FORT COLLINS, CO -- Still putting the pieces to the puzzle together, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff men’s basketball team took a tough loss on the road to Colorado State with a final score of 91 – 71 on Friday night at Moby Arena.
Leading the Golden Lions and showing tons of heart was Shawn Williams. He finished the game with 26 points and three assists, followed by Kylen Milton right behind him, showing his skillset with 24 points, including a dominant first-half performance.
Returner Dequan Morris finished his season debut with 10 points, shooting 50-percent from the field along with four rebounds.
Brandon Brown didn’t have a problem getting physical and boxing out and would be rewarded by grabbing six rebounds for the Golden Lions.
The Golden Lions came out sluggishly against Colorado State, allowing the Rams to gain a quick 12-0 scoring run. Milton would be that guy to step up big in the first half for Arkansas-Pine Bluff. All he needed was to see one shot sink to get things going as he hit a highly contested three-pointer from the corner. Another possession later, Milton sunk a three-pointer from the right-wing to get some energy going for UAPB.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff would tie with Colorado State with 11 fastbreak points in the first half, which helped gain confidence for the team, including Morris catching a body bag at the rim to silence the arena.
A few possessions later, Milton had the ball in the corner and would drive baseline to meet a Colorado State defender at the rim with a nasty two-handed jam, letting Moby Arena know that he was not in the building to play around.
“Kylen is one of our better shooters, and to have him see the ball go through the net got some confidence going for us,” said UAPB head coach Solomon Bozeman.
However, taking care of the basketball was an issue, turning the ball over six times throughout the half and not taking smart shots, not closing out hard, and not contesting three-point shots, allowing Colorado State to shoot 50-percent from the perimeter in the first half.
The Golden Lions trailed Colorado State at the half with a score of 41 – 29, carried by Milton’s 15 points.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff gave up two buckets in the paint to begin the half but reacted with a Trey Sampson jumper and two and-one plays from Milton and Brown, who gave his all in the second half through a series of steals and cleaning up the boards.
However, in the second half, Williams had the hot hand for UAPB, sinking four three-point jumpers for 18 second-half points, displaying tons of heart on the floor, and giving all he had in him.
The factor that kept UAPB from coming back in the second half was not having active hands and not defending the paint well, allowing Colorado State to shoot 61-percent in the second half, of which 32 of their 50 second-half points were scored in the paint.
The buzzer sounded with the Golden Lions falling to Colorado State with a final score of 91 – 71.
“We have to be more disciplined on the defensive end of the floor, especially when going one-on-one,” said Bozeman about the Golden Lions defense.
The Golden Lions will get back in the lab as they prepare to take on Wyoming on Sunday at 3 p.m. The game will be streamed live on MW Network.
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