Western men dominate from start to finish in win over Regis

Western Colorado put on a scoring display Saturday in a dominating 98-72 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference win over visiting Regis University, making half of its field goals from behind the arc.

Western is now 5-5 overall and 3-1 in the RMAC. Regis fell to 1-6 overall.

The Mountaineers started fast, getting a driving layup from Tyler Halligan to begin the scoring and a layup from Joanis Koulisianis to take a quick 4-0 lead.

The Rangers’ Lance Mazur made a 3-pointer to trim the lead, but Aidan McDowell answered from long range at the other end. That was followed by a 3-pointer by Halligan, a McDowell layup and a Jordan Kuac fast-break layup following a Mason Mottashed steal. The sequence capped a 10-0 burst that set the tone for the game.

The gap grew to 26 points (45-19) with just under five minutes to play in the first half before Regis found its footing, cutting the deficit to 50-32 at halftime.

Four minutes into the second half, the Rangers cut the deficit to 13 (56-43). However, McDowell made three consecutive 3-pointers to turn a 64-45 lead into a 71-47 advantage.

A Reese Strawn 3-pointer later extended the lead to 33 points before Western settled for the 26-point victory.

McDowell finished with a game-high 34 points, while Halligan added 27 and Kuac scored 15.

The Mountaineers made 19 of their 38 shots from 3-point range, led by nine from McDowell, five from Halligan and three from Kuac.

Western finished with a 39-31 rebounding advantage and allowed Regis just four offensive rebounds.

The Mountaineers attempted only three free throws, making all of them. The Rangers finished 18 for 23 from the line.

This story was provided by the Western Colorado University sports information department.