After securing a thrilling overtime victory at home on Wednesday night against Chadron State, the Colorado Christian Men's basketball team hit the road to finish out the week as they traveled to Gunnison, CO to take on Western Colorado. The Cougars have had a flare for the dramatic this week as the game tonight also came down to the final moments. However, no overtime was needed as the Cougs held on for the victory by a final score of 61-57
 
How it Happened: CCU jumped out to an early lead in the game thanks in part to a hot start from the floor from freshman Maro Egodotaye. His second basket of the first five minutes gave the Cougars an early 8-2 lead over the Mountaineers. Also having a great start to the game was Jason Gallant. Gallant tallied his eighth point of the first half 10 minutes into the game to push the Colorado Christian lead into double digits at 18-8. Just a few moments later Gallant knocked in a three to give him 11 points, and the Cougars a 13 point lead 21-8.
 
Western was able to go on a bit of a run late and fought their way back into the game as they tightened up the score, but the Cougs still held a 27-23 lead heading into halftime. CCU played stingy defense throughout the first half as they were able to hold Western to an abysmal 19% shooting from the floor and held them to 0-11 from beyond the arc.
 
Western started the second half with the same momentum that they utilized to close out the first half and just two minutes into the half the game was tied 30-30. The Mountaineers continued their run and eventually took the lead over the Cougars by six points as the score was 40-34 with 14 minutes left in the game. At this point in the game, Head Coach Liam Simmons fired up his squad and ignited a rally. Over the next 3:47 seconds, CCU went on a 13-1 run to regain the lead 47-40 with 10 minutes remaining in the game.
 
The remainder of the game was a back and forth battle which saw the lead change hands multiple times. After the 13-1 run by the Cougars, Western compiled an 11-1 run to snatch the lead back 51-48 with just over five minutes remaining in the game. CCU refused to quit, which is a special trait of this team, as they quickly rallied and a pair of made free throws by Isaiah Alonzo with three minutes left gave the Cougs a 54-51 lead. After a made basket by Western to cut the lead down to just one, the Cougars began to pull away thanks to their work from the charity stripe. Jason Gallant hit a pair of free throws, and followed that up with a layup after a made basket by the Mountaineers to keep the three point lead for CCU. Noah Kon grabbed a rebound and was fouled sending him to the line with a two point lead. After making the first, he missed the second which gave Western a chance to tie the game with a three, but they missed the attempt and Maro Egodotaye was able to grab the rebound and was fouled with just three seconds left. Egodotaye hit his first free throw which gave the Cougs a four point lead 61-57 and all but took care of the game. A last second shot by Western was missed, which gave Colorado Christian their second exciting RMAC victory in a row.
 
Beyond the Box – Jason Gallant led all scorers in the game as he tallied 22 points and also grabbed seven rebounds. Noah Kon also had a nice game as he scored 12 points and also grabbed seven rebounds. Maro Egodotaye nearly had a double-double on the night as he finished with nine points and nine rebounds.
 
Up Next – With the win tonight, the Cougars record now sits at 6-4 overall, and 2-2 in conference play. They will be back in action on Friday December 16^th as they will travel to Colorado Springs to take on UCCS in RMAC play. Tip is scheduled for 7PM MST. On Saturday December 17^th, the Cougars will return home for their next game as they will take on Regis at the CCU Event Center tipping off at 7PM MST.