LAKEWOOD, CO- CCU began their second straight weekend at home on Thursday with a battle against Westminster. The two teams traded blows throughout, but in the end the Griffins managed to stave off a late rally from the hosts to claim a 75-69 victory. 

The Cougars came out hot as Bradley Land put in a layup less than 20 seconds in and Tate Odvody drained a three-pointer for an early 5-0 lead. Westminster fought back to tie the game at 7-7, and the Griffins then went on a momentum seizing 17-0 run. Land broke the scoring drought with a layup, and Ezra Guest gave his team a jolt with a three as the score was 26-12 midway through the half. 

Promise Idiaru went to work down low with a layup, and five straight from Land saw the lead shrink to just 7. Odvody made another layup while Idiaru started to dominate on the boards. On one possession, the junior snagged three offensive rebounds, eventually kicking the ball to Reichart for a massive three-pointer that sent the crowd into a frenzy as a once 17 point deficit was now just 3. Heading into halftime it seemed like momentum was shifting with the Griffins leading just 37-32. 

The strong close to the half carried over into the second period as a deep three from Land tied things up at 39 apiece. Idiaru put in a layup as the game stood tied again at 41-41. The Griffins managed to go on another run, stretching the lead to 59-49 midway with a little under 10 minutes to play. 

The deficit did not discourage the Cougars as Bobby McWard cashed in consecutive three-pointers. Trailing by seven, McWard stayed scorching hot from beyond the arc as he poured in another pair of threes to cut the lead for the visitors to just 62-61 with 6:05 to play. The teams stayed close into the final minutes, and a Reichart layup with 49 seconds left had CCU down just two. However, a score from the Griffins at the other end put CCU in a tough spot, and they could not quite complete the comeback in an eventual 75-69 setback. 

Land was stellar all night, posting an 18 point, 10 rebound double-double. McWard tallied 12 points, all of them coming in the fourth, and Odvody and Idiaru had 11 and 10 respectively. 

The Cougars will be back in action against Western Colorado at home on February 1 at 3 p.m. MST.