LAKEWOOD, CO- Colorado Christian hosted Barclay College on Friday evening in their home opener from the CCU Event Center. Led by five players in double digits and a high pressuring defense, the Cougars came away with a 107-98 victory over the Bears.
Bradley Land got the crowd going early with a dunk as he pump faked from three and drove for an emphatic one handed slam. The offensive rebounds played a key role in the game for CCU, and several second chance looks went from Garrett Poelman and Brenden Patrick for an 11-6 lead. The Bears hung around early, but a Michael Bell Jr. three put the Cougars ahead 26-16 midway through the half. CJ Barnes got a layup to fall off a rebound, and Bobby McWard drilled a three later to make it 46-32 with 3:31 to play in the half. Barclay closed the half strong as CCU went to the break with a 51-49 lead.
After the Bears briefly took a two point lead, the Cougars had seen enough and began to pull away. Nic Zeil hit a three-pointer to restore the lead, and moments later he drilled another from deep for an eight point lead. Noah Kon made a jumper to stretch the lead to 10 before Ziel hit his third straight three-pointer. The momentum fully shifted to CCU when they ran an inbounds play with 14:04 to play. CJ Barnes rotated to the hoop, took the lob and slammed it home with two hands to ignite the crowd and the bench. On the other end, the freshman blocked a Bears shooter as he put together a truly special sequence of play. Tanner Hecht later got in on the dunk party with a one handed jam and Schafer Reichart broke free to throw down a two handed slam with a little over six minutes to go to put control firmly on the side of CCU. Late free throws sealed it as the Cougars claimed victory by a final score of 107-98.
It was an outstanding overall effort from the Cougars as they saw five players score in double digits on the night. Kon and Land led the team with 18 points apiece while Bell Jr. tallied 17. Patrick had 12 and Zeil scored 11 as part of an extremely balanced offensive effort. Defensively, Patrick pulled down eight rebounds and Land picked up a pair of blocks on the evening.
Colorado Christian is back at home on November 21 as they host Williams Baptist College with tipoff set for 5 p.m. MST.
