Cowboys beat CSU-Pueblo, will be No. 7 seed in RMAC Tournament

RMAC TOURNAMENT BRACKET

PUEBLO, Colo. --- The New Mexico Highlands men's held off a pesky CSU-Pueblo team to win its regular-season finale 88-82 on Friday night at Massari Arena – securing the No. 7 seed in the RMAC Tournament.
 
The Cowboys (19-9 overall, 14-8 RMAC) will travel to take on No. 2 Dixie State in St. George, Utah, 7 p.m. Tuesday in the first round of the RMAC Tournament. NMHU tied with Colorado Mesa and UC Colorado Springs for the No. 5-7 seeds in the RMAC. Per RMAC rules, since none of the three teams swept or were swept by the other two (NMHU went 2-1, CMU 1-1 and UCCS 1-2) – the tiebreaker goes to a power points system based on strength of conference victories. That was close as well with UCCS and CMU finishing with 74 points while NMHU was just a half point behind at 73.5 – giving the Cowboys the No. 7 seed. It then went to head-to-head matchup between the other two with CMU winning that matchup and giving the Mavs the fifth seed (they will travel to take on No. 4 Black Hills State) while UCCS picked up the sixth seed and travels to play No. 3 Regis. The other game is No. 1 Colorado School of Mines hosting No. 8 Adams State (which got in with a win Friday night and a Chadron State loss).
 
As for Friday, the Cowboys led for much of the final 25 minutes of the contest after a quick 6-0 run capped by a Desmond Carpenter jumper with 4:39 remaining in the first half turned a 25-23 deficit into a 29-25 lead.
 
NMHU went into the half with a 38-33 advantage and grew to as large as 16 after a Patrik Boloz bucket inside on a nice pass from Gerad Davis made it 53-37 with 13:52 remaining.
 
But the ThunderWolves didn't go away as an 11-0 run by CSU-Pueblo over the next two minutes cut the Cowboy advantage to five. NMHU's lead was down to three points after a CSU-Pueblo 3-pointer with 1:16 left made it 81-78, but the Cowboys put the game away at the free throw line by going 7-for-8 over the final 55 seconds of the contest.
 
Five Cowboys finished in double figures with Davis leading the way with 19 points to go along with four assists, three steals and three rebounds. Nnamdi Okoro had a double-double for NMHU with 17 points and 11 rebounds (including six offensive rebounds), Desmond Carpenter scored a season-high 16 points to go along with five rebounds, Raquan Mitchell had 13 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block and Jordan Jones had 10 points, seven rebounds three assists, three steals and a block.
 
NMHU, which hits nearly 11 3-pointers per game, was just 5-for-26 from beyond the arc – but made up for it by going 27-for-37 (73 percent) from inside the arc along with going 19-for-25 from the free throw line.
 
NOTES: The 19 victories for the Cowboys is the most since NMHU went 19-8 in the 2010-11 season … The 14 conference victories is the most since winning 14 during the 2015-16 season … Raquan Mitchell's 90 3-pointers this season are the second-most in single-season NMHU history – only behind the 124 hit by Darren Sanchez during the 1988-89 season.