Grizzlies fall to CSU-Pueblo in regular season finale
Jensen sets Division II era 3-point shooting record
PUEBLO, Colo.— Despite receiving 21 points from junior forward Roman Moniak (Sacramento, Calif.) and another 14 from a record-setting Wes Jensen (Molalla, Ore.), the Adams State College men’s basketball team dropped a 68-64 decision to the Colorado State University-Pueblo ThunderWolves in the regular season finale, Saturday night in Massari Arena.
CSU-Pueblo had four players in double figures, including 6-foot-8 senior center Steve Racquet who scored 12 while pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds as the ThunderWolves overcame a 8-point deficit with 10 minutes left before holding off the Grizzlies with three free throws in the final 16 seconds.
The Pack, coached by ASC’s all-time 3-point shooting record holder Patrick Eberhart, finished the season with 10-17 overall and 6-13 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference records. The Grizzlies, who made 11 treys, just one short of a season-high, fell to 13-14 overall and to 10-9 in conference play and will head into the RMAC Shootout, which starts Wednesday night at 8 p.m. (CST), as the sixth seed.
ASC will begin that tournament in Kearney, Neb. to face No. 3 seed Nebraska-Kearney, which ended the regular season with a 70-66 Sunday win over arch-rival Fort Hays State, the top-ranked team in the entire nation. The Lopers will enter the tournament sporting 20-7 overall and 15-4 RMAC records.
Moniak finished the night 9-for-14 from the floor and a perfect 3-for-3 from long distance. Jensen, who made four of his eight 3-pointers, broke ASC’s NCAA Division II era (1992/93-Present) record for single-season 3-pointers and also had a team-high nine rebounds.
CSU-Pueblo’s Major Willette and Jeff McCall each had 14 points while Racquet and Brett Cloepfil had 12 each. ASC junior guard Rajshad Anderson (Lewisville, Texas) rounded out the list of those in double figures with 10 points.
The Grizzlies led by as many as six in the first half before a 10-0 ThunderWolf run over 3:13 gave the home team a 26-22 lead. The Grizzlies eventually tied the game at 32 but went into halftime down two, 36-34.
The Grizzlies came out firing in the second half and took two different 1-point leads on Greg Baker (Lewisville, Texas) 3-pointers, the second of which triggered a 17-7 Grizzly run that allowed Larry Mortensen’s squad to go up 54-46 with 10:07 left on Moniak’s second three.
Just 27 seconds before that, Jensen made his third long distance call of the night as he tied Ed Ash’s 1998-99 season mark of 67.
The ThunderWolves then went on a 13-2 run to take a 59-56 lead on a Raquet dunk with 5:37 left before Jensen tied the game while setting the record with his third trey of the night just 10 seconds later.
Jensen, who will enter the RMAC Shootout with a RMAC-leading 69 three pointers on the season, would add another with 1:08 left cutting a late deficit to one before a Larry Charles, Jr. (Tucson, Ariz.) steal with 34 seconds left gave the Grizzlies a chance at the win.
However, ASC came up empty before Cloepfil hit two free throws with 16 seconds left putting the Pack up 67-64. The Grizzlies then missed another shot before Raquet hit one of two charity shots to ice the game.
The Grizzlies did have a slight 36-33 rebounding advantage but got to the line just five times throughout. Meanwhile, the ThunderWolves made 13 of 19 shots from the stripe while holding their total turnovers down to 10. The Grizzlies committed 15 throughout the night, which turned into 16 CSU-Pueblo points. They were also held to a 36.7 percent (11 of 30) shooting effort in the second half and finished the game shooting 41.4 percent (24 of 58).
The ThunderWolves have now won all 11 games played between the teams in Pueblo during ASC’s NCAA Division II era.
 |  |
 |
