STEPHENVILLE – No. 7 Tarleton fell to Colorado State-Pueblo 79-78 to suffer its first loss of the season on Friday in Wisdom Gym.
 
Tarleton's foul with less than a second to go in a tie game sent the Thunderwolves to the free-throw line where they made the game-winning shot to top the Texans for the second straight season in the final seconds. CSU-Pueblo won last season 87-84 in overtime when Tarleton was ranked No. 1.
 
Pueblo led by as much as nine in the first half with eight minutes into the game. Deshawn Riddick got the Texans back in the game when he tied the score at 26 on a mid-range jumper and later assisted in giving Tarleton the lead on a pass to Curtiss Anderson who finished the bucket with a foul that gave Tarleton a 39-38 lead at halftime.
 
Tarleton (3-1) got a career-high 27 points from Deshawn Riddick, who helped put the Texans up by eight to start the second half by going on a 7-0 run by himself. Riddick also finished with a team-high four assists. Josh Hawley came up with one of his career-high four steals and finished with a pull-up jumper for a 58-51 lead with 10:54 left. Hawley, who had eight points all in the second half, scored the next six points all on dunks for a 64-58 advantage.
 
Tarleton had a 4-point lead with 1:36 to go after Anthony Davis made four straight free throws. The Thunderwolves, however, closed the game on a 5-1 run to upset the Texans. CSU-Pueblo's only lead of the second half was the final point of the game.
 
Romond Jenkins narrowly missed a double-double by pulling down 10 points and scoring nine points. Anthony Davis had 11 points and Ridell Camidge added 10 for the Texans.
 
Tarleton shot 45 percent in the game while CSU-Pueblo shot 51 percent. The Texans out-rebounded the Thunderwolves 38-28 in the game.
 
Tarleton will take on Emmanuel College on Saturday at 7 p.m. for the final game in the Thanksgiving Classic.