LAKEWOOD, CO – A quality effort fell a few points short.

Battling until the final buzzer, the Colorado Christian men's basketball squad dropped an 86-80 decision to New Mexico Highlands on Saturday evening.

HOW IT HAPPENED: Despite trailing by 12 points less than five minutes into the contest the Cougars clawed their way back and eventually took a one-point lead (17-16) with 12:41 left until halftime. Even though the home team couldn't keep that lead, they kept the Cowboys within striking distance as the teams went into locker room with New Mexico Highlands leading 40-39.

Colorado Christian found themselves responding well to every Cowboys scoring spurt but they couldn't take the lead. The Cougars kept their deficit in the single digits and got to within three points of the lead twice. With 3:26 left Braxton Tucker took a nice feed from Jake Hornick and the Cougars were down just 74-71.

Unfortunately the Cowboys went on a 9-2 scoring spurt to push their lead to double digits for the first times in the game's early minutes. Down the stretch Colorado Christian got within five points but couldn't close the gap any closer.

COUGAR STANDOUTS: Jeremiah Hanson scored 14 of his team high 21 points in the second frame. He went 6-for-12 during the final 20 minutes en route to Cougar high scoring honors. Braxton Tucker nearly posted a double-double with an 18-point, nine-rebound performance. Stefan Hackethal (12 points) and Jake Hornick (10) rounded out the double figure scorers.

Off the bench Terry McFadden had the best game of his season by scoring nine points and grabbing 13 rebounds off the bench.

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE

- Colorado Christian won the scoring battle in the paint 50-46
- New Mexico Highland's defense was critical as they scored 27 points off turnovers
- The Cougars won the rebounding battle 47-26

UP NEXT: The Cougars have a weekend road swing through South Dakota beginning on Friday against Black Hills State.