GUNNISON, Colo.  Tyler Halligan's 23 points combined with Aidan McDowell's game-high 36 to pace Western Colorado Thursday night against University of Colorado Colorado Springs, but the visiting Mountain Lions would fend off a late second-half surge by the Mountaineers to earn a 93-82 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference road win at Paul Wright Gym.

JUST THE FACTS
Final score: UCCS def. Western, 93-82
Records: Western 6-13 overall (4-7 RMAC), UCCS 11-8 (6-5)
Location: Paul Wright Gym, Gunnison, Colo.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Things didn't look good for the Mountaineers in the early minutes of the game as UCCS raced out to a 14-4 lead. But Western got itself back in the game with an 8-2 run that culminated with a McDowell 3-pointer that trimmed the deficit to just four.
• The Mountain Lions maintained an edge of four to eight points until finally breaking free from Western's challenges and taking a 15 point lead, 43-28, with 1:16 to play in the opening half.
• Western caught fire, though, and in less than a minute ran off a 10-0 run, eight of those points from McDowell, to cut the deficit to five and then just seven as the first half concluded.
• UCCS steadily built on that halftime lead through the first 10 minutes of the second half, however, playing to a cushion of 22 points (74-52).
• Western just wouldn't go away, though. It pulled to within eight, 88-80, in the final minute and had to play the foul game over those closing seconds. UCCS hit 5-of-6 attempts from the free throw line at the end, to finally put an end to the Mountaineers' charge.

HARDWOOD NOTES

• UCCS scored 50 of its 93 points from in the paint, helping the Mountain Lions to shoot, unsurprisingly, 57 percent from the floor.
• Western shot 44% on the night, including hitting nine 3-pointers, five of which were from McDowell's hand.
• Halligan registered his highest point total since scoring in single digits over his past six games.
• The 11-point gap at the end was buoyed by the Mountain Lions stepping to the free throw line 32 times, 12 more than did Western, and hitting 24 of those tries compared to Western's 17 made free throws on just 20 attempts.

UP NEXT
Western continues its observance of Coaches vs. Cancer Week with Saturday's 3 p.m. RMAC game against visiting Colorado Christian University.