COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Cowboys cut an early 19-point deficit to two in the first half, but the Mountain Lions used a big swing in momentum of their own to take a big lead into the locker room and held on as New Mexico Highlands (4-15, 4-11 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) fell to nationally-ranked and league-leading Colorado Springs (19-2, 13-2 RMAC) 104-96 Saturday night (Jan. 31).
The Cowboys fell behind 27-8 with 9:02 left in the first half, but Highlands went on a 19-2 run in less than four minutes to whittle the deficit to two. It all started with a junior
Kendrick Nichols miss and a tip-in by classmate
Charles George. After a steal by the Cowboys, junior
Matthew Logan stopped and popped a triple. Another Mountain Lion miscue led to Nichols burying a triple to cut the deficit to 11. After both teams failed to score on a few possessions, junior
Jonathon Mines canned a jumper and all of a sudden in two minutes, the home teams double-digit lead was cut to nine.
Junior
Amal Wilson got in to the act on the next possession when he grabbed a steal and hit Nichols in stride for the fastbreak hoop and the harm. The made free throw cut the deficit to six. Alex Welsh stopped the bleeding for the Mountain Lions with a jumper on an offensive rebound, but Mines hit back-to-back triples to whittle the deficit down to two with 5:16 left in the first half.
Mines led the team with a career best 37 points on 10-17 shooting, including a a blazing 7-10 mark from beyond the arc. Nichols added 17, George came off the bench for 15 and freshman
Joe Anaya had 10.
The Mountain Lions used a 44-28 edge on the boards and a 17-10 advantage on the boards in the win.
With the Cowboys trailing 95-82 with 2:55 left in the game, they scored seven unanswered to again cut a huge deficit back to single digits. Mines hit a triple and a jumper before George added a layup to cut the deficit to eight. However, the Cowboys could climb no closer in the eight-point loss to the nationally-ranked Mountain Lions.
Hanging on to a slim 31-29 margin, UC-Colorado Springs used a 29-4 run to take control of the game right before half. Dalton Patten started the run with a dunk and after a Mountain Lions stop, hit a jumper. Derrick White then was fouled and hit a pair from the stripe to push the lead back to eight. After both teams traded a pair of buckets, Darius Pardner nailed a triple. White then added the hoop and harm and Pardner canned another triple to put the home team up 17 with 1:13 until half. A layup by sophomore
Ricky Norris cut the lead to 15 at intermission.
White led a quintet of Mountain Lions who reached double-digit scoring. He had 28, including a 16-17 mark from the charity stripe.Welsh added 25 points and 12 boards for the double-double while Patten had 12. Pardner and Shane Jensen came off the bench for 12 and 10, respectively.
The Cowboys return to action Friday night (Feb. 6) against Adams State. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
