LAKEWOOD, CO- The Cougars were back at home on Thursday as they took on CSU Pueblo for the second time this season in front of a raucous crowd inside the CCU Event Center. In what was an absolutely thrilling contest to the final buzzer, the Thunderwolves narrowly came out on top by a final score of 56-54.
Porter Bazil ignited the crowd early as he drove into the lane and threw down a powerful one-handed dunk.
Pierce Bazil put in three straight layups, while a three-pointer from
Zachary Reed made it 17-12 CSUP in a defensive first half.
After Porter got back-to-back layups to fall, Jared Looyd Jr. hit a jumper to bring his team back within four points. The visitors hit a late jumper as they took a narrow 28-24 advantage to the halftime break.
An early three from the Thunderwolves put them out in front to start the second half, but CCU remained resilient as
Jimmy House nailed a three to make it 37-33. CSU Pueblo eventually surged ahead by 13, but the Cougars had another strong response.
A House layup started the rally, while Lloyd Jr. connected from deep to make it a six point contest at 51-45.
Schafer Reichart and Lloyd Jr. got layups to fall as the lead was trimmed to just two, and Schafer got another layup to tie the game at 51 apiece with 2:09 to go. A nailbiting final two minutes ensued with the two teams trading punches. After CSUP went up three, Pierce got a layup to fall to cut the lead to one, and after a jumpball and foul he had a chance to give his team the lead with under 10 seconds to go from the free throw line. Unfortunately he could not sink the front end of a one and one, and the visitors rebounded and were fouled to close out the 56-54 victory in a physical and hard fought battle between the two RMAC tournament contenders.
Pierce led the Cougars with 13 points and 7 rebounds, while Porter followed with 11. Schafer dished out a strong 6 assists with 2 steals and five boards.
CCU will travel to UCCS on Saturday, February 14 for an important battle with the Mountain Lions that tips off at 3 p.m. MST.
