Box Score PUEBLO, Colo. – Connecting at a 47 percent clip, the second-best percentage of the season wasn't enough for the Western New Mexico University men's basketball team as Colorado State University-Pueblo had the hot hand from the outside in taking the 109-83 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory Saturday night.
WNMU (0-14, 0-9 RMAC) hit on 30-64 (47) and went 8-24 (33) from three-point range just to watch CSU-Pueblo (10-5, 6-3 RMAC) make 38-67 (57) and 18-39 (46) from three-point land.
Junior
Emery Range (Grand Rapids, MI/Willow Canyon) went for a season-high 21 points, making 8-12 from the field.
Falling behind 5-0 out of the gate, the Mustangs gained traction with a three by freshman
Jordan Enriquez (El Paso, TX/Bel Air ) and a pair of foul shots from Range to tie the game at five.
The ThunderWolves then exploded the rest of the half and never looked back. They connected on 12 three-pointers in the opening half to help push the lead into double-digits.
With the lead near 20, WNMU cut the deficit back to 16 with five minutes to play on a layup by
Steven Loucks (Yuma, AZ/Cibola). CSU-Pueblo added three points back to the lead to take a 56-37 lead into halftime.
Hovering around the midway point of the second half, WNMU made one last run to make it interesting.
Willie McCray (Clovis, NM/Clovis/Westwind Prep Academy ) hit a jumper and later a layup from Range had the Mustangs back to within 13 at 72-59.
That would be as close as WNMU could get the rest of the way with the ThunderWolves taking the victory.
Range's 21 points was not only a season-high, but also a game-high in 23 minutes. Enriquez and
Adam Kesler (Silver City, NM/Silver) also reached double-figures in scoring as both tallied 11 apiece.
Carter Aby (San Tan Valley, AZ/Combs) pulled down a team-high five rebounds and McCray dished out six assists.
Nelson Kahler paced CSU-Pueblo with 17 points as six ThunderWolves scored in double-digits. Each team made 15 free throws and WNMU held the edge on points in the paint (36-32). CSU-Pueblo had solid bench production holding a 55-28 advantage.
WNMU will return home this coming Friday as they will host Regis University beginning at 7:30 p.m.
