After a series of away games, men’s basketball came back home to the Gallogly Events Center on Dec. 12 only to lose against Black Hills State, 95-89, in overtime.
The back-and-forth game went into overtime with a buzzer-beater tip-in by UCCS senior guard Hannes Saar, who scored the most points for UCCS against Black Hills State with 26. Graduate student forward William Becker followed with 21 points and led the team with 10 rebounds.
Black Hills State dominated control in the first half, leading by 9 with 6 minutes left in the half. The Mountain Lions closed the gap with two 3-pointers by junior guard Jezza McKinzie and freshman guard Gavin Carter, and 2-point plays from Carter, Saar and Becker.
UCCS was up by 1 point, 33-32, with 2:29 minutes left in the first half following two good free throws by Becker. At the end of the first half, the Mountain Lions were up by 9, 41-32, after two more free throws by 6’9” Becker and layups from Carter and sophomore point guard Xavier Martinez.
UCCS maintained the lead for the first 6 minutes of the second half, but Black Hills State chipped away at the margin with a trio of 3-pointers to gain the lead. The two teams continued to fight for the lead until the end of the half.
With 4:22 minutes left, Black Hills State were up by 8, 77-69. A 3-point play by Saar helped the Mountain Lions regain momentum to shrink the lead. Saar’s 3-pointer was followed by two good free throws by McKenzie, and then two more good free throws by Becker to bring the score to 81-76 with Black Hill State still in the lead.
In the final minute of the second half, Saar launched another 3-pointer into the net and rebounded a missed layup by Martinez for a tip-in to send the game into a 5-minute overtime with a score of 81-81.
Overtime began with Saar sending another 3-pointer into the net to put UCCS up by 3, but Black Hills State responded with one themselves. A trio of fouls by the Mountain Lions gave the opposition 6 free throw attempts, all of which they made to win the game 95-89 for Black Hills State.
Following the overtime loss, UCCS beat Chadron State, 84-79, on Sunday. Their final appearance in 2024 is Dec. 20 at home against Bethany College for a non-conference matchup.
The Mountain Lion’s overall record is currently 6-4 with a 2-2 RMAC record.