The Mountain Lions entered this game against Adams State riding a three-game winning streak and sitting as the seventh seed in the RMAC.
With an RMAC tournament spot recently locked up, this extended weekend of games was huge for seeding as UCCS had the chance to finish anywhere from the No. 5 to No. 8 seed heading into the postseason.
Head Coach Jeff Culver expressed more interest in how his team was playing rather than what number was next to their name.
“I don’t know, more important than seeding though is just how we’re playing. We picked up a big win at Mines; I thought we played well there. We didn’t play great at Regis but were able to pull out a win there as well. We’re banged up but we’ve won three straight so the vibes are good,” Culver said.
Freshman forward Brody Hull has aided the win streak as he is averaging just under 20 points per game in his last three contests.
“We love Brody,” Culver said, “If Brody’s not the freshman of the year in our conference, I’m going to be paying a visit to some coaches. We don’t need to do anything to get Brody going, he’s had some big games down the stretch for us, so we know he’s going to go out and compete. He is just a great, positive energy guy for us.”
With both teams having explosive offenses, Culver knew that the game was going to feel different than most.
“I think it’s two of the top 20 scoring teams in the nation going at it tonight, so you know it’s going to be fast. We have no problem playing fast, but we have to be under control with,” Culver said, “transition defense is going to be big for us. We know they’re going to press, so we must be composed and take care of the ball, but if we can do two of those three things I think we will have a chance.”
And fast it was, this game was dynamite from tip-off to final buzzer. The Grizzlies opened the game with a 10-4 run in the first three minutes. Senior Forward Alex Helming extended the Grizzly lead to eight, cashing in on a pair of layups and a three pointer.
The tempo continued as both teams traded bucket after bucket and with 10:00 minutes left in the first half, ASU led 18-23.
ASU came out of a commercial timeout and strung together an 11-3 run, led by Helming yet again who scored 6 points during the stretch.
UCCS got a slight spark from sophomore guard Mario Williams Jr who scored six consecutive points, hitting a tough contested three-pointer to cut the Mountain Lion deficit to 10.
After more back-and-forth action, the Mountain Lions finally found the run they were looking for, outscoring their opponent 12-3 through a two-minute stretch.
ASU was forced to take a timeout as they quickly saw their double-digit lead dwindle to two, leading 43-45. Both teams came out of the timeout firing, ending the final three minutes of the half with a score of 48-53.
UCCS started the second half a perfect 4-4 from the field with redshirt senior forward Jezza McKenzie knocking home a three ball for his eleventh point of the game. Another three-pointer for redshirt senior guard Alex Hurr tied the game at 60, but UCCS failed to pull away and for the next six minutes went to the Grizzlies.
Helming added another 7 points to his 33-point total en route to a 22-7 run, leading 67-82 three-quarters of the way through the game. Senior Guard Luke Williams added seven points of his own during that stretch, and Senior Guard Jarmell Johnson capped off the Grizzly run with an emphatic slam.
As time went on, UCCS tried to claw back, but just couldn’t stop the explosive offense.
A few steals, solid rebounding and some gritty buckets from freshman forward Shawn Williams gave the Mountain Lions some momentum down the stretch, but the deficit was ultimately too difficult to overcome. Adams State rode their lead all the way to the final buzzer, beating UCCS 94-101.
Williams tallied a double-double, leading UCCS in scoring and rebounding with a slash line of 24/13/2. It was a good game offensively for the Mountain Lions, but it was ultimately the transition defense and turnovers
They gave up 27 fastbreak points, 18 points off turnovers, and 30 free-throws. That combined with a 33-point nuke from Helming was just too much offense for the Mountain Lions to handle.
This loss locked UCCS into the No. 8 seed after the 84-86 loss to New Mexico Highland. From here, the Mountain Lions will go on the road to play in the first round of the RMAC tournament. That game will take place on Tuesday, Mar. 3 and time of tip-off is still to be determined.
Forward #5 Marzouq Abdur-Razaaq in a previous game. Photo by Anysia Hovel.