ALAMOSA, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo men's basketball continued its strong play in the New Year here Thursday evening as the ThunderWolves hung on for a gritty, hard-fought 73-65 win over Adams State in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action at Plachy Hall.

Thursday's victory was the sixth straight for the Pack as they improved to 6-0 in the 2026 calendar year and is now 13-4 overall and 7-2 in the RMAC, while Adams State had its six game homecourt win streak snapped as they fell to 10-7 overall and 4-5 in the league.

The Pack, who outscored the Grizzlies 45-37 in the second half, closed out the game, scoring nine of the last 11 points over the final two minutes of the game to turn a 64-63 lead into an eight-point win, including making its final four free throws in the final 71 seconds to seal its fifth road win of the season and remain tied for second place in the league standings.

After Jerrick Guidry's lay-up helped pull the Grizzlies within a point at 64-63 with 3:02 left in the game, the Pack began its closing run with a trey from senior guard Sam Howery (Colorado Springs, Colo./St. Mary's) to give the Pack a 67-63 lead with 1:58 remaining and after Jaylen Alexander made a lay-up with 1:38 left to cut the Pack's lead to 67-65, the Pack used two free throws and a pull-up jumper from sophomore guard/forward Jordan Blair (Keller, Texas/Keller Central) to push out to a 71-65 lead with 26 seconds left.

On ASU's ensuing possession, Dillan Baker missed a trey and redshirt junior guard Jaden Kennis (Windsor, Colo./MSU Denver) collected a steal from Baker and drilled two free throws with nine seconds left to cap the scoring.

Blair paced the Pack with 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Howery added 11 points, including going 5-for-5 from the field and finished the game with a team-best plus/minus of 10. In addition to Blair and Howery, Kennis added nine points, four rebounds, and three steals, while freshman guard Bryce Riehl (Colorado Springs, Colo./Mesa Ridge) tallied nine points off the bench as the Pack held a 24-18 advantage in bench scoring.

After shooting 30 percent from the field and going just 4-for-20 from inside the 3-point line in the first half and 5-for-10 (50 percent) from long distance, the Pack shot 52 percent from the field and 42 percent (5-for-12) from the 3-point line after halftime. For the game, the Pack shot 40 percent from the field and 46 percent (10-for-22) from the 3-point line.

ASU opened the second half on 12-9 run to turn a 28-all halftime tie into a 40-37 lead just three-plus minutes into the half. The Pack, though, responded with an 18-9 run to push in front 55-49. The run was capped by back-to-back treys from Riehl and Kennis.

The Pack's lead eventually grew to seven points at 59-52 following a lay-up by Howery with 8:37 left in the game. ASU, though, responded with an 11-5 run to trim the Pack's lead to 64-63.

ASU scored the first five points of the game and led 5-0 just 78 seconds into the contest, but the Pack scored the next eight points to take an 8-5 lead with 15:17 left in the opening half.

The Grizzlies pulled within 9-8, before the Pack used a 6-3 run to push out to a 15-11 advantage with 11:25 left in the opening half. The run was aided by five points from junior forward Kyren Allen (Commerce City, Colo./Trinidad State College). Allen tallied seven points and pulled down nine rebounds in the game.

CSU Pueblo extended its lead to 22-14 following back-to-back trey from Riehl and Blair with 8:02 left, but ASU used two free throws by Baker after Blair was whistled for a technical after his made 3-pointer.

Baker's two free throws ignited a 5-3 run by the Grizzlies to pull within 25-19 6:56 left in the half, but the Pack scored six of the next 10 points to take a 28-23 lead with 3:10 left, before the Grizzlies closed the half by scoring five straight points all by Guidry to tie the game at 28-all at the half.

The Pack struggled shooting the ball inside the 3-point line in the first half as they made just four of its 20 shots inside the 3-point line and was 5-for-10 at the free throw line. The Pack, though, was 5-for-10 from the 3-point line as they shot 30 percent (9-for-30) from the field in the opening 20 minutes.

ASU was paced offensively by 15 points from Wyatt Helming, while Jaylen Alexander added 14 points and 10 rebounds and Baker had nine points for the Grizzlies.

Adams State shot 42.3 percent from the field but were held to 30.4 percent from the 3-point line in the loss.

The teams combined to shoot 53 free throws on the night, but they combined to make just 31 of those free throws. The Pack was 17-for-27 (63 percent) at the line, while ASU was 14-for-26 (53.8 percent) at the line. In the first half, the teams went a 9-15 at the line as the Pack was 5-for-10 and ASU was 4-for-5.

CSU Pueblo held a 39-38 edge on the boards as along with Allen's nine boards, redshirt sophomore forward Ty Adam (Severance, Colo./Severance) pulled down a career-high eight rebounds.

The Pack forced ASU into 15 turnovers that led to 13 points and they collected nine steals, while ASU scored nine points off the Pack's 10 turnovers and had five steals. CSU also had 15 assists on 23 baskets.

The ThunderWolves will continue its four-game road trip with a 2 p.m. game on Saturday, Jan. 24 in Las Vegas, N.M., against New Mexico Highlands (7-13 overall, 5-4 RMAC), who collected a 94-79 home win on Thursday over UCCS. The Pack earned a 70-57 non-conference win over the Cowboys in Massari Arena to open the New Year.