Cowboys drain 20 3-pointers, beat UCCS 119-86 in battle of 3rd place teams

LAS VEGAS, N.M. --- When you're hot, you're hot.
 
The New Mexico Highlands men's basketball team drained a season-high 20 3-pointers and tied a season high in points as the Cowboys cruised past UC Colorado Springs 119-86 Friday in a matchup of teams tied for third place in the RMAC.
 
The Cowboys (15-5 overall, 10-4 RMAC) not only set a season-high in 3-pointers (two 3-pointers short of the RMAC record) and tied a season high for points, but also shot a season-best 63.9 percent from the field.
 
It also moved NMHU to 8-0 at home this season (averaging 102.4 points per game) as the Cowboys welcome No. 16 Colorado School of Mines – which won its 16th-straight game Friday night in a win over CSU-Pueblo – in a colossal conference matchup 7 p.m. Saturday in Las Vegas.
 
On Friday, the Cowboys trailed 9-8 with 16:47 remaining in the first half before exploding for a 14-0 run over the next 2:20 that included 3-pointers from DJ Bustos and Adrian LaFleur and a pair of baskets from Jordan Jones to take a 22-9 lead on the Mountain Lions (12-8, 9-5).
 
NMHU led by double digits the rest of the way.
 

HIGHLIGHT | 👀 out below! Jordan Jones (@PapaBarone3) flies high and dunks all over a Mountain Lion during the Cowboys' 119-86 win in a matchup of third place teams in the @RMAC_SPORTS. #LetsRide #SCtop10 @SportsCenter pic.twitter.com/MOo9t0JxKt

— NMHU Athletics (@NMHU_Athletics) February 2, 2019

The lead grew to 20 points at 40-20 when Jones drained a 3-pointer at the 8:44 mark and grew to as large as 26 (48-22) in the first half before the Cowboys went into the break with a 62-47 lead. The NMHU advantage grew to as large as 38 points (113-75) in the second half before coming away with the 32-point victory.
 
Jordan Jones paced six Cowboys in double figures with 29 points – going 12-for-14 from the floor and 5-for-7 from 3-point range. Gerad Davis finished with 21 points, Adrian LaFluer came off the bench and had 17 points, six assists and five rebounds, Nnamdi Okoro had 11 points, seven rebounds and two blocks, Desmond Carpenter had 10 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals while Raquan Mitchell finished with 10 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals.
 
NMHU finished 20-for-36 from 3-point range, beating the 19 3-pointers the Cowboys hit in a game twice earlier this season.