COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's basketball team lost Saturday night to No. 6 ranked Colorado School of Mines 85-66.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
- Final: UCCS 66, CSM 85
- Records: UCCS (13-5, 7-4 RMAC) | CSM (16-1, 10-1 RMAC)
- Facility | Location: Gallogly Events Center | Colorado Springs, Colo.
- All-Time Series: This was the 50th matchup between the Mountain Lions and the Orediggers, with CSM now having a 38-12 record against UCCS all time.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Mountain Lions stuck with the No. 6 team in the country for the majority of the first half with UCCS starting off the game on a William Becker jumper on an assist from Beni Fungula at the 19:08 mark to give UCCS a 2-0 lead early on. It was a defensive battle from both teams through the first 10 minutes with Mines having a four-point advantage on UCCS, 14-10.
- From then on, the Orediggers started to get hot and went on a 19-7 run in a five-minute stretch where CSM was 8-of-8 from the field including two three pointers made, increasing their lead to 33-17 with 4:49 left in the first half. UCCS fought back and won the remaining time in the half on an 11-8 run that included a three pointer from Logan Bracamonte with the assist coming from Jon'il Fugett. Mines maintained a 13-point lead at the break, 41-28.
- The Mountain Lions and Orediggers opened the second half matching each basket the opposing team put up. UCCS would cut down the lead to 11 with a pair of made free throws from Jezza McKenzie to make the score 60-49 with a little over 10 minutes remaining, but that was as close as the game would be from then on.
- Mines would end the game in full control and locked down on the Mountain Lions offense forcing UCCS to only shoot 4-of-15 (26.7 percent) from the field and 1-of-7 (14.3 percent) from the three-point line for the last nine and a half minutes of the game. As a result, Mines secured the 19-point victory, 85-66.
GAME STATISTICS
- UCCS was cold from deep tonight, only shooting 4-of-20 (20 percent) from the three while CSM was on fire, shooting 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) from downtown.
- Mines won the battle on points from turnovers (14-2), points in the paint (34-26), second chance points (15-5), fast break points (9-5), and points from the bench (38-32).
- Mines also won the rebound battle, posting 45 boards to UCCS' 36 total rebounds.
- McKenzie led the Mountain Lions in scoring, going 4-of-8 from the field and 5-of-5 from the charity stripe. CSM had five players in double figures with Ben Boone netting 19 points and Adam Thistlewood scoring 17 points to go along with his 10 rebounds.
- Both teams shot a high number of free throws with UCCS going 22-of-30 (73.3 percent) from the line and Mines going 15-of-25 (60 percent).
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Mines controlled the game basically for its entirety, with having the lead for 32 minutes compared to the Mountain Lions 4 minutes and 10 seconds with the lead.
- Mines biggest lead of the night came with 3:47 remaining in the game and was up by 23 points. UCCS biggest lead came on the first two points of the contest, being up 2-0.
- There was a total of 49 fouls called in tonight's contest, making it the highest number of fouls called in a game played from the Mountain Lions this season.
UP NEXT
- The Mountain Lions will head to Chadron, Neb. next for a matchup against Chadron State College on Friday, Jan. 20th at 7:30 p.m. at Chioine Center.
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.
