HILO, Hawaii – University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's basketball started their Hawaii trip off on the right foot on Wednesday night as a 20-point double-double from
William Becker helps push the Mountain Lions to a 5-0 start with a 77-72 win over University of Hawaii at Hilo.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: UCCS 77, UHH 72
Records: UCCS (5-0, 0-0 RMAC), UHH (2-1, 0-0 PacWest)
Location: Afkook-Chinen Civic Auditorium| Hilo, Hawaii
Series: After the first-ever matchup between both programs, UCCS now leads the all-time series 1-0.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
• Wednesday's tightly contested non-conference matchup featured the Hawaii Hilo Vulcans getting the scoring started with a jumper in the paint thirty seconds into the game as the Mountain Lions answered with two baskets of their own by way of a made
Jezza McKenzie jumper and a
Jon'il Fugett steal that turned into a layup on the other end of the floor that tied the score up at 4-4.
• The Mountain Lions jumped out to what ended up being their largest lead of the first period at the 15:58 mark as
Beni Fungula netted his first points of the game with a shot from beyond the arc to make it a 9-6 UCCS advantage.
• The Vulcans eventually worked back ahead by generating an 11-3 run with the Vulcans making five of their next seven from the field to make it 17-12 as Hawaii Hilo held on to the lead tightly for the remainder of the first period.
• After being down as much as seven points with just under four minutes to play in the opening half, UCCS stayed on the heels of the Vulcans with McKenzie registering UCCS' sixth steal of the game and turning it over to Fungula who finished it off with a driving layup. UCCS wasn't done there as Fungula came back to make another layup for 10 first half points as
Mac Stodart made layup right before the half to cap off an 8-3 drive and bring the game within one, 37-36.
• In the second period, the Vulcans started out fast with a three-point play off the Stodart foul in the opening 10 seconds and added in another free throw to grab the early momentum to make it 41-36. But after tallying up 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field in the first period,
William Becker continued to have a game by swinging momentum UCCS' way with a dunk off the offensive rebound as McKenzie added the game-tying three-pointer at 16:19 to make it 41-41.
• UCCS and Hawaii Hilo continued to be neck and neck through the second period as three lead changes later the Mountain Lions pushed themselves ahead for the final lead change as Fugett dished it to Becker who brought the house down with a dunk to give UCCS the 59-57 with 7:36 left to play.
• The Mountain Lions began to chip away at the Vulcans as the Becker dunk sparked a 15-7 UCCS run that lasted nearly six minutes with
Sufyan Elkannan draining the long range three-pointer for the 72-64 lead with 1:56 remaining in the game.
• Hawaii Hilo tried to work back into the game by sending the Mountain Lions to the free throw line but Fungula was able to net 3-of-4 attempts as Becker added his 11
th rebound with 13 seconds, claiming a double-double, who then found Elkannan to put the game away with layup on the other end to register the 77-72 final.
STATS FROM THE DAY:
• William Becker was exceptional in Wednesday night's win as the redshirt junior shot 10-of-13 from the field for 20 points as he also added 11 rebounds along with two steals and a blocked shot to register the Mountain Lions' first double-double performance of the season.
• Beni Fungula and
Sufyan Elkannan added in season-high scoring performances with 19 and 16 points scored, respectively. The newcomers combined to shoot 4-of-5 from three-point range and 7-of-10 from the charity stripe.
• The Mountain Lions were out-rebounded by the Vulcans 43-36, but UCCS outshot Hawaii Hilo in the field 48.4 percent to 42.4 percent. UCCS turned it on in the second period by shooting 51.61 percent from the field while holding the Vulcans to a field goal percentage of 33.33 percent.
• UCCS tallied up a total of nine steals in the game with
Jon'il Fugett,
Jezza McKenzie, and Becker registering two steals each.
BEYOND THE BOX:
• It's the first time in program history that the Mountain Lions have gotten off to 5-0 starts in back-to-back seasons.
• William Becker registers a career-high 20-points with his fourth career double-double.
• Jon'il Fugett is tied for the conference lead in steals (11) after notching his fourth game of the season with more than one steal.
SOCIAL:
Twitter - @GoMountainLions
Instagram - @gomountainlions
Facebook – Go Mountain Lions
As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 16 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.
