Las Vegas, New Mexico - New Mexico Highlands handed previously unbeaten Colorado State - Pueblo an 85-63 defeat Saturday afternoon in a non-conference game. WIth the win, the Cowboys improve to 4-1 on the young season. The ThuderWolves, among the teams receiving votes in last week's NABC Division II Top 25, fall to 4-1.
The ThunderWolves held an early lead as they were up 10-6 at the 16:00 minute mark of the game. They would take their final lead of the game with just under 10:00 minutes to go in the first half at 19-18.
TJ Sanchez put the Cowboys up for good 20-19 when he converted a layup 21 seconds later.
The Cowboys led 43-30 at the halftime break and outscored the visitors 42-33 in the second half to secure Saturday's win.
"I'm really excited about how the guys came out today," said Cowboy's Coach
Mike Dominguez. "I challenged them to defend for 40 minutes and today we did that by holding Pueblo to 40% shooting and we got the game at our tempo. We have a deep team where it can be anyone any night and that's exciting."
The Cowboys forced 14 turnovers by CSU-Pueblo and converted them into 25 points. The NMHU bench outscored the ThunderWolves 36-18.
Four NMHU players were in double figures led by
Blessin Kimble's career high 20 points. Also in double-figures were
Kyrie Thomas (13 points),
Daniel Rosenber (13 points), and
Ja'Kwon Hill (10 points). Ten different Cowboys scored in the game.
Ezzy Dawson grabbed a career high eight rebounds to lead the Cowboys.
Kyrie Thomas had three steals in the game.
CSU-Pueblo held a 39-30 rebounding edge.
Up next, the Cowboys travel to Silver City for a game with Western New Mexico on Tuesday afternoon. Tip-off is at 1:00 pm.
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