Colorado Christian hung tight with CU-Colorado Springs for the opening 20 minutes on Saturday, but the second half belonged to the visitors and the eighth-ranked Mountain Lions pulled away for an 80-64 victory at the Event Center.
The Cougars lacked the same energy and execution as the night before but kept the score close going into the intermission behind ten first half points by
Michael Brown and eight from forward
Tyler Shields. A pair of free throws by
Zach McLemore right before the break cut the UCCS lead to six at halftime, and there was a feeling that an improved second half might lead to the upset.
Unfortunately the big start that Christian needed to open the final period instead went to the Mountain Lions, as Springs used a 20-4 run to begin the second half and stretch their lead to 22. Defensively, CCU had no answer for Derrick White. The second leading scorer in the RMAC finished the game with 44 points while attempting a staggering 18 trips to the charity stripe, one more than the entire Christian squad combined.
UCCS outmuscled the Cougars on the glass, grabbing 13 more rebounds (38-25) than the hosts, and the physical contest put several impact CCU players in foul trouble.
Christian found a spark off the bench in freshman
Ty McGee, who provided energy on the defensive end and athleticism offensively. The Littleton, CO native scored a career-high 14 points in a reserve role.
Despite some solid individual performances, CCU struggled as a team to get consistent stops on defense and continuity on offense.
"Tonight was not a good night for us. We were stuck in neutral all night on offense and defense," commented Head Coach
Kevin Lubbers. "This league is very good and each night has challenges. Tonight we did not step up and meet them."
In spite of the loss, the Cougars were able to secure a weekend split and stay above .500 in the RMAC. They now sit at 6-5 in conference play and 9-8 overall. After successive weekends at home, CCU faces another set of strong opponents, this time on the road. Christian travels to Durango to take on Fort Lewis on Friday before heading to Adams State to take on the Grizzlies on Saturday.
