COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's basketball teams will play for the season sweeps of both teams it plays this weekend in the final road trip of the regular season to Chadron State on Friday and to Regis on Saturday. The Mountain Lions (14-10, 11-6 RMAC) have won six of their last seven games since Jan. 16.
UCCS is fifth in the RMAC standings with New Mexico Highlands with five games left in the regular season. The Mountain Lions and Cowboys are one game behind the second-place teams of Colorado Mines, MSU Denver and Colorado Mesa with five games left in the regular season. Fort Lewis leads the conference with a 14-3 conference record.
The Mountain Lions continue to lead the RMAC and are ninth in Division II with 50.1 percent from the field, and are eighth in the nation with a +8.1 rebounding margin. UCCS has only been out-rebounded in three games this season and has held a double-digit rebounding advantage in 10 games.
Alex Welsh is No. 24 in Division II with 9.7 rebounds per game and is second in the conference in rebounding and with 22.2 points per game. He set the UCCS career record last Friday against Colorado State-Pueblo and is expanding on his record with 825 in his career.
Dalton Patten is seventh in Mountain Lion history with 409 rebounds and is 50 points away from 1,000 career points. He is second in the league and No. 13 in the nation with 62.4 percent from the field, and hasn't been below 50 percent in a game in more than a month.
UCCS won 86-63 on Dec. 19 against Chadron and Welsh scored 24 points to lead four Mountain Lions who scored 10 or more points. The Mountain Lions led the entire game and shot 56 percent from the field and held the Eagles to 28 percent. Jordan Green led Chadron State with 12 points.
The Eagles (6-15, 4-13 RMAC) will be looking to snap a five-game losing streak on Friday. Chadron State is third in the RMAC in rebounding margin. Warren Gordon is leading the team with 12.8 points per game while Devante McCallum has a team-leading 5.6 rebounds per game.
Patten scored 24 points in an 84-75 win against Regis on Dec. 18.
Brandon Malone went six-of-seven from the three-point line in the game as UCCS made 53 percent of its three-point attempts. Jarrett Brodbeck scored 22 points to lead the Rangers.
Brodbeck is averaging 15.5 points per game as a freshman and is 0.2 behind sophomore Dexter Sienko's 15.7 per game. The Rangers (8-15, 6-11 RMAC) lead the RMAC with eight steals per game and are third with 10 three-pointers per game.
Fans will be able to follow the games for free with live stats, audio and video through GoMountainLions.com. Brandon Applehans will provide the commentary for the radio broadcast. Live updates will be posted throughout the game on the team's twitter account, @UCCSMBB.
