GUNNISON, Colo. --- The Western Colorado men's basketball team came out firing and rarely slowed down - paced by a career-night from freshman Matthew Ragsdale - as the Mountaineers thumped Regis 87-71 on Friday night at Paul Wright Gym.

WCU (10-14 overall, 7-11 RMAC) raced out to an 11-0 lead on the Rangers (14-10, 9-9) - and when the lead was cut to single digits at 29-20 with 6:47 left in the first half - it was Ragsdale who went on an unconscious tear.

Ragsdale hit back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers and followed it with a mid-range jumper to turn the 29-20 lead into a 40-22 advantage in just 1 minute, 33 seconds as the Mountaineers went on to lead 53-30 at the half.

Ragsdale finished with a career-high 31 points - a season-high for the Mountaineers - and went 7-for-12 from 3-point range, the second-most 3-pointers in a game in Mountaineer history (one off of the record eight set by Nate Allen during the 1995-96 season).

The final margin of 16 was as close as Regis got the rest of the game.

As a team, the Mountaineers went 14-for-29 from 3-point range - tying a season high for 3-pointers in a game. Their 19 assists in the contest was a season high.

Cole Sienknecht added 19 points, four assists and three rebounds for the Mountaineers. Monroe Porter had a team-high 12 rebounds to go along with four assists and six points. Avery Rembao led the team with five assists while James Willis had a team-high two steals.

WCU returns to action 7 p.m. Saturday as it hosts Colorado Christian.