It wasn’t the usual night at Brownson Arena. Fans and spectators can expect sharp play from the Mavericks, something more evident due to their 5-1 record coming into the game.
But with any season, there’s ups and downs, and this game could be considered one of those downs for Colorado Mesa University. The Mavericks welcomed Dixie State University to Brownson Friday night for their first meeting this season, but the Trailblazers played spoiler and handed CMU their second home loss of the season in an 86-61 thumping.
CMU shot 40.4% (21-52) from the field and 3-18 (16.7%) from three, both season lows. DSU was a sharp 58.8% (30-51) including a scorching 13-21 (61.9%) from deep. The Mavericks never held a lead during the contest.
Dixie shot their way to a quick first-half lead with the Mavericks playing catch up defensively. The Trailblazers raced their way to the ball on both sides of the court. Fierce dribble drives offensively and quick traps and closeouts against the 3-2 zone gave the Mavericks fits in the first eight minutes of the contest.
“Defensively, we just cannot sustain our approach,” coach Mike DeGeorge said. “We’re not dialed in like we were and so there’s a breakdown on every possession and it just hurts against a physical, talented team like Dixie. Offensively, we got a little messed up. They do this match up zone and it was a little hard for our guys to distinguish man versus zone offense, and that screwed us up in the first half.”
The defining moment of the half came with seven minutes remaining. Damon Dubots lost the ball after fumbling it down low, and Matt Conway took the ball down the floor for an and-one two-handed slam dunk. The high flying flush gave the Trailblazers a 15 point lead.
The Trailblazers couldn’t seem to miss as their hot shooting stayed alive for a full 20 minutes. Although the Mavericks upped their defensive tempo late, Dixie wasn’t fazed and continued to drain contended looks, finishing the half shooting 60% while CMU shot 41% and just 2-10 from deep.
“We had no energy coming out and they got hot really quick,” CMU guard Kenzo Nudo said. “We just couldn’t come back from that.”
Connor Nichols and Nudo led CMU with 11 points each in the first half while DSU was led by Jack Pagenkopf and Andre Wilson who both had 10. Nudo has been working hard to get back into the rotation.
“I’m starting to feel a lot more comfortable every day. In practice, I’m starting to feel better and better. I think the big thing that I’m feeling a lot better is my conditioning. I used to get tired a lot on defense and now that I got my legs and my conditioning backup I feel a lot better.”
CMU struggled to begin the second half, but much can be attributed to the sharp play of Dixie. Multiple Trailblazers played strong man-to-man defense while Dub Price and Wade Miller carried the offensive load. Miller, specifically, caught fire with a smooth stroke that extended the lead with a three-pointer off a screen that gave Dixie a 60-41 lead.
Miller again flushed another three from the left side, his favorite spot of the night. A few moments later, Miller stole the ball off a pass from Tommy Nuno and pulled up from deep, from the same spot, to sink his fifth consecutive three-pointer to once again send the Maverick attack back five steps. He finished the win with a team-high 17 points, a season-high for the 6’4 forward, on 6-8 shooting and a perfect 5-5 from three-point range.
“We’ve lost that identity of how we’re going to play offensively,” DeGeorge said. “Having Kolton Peterson out, a guy that can really stretch the floor has hurt us… it’s just really again about us keeping that focus on who we are and what our identity is as a basketball team.”
Nudo scored a game-high 18 points in 26 minutes. Connor Nichols chipped in 13 on 5-14 shooting. Wilson and Price finished with 14 each for DSU.
The loss moves the Mavericks to 12-6 and 7-5 in RMAC play. CMU will hope to avoid a fate they haven’t seen all season: a three-game losing streak. That challenge begins at 7:30 p.m. in Brownson Arena on Saturday against Westminster College.
