PUEBLO, Colo. – The Western New Mexico University men’s basketball team opened with an 8-0 lead Saturday night before Colorado State University-Pueblo responded to claim the 97-67 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory.
Gavin Wood (Florence, AZ/Florence ) opened the scoring 36 seconds in. Brandon Tanter (Long Beach, CA/Los Angeles Prep) added a jumper on the next trip down the floor and then Marcos Castrillo (San Francisco, CA/Pinole Valley) hit back-to-back jumpers to give WNMU (2-17, 2-13 RMAC) a 8-0 lead three minutes in.
CSU-Pueblo (14-7, 10-5 RMAC) took a timeout and after benching their starters went on a 9-0 run to take their first lead just over five minutes in.
Castrillo gave WNMU the lead back after a Mustang timeout at 10-9, but a 10-0 run followed over the next several minutes for the ThunderWolves to take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
WNMU posted 42 points in the second half and used points in the paint (20-12) and second-chance (5-4) to their advantage in the second stanza.
Scott and Castrillo powered the offense with 17 and 13 points, respectively. Tanter added nine points. Tanter led in rebounds with six, while Scott had a high in assists with four. Josh Smith came off the bench to lead CSU-Pueblo and all-scorers with 21 points.
WNMU ended up connecting on 46 percent (23-50) from the field and made 19 free throws. The ThunderWolves made 35-of-64 (54.7), including 16 three-pointers and 11 free throws. WNMU finished the game leading in second-chance points (11-10) and in rebounding (33-29).
WNMU will return home this coming Friday for the first of four straight inside Drag’s Court beginning with Fort Lewis at 7:30 p.m. Adams State defeated the Skyhawks, 77-69, earlier tonight in Alamosa.
