GUNNISON, Colo. --- The Western Colorado men's basketball team dominated the glass thanks to a near-record performance from
Monroe Porter while draining 13 3-pointers in upending RMAC Tournament defending champion New Mexico Highlands 83-67 Saturday night at Paul Wright Gym.
The Mountaineers (6-9 overall, 3-6 RMAC) held the high-scoring Cowboys (10-4, 5-4) to a season-low in points as NMHU who entered the weekend tops in the RMACÂ and eighth in the country in scoring at 95 points per game.
WCU outrebounded NMHU 52-28 - limiting the Cowboys to five offensive rebounds and just nine second-chance points. This was in large part to the glass work of Porter as the 6-3 guard grabbed 20 rebounds, tied for the second most in Mountaineer history with Steve Gottlieb - who grabbled 20 against Colorado State in 1965-66. Porter - who had 14 first-half rebounds - was one rebound short of tying the record that was set by Gottlieb against Western New Mexico during the 1966-67 season.
The senior also added eight points, seven assists and two blocks to go along wit his 20 rebounds.
Offensively the Mountaineers were led by freshman
Matthew Ragsdale and sophomore
Cole Sienknecht as each had 22 points. Ragsdale finished 6-for-9 from 3-point range while also adding six rebounds while Sienknecht went 4-for-6 on 3-pointers to go along with three rebounds and two steals.
The Mountaineers took the lead for what turned out to be for good with a 10-0 run in the first half as a
Jackson Ehrlin bucket at the 7:43 mark ignited it before a Ragsdale layup capped it at the 3:10 mark to make it 28-21 Mountaineers.
Kevin Jimenez gave WCU a spark to end the first half as he scored seven consecutive points over the final 1:22 of the quarter to give the Mountaineers a 37-27 lead at the break.
The Mountaineers never trailed by less than double figures in the second half as they picked up a key RMAC win.
WCU returns to action 7:30 p.m. Friday at home against Fort Lewis for their White Out Game before hosting Adams State 7 p.m. Saturday at Paul Wright Gym.
