PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball used a dominant first-half defensive effort and a balanced scoring effort to open Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play with a 65-56 victory over Westminster here Thursday evening in Massari Arena.
With the win, the ThunderWolves improved to 6-1 overall and opened RMAC play with a win for the second consecutive season, while Westminster fell to 5-2 overall and 0-1 in the league. The Pack will look to start league play 2-0 this coming Saturday as they host Western Colorado for a 3 p.m. RMAC tilt in Massari Arena.
In Thursday's RMAC opener for both teams, the Pack opened the game on a 28-11 run and never trailed after the 10-minute mark in the contest but held off a late second-half rally by the Griffins as they pulled within six at 56-50 with 4:03 left to play in game to collect its fourth home win of the season.
CSU Pueblo held Westminster, who entered the game averaging nearly 96 points per game, to a season low 56 points, including scoring just 21 points in the first half and shooting 26.9 percent from the field in the opening half. Meanwhile, the Pack forced 10 first half turnovers and scored 10 points off those turnovers and get 13 points in the opening half from redshirt sophomore forward Ty Adam (Severance, Colo./Severance) to take a 34-21 halftime lead.
Nine of Adam's 13 points came from the 3-point line as the Pack was 4-for-11 from long distance in the first half. For the game, they shot 28 percent from the 3-point line and 35 percent from the field.
The Pack opened the second half on an 18-11 run to push its lead to 52-32 following a trey from senior guard Sam Howery (Colorado Springs, Colo./St. Mary's) with 11:24 left in the game. That was the largest lead of the game for either team.
Following Howery's trey, the Griffins responded with an 18-4 run to cut the Pack's lead to 56-50 with a little over four minutes remaining in the game. That would be as close as the Griffins would get as the Pack responded with a 9-2 run to push its lead to 65-52 following two free throws from sophomore guard Mac Terry (Castle Pines, Colo./South Dakota Mines) with 46 seconds left.
In addition to Adam's 13 points, Howery, junior guard Dylan Sanders (Aurora, Colo./Pearl River CC) and junior forward Kyren Allen (Commerce City, Colo./Trinidad State) each scored eight points, while sophomore guard/forward Jordan Blair (Keller, Texas/Keller Central) finished with a season-low seven points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
On the night, the Pack defense held Westminster to 35 percent shooting from the field and a 5-for-16 effort from the 3-point line, while the Pack also shot 35 percent from the field and 28 percent from long distance.
The Pack held a 46-37 edge on the boards and forced the Griffins into 15 turnovers that turned into 24 points for the Pack. The Pack bench also held a 39-21 advantage in points on Thursday night.
Westminster was paced by 19 points and seven rebounds from Colin Hayes, while Michael Frazier added 11 points in the setback.
