COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Freshman Willie McCray (Clovis, NM/Clovis/Westwind Prep Academy ) continued to add to what has already been a stellar freshman season going for 22 points Friday night.  The Western New Mexico University men's basketball team stayed close into the second half before the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs pulled away for the 95-73 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory.

For McCray, it's the second-highest point total of the season after going for a career-high 39 points against Northern New Mexico. He has reached double-figures in scoring in nine games this year. He went 7-12 from the field, 2-4 from three-point range and 6-9 from the foul line. He also added four rebounds, an assist and a team-high four steals.

WNMU (1-18, 1-13 RMAC) committed just nine turnovers and forced 19. That led to a 20-13 points off turnovers advantage. The only problem was, UCCS (12-9, 9-5 RMAC) shot 60 percent (36-60) from the field.

The Mustangs opened the scoring 26 seconds in on a layup by senior Adam Kesler (Silver City, NM/Silver). With the game tied at three, WNMU went on a 6-0 run to open up their largest lead of the game. Junior Emery Range (Grand Rapids, MI/Willow Canyon) began the spurt with a three and then junior Steven Loucks (Yuma, AZ/Cibola) added his own triple 23 seconds later for the 9-3 advantage.

The lead still remained at six on a layup by Loucks at the 16:47 mark. The Mountain Lions got it going after that ripping off an 11-0 run to take a 16-11 lead.

The Mustangs remained close throughout the opening half with freshman Jordan Enriquez (El Paso, TX/Bel Air ) drawing WNMU to within one at 25-24 with a three-pointer at the 6:31 mark.

After UCCS had the lead back to seven, a Kesler three got WNMU as close as they would get the rest of the half down by four. The Mountain Lions added five points to their lead taking a 41-32 lead into halftime.

Baskets by freshman Carter Aby (San Tan Valley, AZ/Combs), McCray and Loucks each time had WNMU to within six early in the second half, just to watch UCCS build the lead back into double-digits.
McCray drilled a three-pointer at the 14:22 mark to once again bring the deficit back to six at 57-51.

From that point on, UCCS controlled the contest moving the lead back into double-digits and eventually taking the victory.

In addition to McCray's strong night, Range posted 14 points, Kesler with 13 and Loucks with 11. Loucks brought down a team-high seven rebounds.

WNMU went 23-64 (36) from the field, 9-22 (41) from three-point range and 18-28 (64) at the foul line. While UCCS shot 60 percent from the field they went 9-26 (35) from long range and 14-19 (74) at the foul line.

WNMU will finish the trip tomorrow night at MSU Denver starting at 7 p.m. The Roadrunners downed New Mexico Highlands, 95-88, earlier tonight.