Greeley – Denver men’s basketball (10-7, 1-1) traveled to Greeley, Colorado Saturday evening to face the Northern Colorado Bears. DU had a brutal first 20 minutes, falling behind by more than 20 points. The Pioneers clawed back but it was too little, too late  and stumbled to an 86-82 loss. Ultimately, it was a leaky first-half defense that felled the Pioneers.

In the first half, UNC scorched Denver, especially from open three-point range, to building a 21-point lead with less than 4 minutes to go. At the conclusion of the half, Denver had given up a glaring 51 points in the first twenty minutes while scoring only 34 points.

In the second half, Denver dug out of the hole but it took 18 minutes of effort. Denver pulled within two points with under two minutes to go, 82-80, on a pair of Tommy Bruner free throws but could never take the lead the entire game, eventually falling by four points.

The Pioneers have struggled early in other games this season and it was best that this result occurred in a non-conference game. Denver must learn from this game and come out ready to play defense from the jump when they resume conference play next Saturday at South Dakota State.

UNC’s bench outscored DU 29-5. Denver also gave up 48 points in the paint – way too many easy points to give up. Denver also allowed 16 fast break points. Ultimately, Denver must shore up their scoring defense (78.4 ppg., 321/350) if they want to make noise in conference play this season.

Tommy Bruner had 27 points and 5 assists. Isaiah Addo-Ankrah and Touko Tainamo had 17 points each and Jaxson Brenchley had 12 points and 9 rebounds. Denver allowed the Bears to shoot 52% from the field (35/67)  and 47% from three (9/19) – not nearly good enough to earn a road win.