THATCHER, Ariz. — The College of Southern Nevada men's basketball team continued ACCAC play on the road Wednesday night, falling 96–74 to Eastern Arizona College.

CSN battled early and stayed within striking distance through the first half, but Eastern Arizona used a dominant second-half performance to pull away and secure the conference victory.

The Coyotes trailed 38–31 at halftime after shooting 33.3 percent from the field in the opening period. CSN showed improvement offensively in the second half, scoring 43 points and shooting 40 percent, but Eastern Arizona answered with 58 points after the break and shot better than 63 percent over the final 20 minutes.

Ivoryon Cuffee led CSN with a team-high 20 points, shooting 8-of-12 from the field and knocking down three shots from beyond the arc. Demarion Yap added 15 points, scoring all of them in the second half while also pulling down eight rebounds. Maximus Romero finished with 14 points, while Drake Watanabe contributed 12 points off the bench on a perfect 3-for-6 shooting night from three-point range.

CSN held a 31–19 advantage in rebounding opportunities but struggled to slow Eastern Arizona's interior scoring. The Gila Monsters scored 66 points in the paint and shot 54.7 percent overall for the game.

Eastern Arizona was led by Ryan Hunt, who posted a game-high 33 points on 14-of-18 shooting. Four additional EAC players reached double figures as the home team controlled the tempo in the second half and pushed the lead to as many as 22 points.

Despite the setback, the Coyotes showed resilience, cutting the deficit to single digits early in the second half before Eastern Arizona answered with a series of runs that widened the margin.

CSN will look to bounce back quickly as conference play continues. The Coyotes return home Saturday afternoon to host Central Arizona College at the Coyote Event Center, with tipoff scheduled for 4:00 p.m.