Saturday offered another tight game for Colorado Christian, but unfortunately the result was the same as the night before, and the Cougars fell 81-77 to Western State.
 
Despite big nights from Joey Trinkle and Andrew Squiers, the Christian defense simply could not get enough stops in the second half to earn the victory.
 
Trinkle had the best game of his junior season, contributing 22 points and eight rebounds, while the senior Squiers carried over the form he displayed Friday with a 21 point, nine rebound performance.
 
 As a whole, however, the shots were not falling for the Cougars. The visitors shot just 36.5% from the field, and a woeful 6-32 from beyond the arc. Michael Brown finished the game with 16 points but his usual efficiency was missing, as it took 19 field goal attempts to reach his night's total.
 
CCU shot the ball at a better rate in the final period, but so did the Mountaineers and there was no answer for the host's attack. Seven of WSCU's 11 3-point makes came in the second period, and when they weren't hitting from outside they were converting from the foul line.
 
The Mountaineers made trips to the charity stripe 37 times- 27 times alone in the final 20 minutes of action- compared to CCU's 20 total foul shots.
 
The defeat marked the end to a frustrating weekend for the Cougars. Although road wins in the RMAC are always difficult to come by, Christian missed an opportunity to rebound from Friday's loss, failing to take advantage of a Western State team that entered the night with only one prior conference victory.
 
CCU must regroup ahead of next weekend, when #10 Metro State visits Lakewood Friday, January 9. The Cougars will look for the upset as well as end the Roadrunners five game win streak.