Box Score PUEBLO, Colo. – The Western New Mexico University men's basketball team looked to be in good shape ahead by five points with a minute to play against CSU-Pueblo, but the Mustangs couldn't close out the game, falling in heartbreaking fashion, 70-68, Friday night at Massari Arena in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action.


WNMU (2-6, 2-3 RMAC) battled from behind most of the night and were finally able to breakthrough to tie the game and go ahead by a point with three minutes to play after Chad Carter (Tucson, AZ/Ironwood Ridge High School) hit a pair from the free throw line for the 62-61 lead.


The Mustangs would expand the lead, after holding the Thunderwolves to a pair of misses on consecutive trips, Merle Branch (Sierra Vista, AZ/Buena High School) got loose inside for a layup off an assist from TJ Riley (Tyler, TX/Chapel Hill High School) for a 64-61 lead with 1:57 to play.


CSU-P (5-4, 2-3 RMAC) followed with a missed three-pointer that Lucio Luttrell (Las Cruces, NM/Las Cruces High School) rebounded, which eventually the they passed it around to find Riley who drove down the lane for a running jumper to push the lead to five, 66-61, with a minute to play.


The Thunderwolves weren't going away, however, as they responded with a layup and then after the Mustangs turned the ball over, another layup by CSU-P all of a sudden made it a one-point spread, 67-66, with 34 seconds to play.


Forced to foul, the Thunderwolves put WNMU on the line with Luttrell getting fouled. He hit the first, but missed the second. CSU-P took advantage, calling a timeout to setup another one of their three-point attempts, as they attempted 29 from downtown on the night.


Just six seconds after the timeout, Jed Knafelc drilled his third trey of the game to put CSU-P in front, 69-68, with 15 seconds left.


The Mustangs hurried the ball down the other way, as Juan Suarez (Nogales, AZ/Nogales High School) attempted a jumper, but it missed with eight seconds left and the Thunderwolves collected the rebound and were fouled with two seconds to play.


Kevin Coates missed the first shot, but made the second to give CSU-P a two-point lead, 70-68.


WNMU called a timeout, but on the ensuing in-bounds, they were unable to get a shot off before the final buzzer dropping a tight two-point game.


It was a tight game throughout, as WNMU opened up a three-point lead seven minutes in on a jumper by Carter for an 8-5 lead.


Both teams struggled to get points early on, as WNMU only attempted 21 shots in the first half due to turnovers, while CSU-P attempted 30, but only connected on 11.


The Thunderwolves worked their way into their largest lead of the night over the next several minutes as they opened up a seven-point lead at the 8:36 mark and again at the 7:22 mark.


WNMU fought back to take the lead four minutes later with Luttrell dialing long distance at the 3:37 mark off an assist by Suarez for a 26-25 lead.


After the Thunderwolves answered with a three of their own, Riley made a jumper with 1:32 to play in the half to tie the game for the fourth time before CSU-P rolled off the final five points of the half to take a 33-28 lead into the locker room.


CSU-P kept the lead until almost five minutes into the second half when Brelan Berry (Chandler, AZ/Basha High School) connected on a jumper in the paint for a 39-38 lead for the Mustangs.


The teams would then trade leads or would be tied over the next six minutes before the Thunderwolves looked poised to run away with the lead.


Following a jumper by Riley in the paint to cut the deficit to one, 51-50, with eight minutes to play, CSU-P answered back with a 5-0 run to push the lead back to six, 56-50, but WNMU stayed right with the Thunderwolves.


Chris Mason (Phoenix, AZ/St. Mary's High School) nailed a three on the next possession and later Carter made a trey with four minutes to play to tie the game for the sixth time at 57.


After the Thunderwolves responded with a layup to go back up two, Luttrell drilled a three-pointer to put WNMU up 60-59 before the Thunderwolves answered with a layup to go ahead, 61-60, which set the stage for the dramatic final minutes.


Luttrell led all-scorers with 18 points, going 5-of-8 from the field, including 3-of-4 from three-point land. He also had eight rebounds, two assists and a steal. Riley also found his way into double-digits with 12 points, going 6-for-9 from the field, along with eight rebounds and four steals. Carter was close to a double-double with nine rebounds and eight points, while Branch and Mason came off the bench to score nine and eight, respectively.


The story of the night was turnovers, with the Mustangs committing 22 to 11 for the Thunderwolves, as WNMU shot 51.1 percent (24-47) from the field to a 37.3 (22-59) effort for CSU-P. CSU-P also made two more three-pointers (10-8) and four more free throws (16-12).


WNMU will look to get the bad taste out of their mouths when they play at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Saturday night with tipoff set for 7:30 p.m.
 

Western New Mexico vs CSU-Pueblo
12/16/11 7:30 p.m. at Pueblo, CO (Massari Arena)
At Pueblo, CO (Massari Arena)
CSU-PUEBLO 70, WESTERN NEW MEXICO 68
WESTERN NEW MEXICO (2-6 (2-3 RMAC))
Lucio Luttrell (Las Cruces, NM/Las Cruces High School) 5-8 5-9 18; TJ Riley (Tyler, TX/Chapel Hill High School) 6-9 0-1 12; Merle Branch (Sierra Vista, AZ/Buena High School) 4-5 1-2 9; Chad
Carter 2-9 3-4 8; Chris Mason (Phoenix, AZ/St. Mary's High School) 2-5 2-2 8; Brelan Berry (Chandler, AZ/Basha High School) 3-5 0-0 6; Juan Suarez (Nogales, AZ/Nogales High School)
1-2 1-2 4; Ryan Crane (Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek High School) 1-3 0-0 3; Daryl Littleton (Tucson, AZ/Palo Verde High School) 0-0 0-0 0; Everett Duis (El Paso, TX/El Dorado High School) 0-1
0-0 0. Totals 24-47 12-20 68.
CSU-PUEBLO (5-4 (2-3 RMAC))
Andre Martin 5-12 2-4 12; Arden Dennis 4-10 1-3 11; Kevin Coates 3-7 2-4 10;
Ty Trahern 1-8 6-8 9; Jed Knafelc 3-6 0-0 9; Bryse Velasquez 2-7 2-3 7; AJ
Kapanoske 3-4 1-2 7; Ryan Arel 1-5 2-2 5; Pierre Prince 0-0 0-0 0. Totals
22-59 16-26 70.
Western New Mexico............   28   40  -   68
CSU-Pueblo....................   33   37  -   70
3-point goals--Western New Mexico 8-15 (Lucio Luttrell (Las Cruces, NM/Las Cruces High School) 3-4; Chris Mason (Phoenix, AZ/St. Mary's High School) 2-4;
Ryan Crane (Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek High School) 1-3; Chad Carter (Tucson, AZ/Ironwood Ridge High School) 1-2; Juan Suarez (Nogales, AZ/Nogales High School) 1-1; TJ Riley (Tyler, TX/Chapel Hill High School) 0-1), CSU-Pueblo
10-29 (Jed Knafelc 3-6; Kevin Coates 2-3; Arden Dennis 2-6; Ryan Arel 1-4;
Ty Trahern 1-5; Bryse Velasquez 1-2; Andre Martin 0-3). Fouled out--Western
New Mexico-Chad Carter (Tucson, AZ/Ironwood Ridge High School), CSU-Pueblo-None. Rebounds--Western New Mexico 40
(Chad Carter (Tucson, AZ/Ironwood Ridge High School) 9), CSU-Pueblo 30 (Andre Martin 8). Assists--Western New Mexico
14 (Juan Suarez (Nogales, AZ/Nogales High School) 6), CSU-Pueblo 17 (Bryse Velasquez 8). Total fouls--Western
New Mexico 20, CSU-Pueblo 16. Technical fouls--Western New Mexico-None,
CSU-Pueblo-None. A-1107