Colorado Christian Basketball landed back in the win column Saturday, using a dominating showing at the Event Center to upend Regis University 81-49. The win advanced the Cougars to 8-7 overall, and 5-4 in league play this year.
 
CCU looked dominant from the night's opening moments, jumping out to a 9-4 lead after Michael Brown and Wayne McCullough nailed threes in the first three and a half minutes of play. The Cougars would go on to sink ten more treys against the Rangers, knocking down deep shots with a blazing efficiency the Regis squad could not match. At the half Christian led by 24 – with a little less than five minutes left in the contest the home team was up 34.
 
Of course, the Cougars couldn't build leads that big without a solid defensive showing. CCU's energies on that side of the ball crippled any Regis efforts – limiting the Rangers to just eight field goals in the first half and nine in the second. RU shot a dismal 36% from the field, and connected just once on 11 tries from downtown.
 
"Today was the first time we really put two halves together defensively," remarked McCullough after the game. "We're a defensive team, we pride ourselves in that, and we worked really hard this week to get to this point. Offensively we flowed really well together too; it was one of our better offensive games."
 
Taking their cues from Brown, Christian ignited for a scorching 60% clip from both the field and from deep. Ten CCU players found the bottom of the net at least once, with Brown tallying a game-best 25 points after draining five three-point shots and going 4-for-4 from the foul line.
 
"Mike was really aggressive early, which was good," explained CCU Coach Kevin Lubbers. "Sometimes he's almost too unselfish. We have a lot of capable scorers, but the offensive end gets a little easier when Mike has a flow to him. That was good to see early, and then we had a really good balance all night. Nobody tried to do too much – we made some extra passes and took care of the ball pretty well. It got a little sloppy in the second half but overall it was a great team effort.
 
"Defense was the key tonight, and it was last night too. I thought we played great defense all weekend, holding Metro to 61 last night and Regis to 49 tonight. Those are good defensive numbers. I think our kids are eager to get on the right side of the win/loss column."
 
McCullough closed the night with nine points to go along with six boards and three assists.
 
With one tough weekend behind them, the Cougars look ahead to another. Though they remain at home, they'll host Colorado State Pueblo in addition to the nation's fifth ranked Mountain Lions of UCCS.
 
"We have six out of eight games at home after a long road stretch," continued Lubbers. "Taking care of home court in this league is really important, and taking games one at a time is also important. We want to stay consistent over the course of the season. Both UCCS and Pueblo are talented in very different ways; they offer a bunch of challenges we're going to have to get ready for."
 
CCU tips off against CSUP Friday at 8 pm.