Redshirt senior guard Georgie Dancer drains the go-ahead basket from behind the three-point arc as the buzzer sounded to win 69-66 over the Eagles.
Dancer pulled up on the right-wing from beyond the arc over his defender to make his fourth and most important three-pointer of the game.
“We set it up to where I could get a screen, and I would come off it and I would get down to the low-post with about three seconds left to post up one of their smaller guards like I had been doing earlier in the game. They had good pressure to where I couldn’t get the ball right away, so when Isaac gave it to me, the play was kind of messed up. I was going to drive right, but as soon as I took my power dribble, I saw them taking a step back, so I went up with the shot,” Dancer said.
Redshirt senior guard Jared Small tied the game up at 66 with 42 seconds left in the game. He drained a three-pointer from the top of the key over his defender off an assist from Dancer as he helped lift them over the Eagles in the final minute.
Dancer scored 16 points in the game, and he went four of seven from beyond the three-point arc in the game. He also dished out five assists and pulled down five rebounds.
Colorado Mesa University’s (CMU) leading scorer was redshirt freshman guard Mac Riniker who scored 20 points in the game. Riniker went nine for 12 from the field in the game
“We have good shooters and we’ve just been in a funk, and hopefully we come out of the funk and start making shots. When you think about the absence of Georgie [Dancer] and Ethan [Menzies] on the ball screen and then no shooting, it makes it hard to win games,” Head Coach Mike DeGeorge said.
You’ve got to have something that you are good at offensively, and I think as we get more comfortable within our roles in the offense, I think the shots will start to fall, they will start to anticipate when they are getting it, they will be more balanced, they will get into more of a rhythm. That was the thing for Georgie tonight.”
Chadron State College (CSC) held a 32-30 lead over the Mavericks at the halftime break as the first half set the tone for a back-and-forth style that this game took on.
Redshirt freshman forward Trevor Baskin finished the first half with three dunks and eight points in the half.
Riniker got the scoring started in the second half as he got out in transition to finish at the rim to tie the game at 32. The Eagles scored four straight points in response to take the lead back, but Riniker responded with five straight points himself to put the Mavericks up by 1.
Each traded baskets and with 15:19 left in the game, Dancer hit his second three-pointer of the game to put the Mavericks up 42-40. The Maverick’s offense started to build some momentum behind Riniker’s strong start as they built a six-point lead two minutes later in the second half.
The Eagles kicked right into gear as they were able to cut the deficit down to two points behind CJ Jennings and KJ Harris. Jennings hit a jumper with 12:12 left in the game to cut the lead down to four points, but a two-minute drought followed Jennings’ basket.
Harris then got an offensive rebound and got fouled on the way back up in the act of shooting by Riniker. Harris went to the line and hit both shots to bring CSC within two points, but redshirt freshman forward Trevor Baskin quickly got CMU’s lead back up to four points.
CSC scored five straight points with Jennings gave the Eagles a one-point lead as he drained a three-pointer with 7:36 left in the game. The following two minutes were deadlocked as each team scored eight points as the Eagles held onto their one-point lead.
Marcus Jefferson then had a hard take to the rim to convert the layup through the contact from redshirt freshman guard Isaac Jessup. Jefferson drew the foul as well and went to the line to convert the and-one play.
Jessup made up for the foul as he came back and hit a three-pointer on the other end to bring the Mavericks within one point with 3:26 left in the game. Porter Anderson got to the free-throw line on the next possession for the Eagles to push their lead up to three points.
Small and Dancer then answered with threes to give the Mavericks their 69-66 win over CSC.
“It hurts, that loss last night. [DeGeorge] really determined that it was going to help us in the future because we’d learned our lesson, and know we have to come in with intensity. We had an off day in practice where we were struggling a little bit and I think that made us realize that we’ve got to stay level and get better every day. It was nice to get a win tonight after last night’s close game and loss, even though we learned a lot, it’s nice to get the confidence from closing out the game,” Riniker said.
Baskin finished the game with 12 points and he pulled down six rebounds in the game as well. He blocked three shots in the game and he also finished the game with one steal.
The Maverick’s next game is Friday, Dec. 17 against Adams State University at 7:30 p.m. in Brownson Arena.
