Colorado St.-Pueblo CSU-P 12-15,9-12 RMAC

Regis (CO) Regis 17-9,12-8 RMAC

Colorado St.-Pueblo CSU-P

12-15,9-12 RMAC

Final

Feb. 25, 2022

Regis (CO) Regis

17-9,12-8 RMAC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	F
Colorado St.-Pueblo CSU-P	39	36	75
Regis (CO) Regis	37	35	72

Summary
Box Score

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | Feb 25 | David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

Rangers rally late, but fall shy in 75-72 loss to CSU Pueblo

DENVER, Colo. — The Regis University men's basketball team opened its final home stand of the regular season on Friday, having a late rally fall just shy in a 75-72 loss to Colorado State University Pueblo inside the Regis Field House.

Down by eight with 2:25 remaining, the Rangers (17-9 overall, 12-8 RMAC) made a furious rally to get two potential game-tying looks in the final seconds, but were unable to get the 3-pointers to drop in the waning moments.

"I thought CSU Pueblo played a very good game. They were well coached, very tough (Friday) and deserve a lot of credit," said Regis head men's basketball coach, Brady Bergeson. "I really thought our guys played well on both sides of the court. I don't think we'd had done anything differently, honestly. At the end of the day, I thought we had a number of open shots that we normally make and sometimes they don't go down. With a thin margin, you've got to make shots to finish games and (CSU Pueblo) made one more than we did."

HOW IT HAPPENED: The Rangers put themselves in a position to tie thanks to a 7-2 burst between the 1:48 and 0:43 marks, sparked by a lay-in from junior guard Aaron Bokol for two of his 12 points. Regis then pulled within three of the ThunderWolves (12-15 overall, 9-12 RMAC) with 43 ticks remaining courtesy of fellow junior Will Cranston-Lown, who buried a deep 3-pointer for three of his game-high 18 points.

Senior guard Brian Dawson, the third Ranger in double-figures with 15 points, and graduate student Troy Brady each got clean looks from 3-point distance over the final eight seconds, but Regis was unable to net the equalizer.

"Under pressure, it was beautiful execution of what we were trying to accomplish on those two plays and had great looks. I know those guys are feeling down from missing them, but sometimes that's just the way it goes. I was proud of how the guys executed, really, all game long," Bergeson said. "The resolve at the end is absolutely a trait this team carries with us. This has been us all year long; we've been in tight games and our guys never think they are out of it and think we can find ways to get it done. I thought we did all the right things down the stretch to make that happen, except make the ball go in the hole."

GAME NOTES: CSU Pueblo finished with a 13-6 edge in offensive rebounds and converted those opportunities into 16 second-chance points.

"Their offensive rebounding was a big X-Factor for them, especially in the first half," Bergeson said. "I thought our guys did a much better job with that in the second half, in terms of limiting easy baskets."

As a team, Regis finished at a 45% shooting clip from the field (28-of-62). CSU Pueblo finished at 47% (28-of-60).

Regis had an uncharacteristic evening from 3-point range as it finished just 6-of-21 (29%), below the team's season average of 36%.

Troy Brady, the RMAC leader in assist/turnover ratio, added to his lead with a team-high five assists versus just one turnover on Friday.

Redshirt junior Kevin Ebiriekwe led all Rangers with six rebounds and three steals in just 19 minutes after battling early foul trouble.

UP NEXT: Regis will conclude the regular season with a 6 p.m. tilt on Saturday against Adams State University (12-15 overall, 8-13 RMAC). The Rangers defeated the Grizzlies, 95-93, back on January 28 in Alamosa.

Mathematically, the Rangers enter Saturday with an opportunity to grab the No. 4 seed and host a first-round game Tuesday in the RMAC Tournament. The conference announced the tiebreaker policy to determine regular season champions, tournament qualifiers and seeding on Friday.

Prior to Saturday's game, Regis Athletics and the men's basketball program will honor its three graduating student-athletes in Dawson, Brady and Ilisia Washington.

"Senior Day is always a special day and we'll be really proud to honor them and their families. We always look forward to that day in the year to celebrate guys who have been such important parts of our program," Bergeson said. "We'll try to use the emotions of that day to our advantage. As far as the (tournament seeding), our guys know where we're at. We just need to put a good game together against Adams State and keep it as simple as we can. Things will fall where they are and we'll be ready to play Tuesday, regardless of when, where and who our opponent is. We just need to take care of business best we can Saturday."

Print Friendly Version