UCCS not doing enough things right to topple Chico State

CHICO, Calif. â€" Nick Weaver scored 19 points but the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs was nonetheless beaten 77-67 by the Chico State Wildcats Friday at the Carlâ€^TMs Junior Mac Martin Tournament at Acker Gym.

The Mountain Lions, who fell to 0-4 on the season, will play Humboldt State on Saturday.

While UCCS outshot and outrebounded Chico State, the Mountain Lions made just one of their 11 3-point attempts and committed 18 turnovers, five more than their opponents. Additionally, UCCS went just 10-for-17 from the foul line.

“Iâ€^TMm not going to make excuses; we just arenâ€^TMt doing enough things right,” said UCCS coach Russ Caton. “We shot a lot of contested shots instead of trusting our offense and we didnâ€^TMt handle their pressure.

“We shot nine percent from 3-point range â€" that didnâ€^TMt help.”

One bright spot was a 15-point, nine-rebound performance by Cole Smith. After leading the Mountain Lions in both categories during preseason play, the junior from Burlington, Colo., struggled in the first three games of the season.

“Cole finally came around,” said Caton. “It was nice to see him after it.”

Frank McCollum added 13 points for the Mountain Lions, while Jordan McClung had eight points and seven assists.

Andy Bocian led Chico State (1-4) with 19 points and tied for the top rebounder honors with nine. York Sims added 17 points and Junior Russell had 16.

After leading by as many as five in the first half, UCCS gave up an 11-2 run to end the period that gave Chico State a 38-33 lead going into the intermission. Although shallow, it was a hole out of which the Mountain Lions were never able to climb.

The Wildcats opened the second half with a 10-2 run to take a 13-point lead. Chico State made thereof their nine 3-pointers during the combined 21-4 run surrounding the half.

“We started off in a zone, that slowed them down a little bit until they started making threes,” said Caton.