LAWTON, Okla. – The Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball team used a 50-point second half here Friday evening in posting a hard-fought comeback 82-74 victory over Cameron University in its 2025-26 season opener at Aggie Gymnasium. The victory marked the first collegiate win for first-year head coach Zach Ruebesam.

It marked the second straight year that the ThunderWolves opened the season with a win over Cameron, as the Pack earned an 83-64 win at home over the Aggies to open the 2024-25 season. In addition, Ruebesam is the fourth straight Pack coach to win their debut.

The Pack will look to complete the weekend road trip to open the season with a win on Saturday, Nov. 15, in Wichita Falls, Texas, against Midwestern State. Tip-off for Saturday's game is scheduled for 3 p.m. MT. MSU opened the season with a 97-90 win over UCCS.

"So proud of our team. This is a true team win on the road. We hit both of our most important goals, under 40 percent field goal percentage defense and a +8 rebound margin," Ruebesam said following the win. "I'm extremely pleased with the toughness we showed in the second half. There's a lot to improve on, but it's a great start to the year.

The Pack, who shot 35 percent from the field and committed 12 turnovers en route to trailing 35-32 at the half, had just seven turnovers and shot 59 percent from the field and was 9-for-11 from the free throw line as they outscored Cameron, 50-39, in the second half to post the victory.

Junior guard Jaden Kennis (Windsor, Colo./MSU Denver) and sophomore guard/forward Jordan Blair (Keller, Texas/Keller Central) keyed the Pack's second-half rally as they combined to score 25 of their team's 50 second-half points.

Kennis paced the way tonight as he scored 19 points, including scoring the Pack's final eight points of the game. In addition to Kennis, Blair scored a career-high 17 points and missed a double-double by one rebound as he pulled down a career-high nine rebounds. Freshman guard Bryce Riehl (Colorado Springs, Colo./Mesa Ridge) hit three treys and scored 11 points in his collegiate debut, and redshirt sophomore forward Ty Adam (Severance, Colo./Severance) added 10 points in the win.

The Pack opened the second half on a 10-6 run to take a 42-41 lead following a basket by sophomore guard Mac Terry (Castle Pines, Colo./South Dakota Mines) with 17:37 left in the game. The lead eventually grew to 47-43 with 15:39 left, before Cameron used a 12-7 run to retake the lead at 55-54 following a free throw by Arzhonte Dallas to complete a 3-point play with 9:07 remaining.

From that point, the Pack used an 18-3 run over the next four-plus minutes to push out to a 72-58 lead. The run began with two free throws from senior guard Sam Howery (Colorado Springs, Colo./St. Mary's) and was capped by a lay-up from Kennis. Blair and Riehl combined to nine of the Pack's 18 points during the run.

Cameron, though, responded with a 6-0 run to cut the Pack's lead to 72-64 with 3:16 left in the game. About 18 seconds later, Adam scored on a lay-up to push the Pack's lead to 74-64 with 2:58 remaining.

The Aggies answered back with a 7-4 run to pull within 78-71 with 1:03 left, before Kennis scored four straight points on a lay-up and two free throws to take an 82-71 lead with 25 seconds left, before CU capped the scoring on a trey by Brodie Mcwhinney.

In the first half, Cameron jumped out to an 18-11 lead with 8:42 left in the half, before the Pack scored seven straight points, including capping the flurry with a basket from senior center Kaleb Mitchell (Fountain, Colo./Northern State), to tie the game at 18.

The Aggies, though, used an 8-3 run to take a 26-21 lead, before the Pack answered back with a 7-2 run capped by a three-point play from Adam to take a 29-28 lead with 2:55 left in the first half.

Cameron would close the half by scoring seven of the final 10 points to take its 35-32 lead at the half.

Jordan Mitchell paced five Aggies in double figures with 15 points, while Michaal Jones added 14 points and Quinn Atazhoon had 13 points. Jaden Juarez and Dallas tallied 11 and 10 points, respectively, in the loss.

For the game, the Pack shot 47 percent from the field, 40 percent (6-for-15) from the 3-point line and 70 percent (14-for-20) from the free throw line, while Cameron shot 34 percent from the field, 27 percent (8-for-30) from the 3-point line and 78 percent (14-for-18) from the free throw line.

The Pack held a 35-27 edge on the boards as Blair had nine boards and redshirt sophomore guard/forward Corbin Garver (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) had seven boards and added seven points. Jones paced the Aggies with nine boards.

CSU Pueblo had 19 turnovers that led to 17 points for Cameron, while the Aggies had 15 turnovers that led to 14 points for the Pack.

The Pack bench was outscored 24-21, and Cameron also won the assist battle, 15-12. Both teams had two blocks on the night.