided by 61 percent shooting from the field and 60 percent (6-for-10) shooting from the 3-point line. Meanwhile, the Pack shot 42 percent from the field and 33 percent (3-for-9) from the 3-point in the second half.
 
The Pack opened the second half by scoring eight of the first 15 points to pull within one point at 47-46 just three-plus minutes into the second half. CCU answered back with a 13-4 run over the next five-plus minutes to take a 60-50 lead with just a little over 11 minutes left in the contest.
 
After the Pack scored five of the next seven points to pull within 62-55 with 9:36 left in the game, CCU used an 8-1 run to push out to a 15-point lead at 70-55 with 7:10 remaining in the game. That 15-point lead was the largest of the game for the Cougars.
 
The Pack made one more push as they scored 15 of the next 22 points to pull within 77-70 following a trey by Lafferty with 1:34 left in the game.
 
CCU would hit all six of its free throws over the final 68 seconds of the game to seal the victory.
 
The Cougars were paced by 20 points from Bradley Land, while Tate Odvody added 18 points and Nathaniel Law chipped in with 12 points off the bench. CCU's bench outscored the Pack's bench, 24-7 on the night.
 
For the game, the Pack finished the game shooting 49 percent from the field and 45 percent (9-for-20) from the 3-point line and was 13-for-18 (72.2 percent) at the free throw line.  
 
The Pack entered the game leading the RMAC in both field goal percentage defense (38.5 percent) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (25.8 percent), but they allowed CCU to shoot 53 percent from the field and 50 percent (11-for-22) from the 3-point line. CCU also was 12-for-14 (86 percent) at the free throw line.
 
CCU held a 29-28 edge on the boards as senior forward De'Shaun Cooper (San Diego, Calif./Balboa School) led the way for the Pack with eight boards, while Kennis added six boards. The Pack also had 21 assists on 25 made baskets and along with Muldrew's five assists, Kennis added four assists.
 
The Pack also blocked four shots and held an 11-6 edge in second-chance points, but CCU outscored the Pack 34-26 in the paint.
 
CSU Pueblo will look to rebound in less than 48 hours as they travel up I-25 for a 3 p.m. RMAC game on Saturday, Jan. 11 at UCCS (9-4 overall, 3-2 RMAC) in Colorado Springs, Colo.