Men's Basketball Soars Past Colorado Christian, 93-58

Monday, November 24

Greeley, Colo.

7:30 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

2-2

Colorado Christian

0-2

Colorado Christian

UNCO

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

11/24/2014 11:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Bears nailed a team-high 12 three-pointers in the rout over the Cougars on Monday night.

By: UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – Five Bears (2-2, 0-0 Big Sky) reached double figures as the Northern Colorado men's basketball team cruised to a, 93-58 win over Colorado Christian (0-3, 0-0 RMAC) on Monday night.

UNC started off slow, trailing for the first 13 minutes of the first half. The Bears took their first lead of the game on an original three-point play from sophomore guard, Jordan Wilson to give Northern Colorado a one point edge, 26-25 with 5:09 remaining in the first half.

"I'm really happy with how we adjusted on defense," Head Coach B.J. Hill said. "I thought they did a great job of attacking our defense and understanding the type of defense that we play. They drove it hard not to score, they drove it hard to draw our defenders out of position, getting us to chase them. I was really happy with the adjustments we made in locker room to come out in the second half and hold them to 26 points."

After falling behind by seven points from CCU Tyler Shields three-ball, Wilson nailed a trey of his own to spark a 13-0 run capped off with yet another three-pointer from the sophomore to make it 33-25 with 4:08 left on the clock in the half.

Wilson would score all 14 of his points in the first half for UNC.

After that, the Bears never relinquished the lead for the remainder of the half, or the rest of the game.

Northern Colorado took a, 38-32 lead over the Cougars into the locker room.

UNC shot an outstanding 60.9% (14-23) from the field and connected on 5-7 (71.4%) shots from beyond the arch. Colorado Christian held their own against the Bears, firing 8-19 (42.1%) from three-point land, good for 21 of their 32 first half points.

"We got some stops and got our rebounds to the outlets and started moving the ball really well," said Wilson. "I found a rhythm early and got hot and made some shots and I just tried to keep it up and get my teammates involved."

A pair of free throws from CCU's Andrew Squiers cut the Bears lead back to five, 45-40 early on in the second half, but a senior guard, Dwight Smith layup ignited a quick 6-0 spirt and UNC took their first double-digit lead of the game, 51-40.

Northern Colorado never looked back, continuing to hit shot after shot. Sophomore guard, Drew Bender found nothing-but-net on a transition triple to push the UNC lead to 22, 68-46 with 8:43 remaining in the contest.

Sophomore guard Jon'te Dotson scored the game's last seven points, hitting back-to-back three-pointers and a point at the charity stripe to give Northern Colorado the, 93-58 victory.

"I thought we showed some maturity tonight in some guys that didn't necessarily start off well," Hill said. "Those guys finished a lot better than they started and in the past, I don't know if those same guys would have been able to pull themselves out of a hole and find a way to contribute before the buzzer went off, so I'm happy with that."

UNC ended the game 30-51 (58.8%) from the field and converted on a season-high 12 three-balls.

Five Bears posted double-digits on the day, with Wilson and senior guard, Corey Spence both contributing 14 points in the win. Spence also had a team-high six rebounds. Senior guard, Tevin Svihovec added 12, along with Bender who scored a career-high 12 points. Senior forward, Tim Huskisson rounded out the scoring for UNC, notching 10 points and grabbing three boards.

The men's basketball team heads into the holiday weekend hosting two games as a part of the "Wyoming Classic." The Bears take on Stetson on Friday, Nov. 28 at 7:00 p.m. and then turn around on Sunday, Nov. 30, hosting Florida A&M at 2:00 p.m. at Bank of Colorado Arena.