Colorado Mesa University arrived and conquered their short one-game road trip Saturday night against Western State University. Tommy Nuno played his best game of the year, scoring a team-high 21 points on 10-14 shooting and helping the Mavericks push their winning streak to five in a 97-90 win.
The score doesn’t paint a clear picture of how the game went. While the Mountaineers displayed some fight throughout, the Mavericks were efficient from start to finish in the commanding win, ending with a 53.7% (36-67) shooting night while having their way down low with 62 points in the paint.
The victory marked the Mavericks first in RMAC play. That makes it two years in a row CMU opens conference play with a victory in Gunnison. They held the lead for 36 of 40 minutes.
Both teams got off to slow starts with multiple missed field goals within the first eight minutes. CMU, however, raced to an 18-9 lead after an easy layup in open space by Nuno.
The Mountaineer’s offense began to find open looks and cut the lead to 26-21 with six minutes left in the first half. The Mavericks, with a 30-21 lead, went on a 14-9 run to increase their lead to 44-29 going into halftime.
Nichols was as active as anyone during the first 20 minutes. The senior nabbed six rebounds and scored 10 points. Nuno finished the first half with a 32% usage rate and found countless open seams through the defense, scoring 12 points with five rebounds.
Western struggled to contain the back side of the Maverick offense. CMU, with their sharp ball movement, found the open man on the weak side multiple times to score easy layups.
CMU’s defensive rotations were strong coming out of halftime. Switches and quick feet kept the Mountaineers from finding any rhythm.
The Mavericks opened it up to a 16 point lead six minutes into the second half. Nichols and Nuno continued to find scoring opportunities while high flyer Michael Skinner joined in on the action. Trent Clay gave the Mavericks a 19 point lead after dribbling around a defender for a lefty layup with 10 minutes remaining.
Skinner showed off his athletic ability with an emphatic block in the paint. The block represented how much of the night was going for both teams. The Mountaineers were unable to penetrate the stifling defense from CMU, while in return, the Mavericks were having their way offensively, dinking and dunking for an efficient shooting night.
Western cut the lead down to 10 with five minutes remaining but that was the closest they would get as the Mavericks continued to push the tempo.
Skinner was efficient all night for the Mavericks and finished with 18 points on 6-6 shooting in just 16 minutes of play, leading a Maverick bench that scored 37 points on the night. Nichols finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Quincy Harding had a game-high 26 points for Western and teammate Jaire Roberts chipped in 21. Cole Sienknecht was the only other Mountaineer in double figures as the team shot 46.2% (30-65 FG) including 8-25 from three.
The Mavericks are rolling and will host a two-game homestand next weekend. CMU and their 6-1 record face UCCS on Friday and Colorado School of Mines on Saturday.
