COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's basketball team holds off a late comeback attempt from the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers and capture a 74-71 victory to advance to the next round of the RMAC tournament.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: UCCS 74, CSM 71
Records: UCCS (21-8, 15-7 RMAC), CSM (16-11, 14-8 RMAC)
Facility: Gallogly Events Center | Colorado Springs, Colo.
All-Time Series: While under head coach,
Jeff Culver, the Mountain Lions pick up a win in the history of this matchup bringing their record to 5-13 against the Orediggers
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The first basket of the game favored the Mountain Lions with Bobby Martin getting a quick start to what would be a great night shooting for him as he found his way into the paint and put up a contested shot off the backboard that fell through and gave the Mountain Lions the early lead.
- As a team, the Mountain Lions got a lot of shots to fall and came out the gates hot from the field. Coming out of a timeout, Mac Stodart flashed great footwork as he drove down the lane, faked a shot down low, and sunk a turnaround jumper.
- Jon'il Fugett showed off his ball handling and passing precision as he weaved through defenders and found a wide-open Geoff Kelly who nailed the three-point shot to keep the Mountain Lion scoring going at the 13:44 mark in the first half.
- The Mountain Lions would extend the lead to double digits with 4:24 remaining in the half as Parker Gaddis picked up the defensive rebound and found David Jabedo sprinting towards the hoop who finished the play with a one-handed dunk.
- No points were scored on either side in the final 2:40 of the half and finished with the Mountain Lions ahead 39-30.
- The Mountain Lions picked up right where they left off when the second half opened with Martin sinking an uncontested three-point shot.
- Despite a considerable lead, the Mountain Lions still played aggressive defense. There was no better display of the aggression than when Alijah Comithier blocked a shot from the Orediggers, collected the rebound, and then worked his way down low on the other end by faking an outlet pass and completing the euro step layup to give the Mountain Lions a 58-45 lead with 11:54 remaining in the game.
- While UCCS continued to knock down shots, their lights-out shooting that had carried over from the first half began to fade, and the Orediggers slowly chipped away at the Mountain Lion lead.
- After the Orediggers sunk a three-point shot to bring themselves within five points of the lead, the Mountain Lions took the ball back down to their end of the court to try to squeeze every second out of the dwindling clock to seal their victory. Jon'il Fugett answered the call to put even more pressure on the opponent as he nailed a step back jumper for three that gave the Mountain Lions a 72-64 lead with 1:31 left in regulation.
- The Orediggers continued to fight back despite the lack of time left. After Fugett sunk his free throws with :12 on the clock, CSM got a three-point bucket to fall with two ticks remaining, only down by three points. The Mountain Lions were able to inbound the ball to Comithier, who catapulted the ball into the air with enough hangtime for the buzzer to sound and the game to conclude with UCCS taking the 74-71 RMAC tournament quarterfinal victory.
STATS FROM THE GAME:
- The Mountain Lions were hot shooting from distance in the first half as they nailed 54.5 percent of their shots from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.
- Bobby Martin was an excellent shooter tonight as he made six of his nine shots from the field, four of seven from three, and tallied 17 points in the game, the most for any Mountain Lion.
- The Mountain Lions never trailed in the game. With the score only being tied a total of two times, the Mountain Lions had the lead for a little over 38 minutes.
- Jon'il Fugett dished the ball around well as he recorded the most assists for the Mountain Lions tonight with nine. He also scored the second most points for UCCS with 16.
- Alijah Comithier and Parker Gaddis tied for the team lead in rebounds with six each.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:
- Tonight's win marks the first victory the Mountain Lions have had in the RMAC tournament since the 2014-15 season when UCCS took home the RMAC tournament championship.
- Bobby Martin set a season high tonight for points in a game with 17, as well as setting a season high for three-point field goals made with four.
- When it came to the boards, Parker Gaddis came down with six rebounds which was tied for the highest on the team in the game tonight, but it is also tied for the second most he has brought down in a game this season.
UP NEXT:
- The Mountain Lions travel to Spearfish, S.D. to take on the Black Hills State University Yellow Jackets on Friday, March 4th, in the RMAC tournament semifinal game.
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.
