YUMA, Ariz. – The Arizona Western Matadors Men's Basketball team (11-5, 4-2) couldn't hold on to a first-half lead and dropped its second consecutive game, losing to Cochise (8-5, 2-3) 69-68 on Thursday night at the House Gymnasium.

AJ Marmolejos and Matija Gledic combined for 44 points in the Matadors' loss as Marmolejos led all scorers with 24 points while Gledic added 20 off the bench.

Cochise jumped out to an early lead, scoring the first six points of the game before the Matadors responded with a run to cut the deficit to 11-8. Marmolejos hit a corner three to tie the game at 13-13 amid a 9-2 run for the Matadors, giving them a 17-13 lead on a Marmolejo layup. After Cochise used a 5-0 run to take the lead back at 18-17, the Matadors scored 16 of the final 23 points in the half to take a 33-25 lead in the locker room.

Cochise started chipping away early in the second half and tied the game at 43-43 before Gledic hit a three to put the Matadors back in front 46-43 before Marmolejos hit a jumper to put the Matadors back up five at 48-43. After Cochise tied the game once more, Gledic hit another three to give Matadors the lead back at 56-53. Cochise was able to take the lead late as the Matadors' last-second three-pointer fell short.

LaRoi Glover scored nine points in the loss while Jannoy Thomas added eight.

Arizona Western returns to action on Wednesday, January 3, heading to Mesa to take on the Thunderbirds in an ACCAC matchup at 7:30 pm.