COLORADO SPRINGS - The Regis University men's basketball team improved their record to 3-5 as the team took on the University of Colorado Colorado Springs Mountain Lions (3-4) Tuesday night.

How it Happened: The first half started out as a defensive battle until Senior guard Brian Dawson hit a layup three minutes into the contest to start the scoring. From there, an impressive showing from graduate guard Troy Brady helped the Rangers immensely. The guard was solely responsible for an 8-0 run that lifted Regis to a 15-10 lead eight minutes into the game. As the half came to a close though, UCCS went on an 11-0 run. But, Dawson nailed a big 3-pointer to end the run and the half. The score was 29-37 in favor of the Mountain Lions at the end of the first 20. 

The second half was back-and-forth, both teams were shooting well, but RU improved their shot from the first half and UCCS slightly worsened. The Rangers were slowly working on regaining the lead when a monster dunk by redshirt sophomore guard/forward Kevin Ebiriekwe and a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Aaron Bokol gave Regis the lead back, 45-44. 

The final two minutes were as stressful as it gets in college hoops; Regis owned just a two-point advantage over UCCS. A critical offensive rebound and put-back layup by sophomore forward Alex Cartwright extended the lead to four. Then, the Mountain Lions got an and-one opportunity to cut RU's lead back to just one. But, Dawson was still hot and put the game on ice after a clean jumper with 20 seconds left. That gave the Rangers enough room to put away UCCS. The final score was 74-69.

Here's what head coach Brady Bergeson had to say about Tuesday's win, "Our kids have been through an awful lot lately. These kids deserve a lot of credit for what they are doing week in and week out. Tonight, we got tougher as the game went on. That's a difficult thing to do, especially on the road. Our bench energy was our 6th man tonight".
 
Game Notes: A total of 12 lead changes and four ties sums up just how close this game was. Dawson continues to amaze as the senior put up 28 points tonight. He's averaging 22.5 points per game. Brady broke his Regis career-high with 18 points and added a game-high four assists. RU was shooting lights-out in the second half, which propelled them to the victory. They shot 68 percent from the field and 42 percent from behind the arc. 

Up Next for the Rangers: The Rangers will finally head back home after a seven game road trip. Regis will face off against the Adams State University Grizzlies (4-3) this Friday at 8 p.m.. You can watch that game by clicking here.