Lakewood, CO. The Cougars battled in a hard-fought win tonight, shooting consistently and well at a 55% clip.
Bradley Land led with 22 points and
Shaylen Woodberry, Maro Egodotaye, and Brendan Patrick each had 4 rebounds apiece.
The Cougars had a quick start, battling with the Mountain Lions.
Nic Zeil hit a quick three, and then
Bradley Land slammed down a dunk to tie it up early in the first half. The Mountain Lions responded quickly, but
Tanner Hecht hit a long 3 to gain the edge 15-14. Coming out of the first media timeout, the battle continued with Jake Everson hitting a three and the Mountain Lions playing very aggressively in the paint.
No team seemed to be gaining the edge, basically going point for point, and playing disciplined defense. But eventually, the Cougs started to pull ahead with some great plays and a couple of key free throws made. Maro Egodetaye came in hot with 7 points in the first half while Land had 12. Zeil hit a buzzer beater to end the first half and the Cougs secured a 42-28 lead going into the second.
The Mountain Lions came out with a little bit more fire in the second half, drawing some fouls and hitting a couple of three-pointers. Mike Bell answered with a clutch three and the Lions shot one right back in an all-out battle. The Mountain Lions continued to climb back in, but the Cougs still led by 4 early in the half.
As the game progressed, the two teams were going foul for foul and point for point. Zeil had an aggressive and-one to tie it back at 51-51. Bell made a layup for the and-one, giving the momentum back to the Cougs and bringing the score to 59-53. But UCCS was not giving up easily and quickly brought the score back within 1. Land made a strong jumper, and the score was tied again. The Cougs finally pulled away by three and called a timeout in the last minute. The score was 78-76 with 9 seconds left, and Brendan Patrick secured the win with 2 calm free throws.
After a great home RMAC win, the Cougars will go on to face the Regis Rangers, on December 17th at home at 4pm.
