The Colorado Christian University men's basketball team held their final home contest of the season against the Mountaineers of Western Colorado State University. A game of pride for both squads as both had already been mathematically eliminated from the post-season with the Cougars having slightly more to play for on Senior Night.
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Cougars led early, but Mountaineers convincingly controlled the majority of the first half. Western shot well, going 16-31 (51.6%) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, and held the Cougars to just 12-28 (42.9%) shooting in general, and 2-9 (22.2%) from beyond the arc. What success CCU found was the opening half was in hustle plays, outscoring Western 8-2 on second chance points.
The Mountaineers came out of halftime with their 11-point lead in hand, eyeing their first conference win of the season, but it was the Cougars who got off to a fast start, opening the first five minutes of the second half on a 16-7 run, which included Braxton Tuckers second three-pointer of the season.
By the time the 8-minute media timeout rolled around, the Cougs had erased the deficit altogether and tied the game at 58. The Mountaineers shooting had cooled off a bit in the second half, dropping to 41% from the field and just 1-8 from three-point land, while the Cougars had bumped their numbers up to 61% from the field and 3-6 on three-pointers. With six minutes left, Tucker gave CCU their first lead since it was 9-8 with 16 minutes left in the first half.
With a minute and a half left in the game, the Cougars clung to a three point lead as the Mountaineers had possession coming out of a timeout. Western's initial play coming out of the timeout didn't finish as planned, but an offensive rebound, layup, and-1, brought the game back to even at 69 apiece. After a CCU offensive foul, the Mountaineers brought it back up the court and were rewarded with a second and-one opportunity in as many attempts, this one with 54 seconds left in the game.
Now trailing by three, the Cougars went back up the court and took an easy jumper to get back within one point. After a few intentional fouls, the Cougars found themselves down by three with 2.5 seconds left and Justin Engesser at the free throw line for two shots. He drained the first and intentionally missed the second in an effort give the Cougs a chance to tie or win. It went as perfectly as could be as teammate Jake Hornick grabbed the offensive rebound and put up a last ditch effort shot from about 18-feet out. The shot fell short and the Mountaineers earned their first conference win of the season.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE: All three honored seniors scored in double digits tonight. Career 1,000 point scorer Jeremiah Hanson added another 13 points to his total while Braxton Tucker followed up his record setting rebound game from last night with another double-double, 19 points and 10 rebounds. Local senior Stefan Hackethal finished his home career with a 14 point effort and threw in five boards.
WHAT IS NEXT: Colorado Christian finishes their home season with a 3-10 record. The Cougars will complete their final two weekends on the road, traveling to Utah to take on Westminster College and Dixie State, before finishing out the season a few miles down the road at Regis University on March 1.
