DENVER, Colo. (1/17/08) ? The Arkansas State men's basketball team (8-9, 3-4) got off to a sluggish start and despite a second half rally, couldn't recover in a 59-52 setback against Denver (8-9, 4-2) Thursday night at Magness Arena in a Sun Belt Conference West Division game.

After trailing by as much as 15 points in the first half and 12 at halftime, ASU rallied in the second half to pull within one point of Denver's lead two different times, but never could overtake the Pioneers.  ASU never led throughout the entire game as Denver was able to maintain between a one and seven-point lead over the final 11 minutes.

ASU went on an 8-0 run to start the second half and cut the Denver lead to 35-31 with 15:39 remaining in the game.  After Denver was able to push its lead back to double figures with a 6-0 run, the Indians made a 13-3 run to close the gap to one, 44-43, at the 6:15 mark.

ASU trailed 47-46 following a Shawn Morgan layup with 4:21 left, but that would be as close as the Indians would get.  Denver scored its final nine points at the charity stripe, making 9-of-10 attempts over the final 2:16.  Denver led just 50-48 when it made four straight free throws to give it a 54-48 advantage with 1:52 to go.

“We played a lot better in the second half, got going and made some stops,” said ASU Head Coach Dickey Nutt.  “When you dig yourself a hole in a place like this it's very hard to overcome, and we did that in the first half.  Our shots weren't falling and defensively we couldn't stop them.”

Arkansas State had two players score in double figures, led by Adrian Banks with 14.  Ryan Wedel added 11 and Shawn Morgan finished with nine.  Morgan also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds as the Indians had six more boards, 33 to 27, than the Pioneers.

ASU shot just 35 percent from the field and connected on 2-of-13 three-point attempts, while Denver countered with a .463 shooting percentage and made 8-of-17 shots from beyond the arc.  While the Indians won the rebounding battle and finished with five fewer turnovers, Denver's success from downtown and strong free-throw shooting down the stretch were too much for them to overcome.

Kyle Lewis led three Denver players scoring in double digits with 19 points.  Nate Rohnert finished with 13 and Adam Tanner 12.

ASU, which entered the game ranked No. 1 in the conference in field goal percentage, hit just 33 percent of its shots over the game's first 13 minutes, while Denver shot 67 percent from the floor and 80 percent from beyond the arc to build a 27-12 lead.  The Indians' shooting percentage increased to 40 percent by halftime, but ASU wasn't able to get any closer than 11 points over the remainder of the first half and trailed 35-23 at the break.