Colorado Christian took to the court on Saturday night as they battled against Regis University. It was a nail biter, but CCU was able to come away with the victory by a final score of 87-84. Both teams had strong offensive games, but in the end we were too much to handle for the Regis squad.
 
The first half was a tight battle between the two as each team had the lead multiple times throughout the quarter. CCU looked like the dominant team throughout the half, but Regis was dialed in from long distance which was able to keep them in the game and eventually give them the one point halftime lead with the score 36-35. Halfway through the first, CCU had taken a two point lead 20-18. They were able to extend their lead to as much as seven, but every time they started to get momentum shifting in their direction, Regis answered with a run of their own. It looked like the Cougars were going to take a lead into halftime, but a missed layup turned into a Regis fast break and a dunk on the other end of the floor just before time expired.
 
Colorado Christian finished the first half shooting just under 40% (11-28) from the field, and 33% (5-15) from beyond the arc. Regis finished the half at 39% (13-33) shooting, and 41% (9-22) from three. CCU hit all eight of their shots from the free throw line, compared to just 1-2 for Regis. Offensively, the Cougars were led in scoring by Dimitri Saliba who finished the half with nine points on 4-5 shooting, and also tied for the team lead with four rebounds. Following closely behind was Zach McLemore and Jacob Taylor who each had eight points in the first.
 
The second half began and Regis almost had to call the fire department because the Cougars were on fire! Six minutes into the second, CCU had made 8-9 shots and 4-4 from downtown and had turned a one deficit into their largest lead of the game at eight points. Zach McLemore was the weapon early on as he made all three shots from long distance, and had pushed his point total on the night up to 17. They pushed their lead up to ten points, but the Rangers refused to quit and went on a 14-0 run which gave them a four point lead 59-63. Colorado Christian promptly answered with a 10-0 run of their own to regain the lead 69-63. Regis continued to claw and fight to try and get back into the game. They were able to get within one point with 1:38 left as the score was 81-80 in favor of the Cougs. The teams exchanged buckets and CCU had the ball with a one point lead with 19 seconds left in the game. Regis stole the Cougar inbounds pass and took it to the other end. They ran the clock down and took an errant shot which was rebounded with one second left by Andre Lane who was then fouled and sent to the free throw line. Lane hit both shots from the line to give the Cougs an 87-84 lead. The Rangers inbounds pass was deflected away by Dimitri Saliba and time expired to give CCU the victory.
 
It was a strong all around offensive effort on the night by Colorado Christian as they finished the game shooting 49% (26-53) from the field and 40% (10-25) from long distance. One of the biggest reasons for the victory was the dominance from the free throw line. CCU hit 25-26 from the charity stripe compared to just 9-11 for Regis.
 
Offensively, the Cougars had five players who scored in double digits for the game. They were led by Jacob Taylor who scored 20 points coming off the bench shooting 7-9 from the floor and hit on 6-6 from the line. Zach McLemore and Dimitri Saliba both finished with 17 points. Wayne McCullough finished with 15 and Andre Lane had 10.

Coach Kevin Lubbers spoke after the game, "It was a great weekend for us as we try and stay in the hunt for a playoff spot. We did just enough to get the win today. Special congratulations to Wayne McCullough on becoming only the fifth player in CCU men's basketball history to score 1000 points and grab 500 rebounds. As a a four year member of our program, it has been my joy to coah Wayne, and we look forward to celebrating senior weekend with him next week."
 
The win marks the sixth straight for the squad and improves their overall record to 13-10, and 10-8 in conference play. They will be back in action next Friday night as they will be taking on Western New Mexico University at the CCU Event Center in Lakewood, CO. Tip is scheduled for 7PM MST.  

DNL