Rivalry games are intense. They are some of the most competitive games on the schedule.
Friday night was no surprise then when both Colorado Mesa University and Fort Lewis College went at it for 40 minutes in one of the most physical games of the season. The Skyhawks took care of business and took the season series 2-0 with an 85-68 victory in Brownson Arena.
“It’s a combination of, you know, they are a very difficult matchup for us,” Head Coach Mike DeGeorge said. “They have very good players. So that is a challenge for us. They match up with us in a way that nobody else does. They can put their center on Connor [Nichols] and it was disruptive for us. We had a better plan this time for it but we didn’t execute it as consistently throughout the game.”
On a night the Mavericks shot 44.6 percent and 33.3% from deep, the Skyhawks had their second-best shooting night of the season with a 57.4 percent mark from the floor. 44.4 percent from three, and a near perfect 15-16 from the free throw line.
“It seemed like every time they kind of needed a shot, they got a big shot,” DeGeorge said. “[AJ Sparks] did hit a few big ones for them to kind of build that lead. They out-executed us and outworked us tonight so they won the game.”
The Mavericks took care of the basketball with just 11 turnovers to the Skyhawks’ 17. Simply put, shots just weren’t falling and the energy wasn’t at the right level.
“A lot of times when you’re energy isn’t just quite right you settle a little bit more on offense,” DeGeorge said. “You kind of get in front of somebody, you’re not in a bad position, but you don’t really box out enough to carve the space you need to get the rebound.”
The length and athleticism of the Skyhawks was a huge factor in the victory. The 6-8 senior Otas Iyekekpolor scored a season-high 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Iyekekpolor bruised and muscled his way inside numerous times.
The 6’5, athletic Marquel Beasley joined Iyekekpolor in double-figures with 18 points on 7-of-11 from the floor. Even the quick, agile Alex Semadeni added 15 points with Sparks providing momentum-shifting threes in the first half en route to a 10 point night.
The Skyhawks length also took over in the rebounding department. FLC outrebounded CMU 37-20 and repeatedly leaped over the Mavericks for strong rebounds.
“At the end of the game we went small to try to generate some offense so we were taking a little bit of a chance defensively with our size,” DeGeorge said. “That’s really when they hurt us a lot on the offensive glass. Outside of that, we had a few breakdowns defensively, but until then we did OK.
“It was just one of those nights where things just didn’t go right because of our energy level and we just didn’t quite have that focus or that edge to us that you need to have to be successful.”
Back-to-back steals by Tommy Nuno and Kenzo Nudo gave CMU rhythm late in the first half. Nuno finished a one-on-one righty layup with Brendan La Rose flying for a block but missed. Nudo finished a right-handed layup from the left side to give Mesa a 24-18 lead.
The Skyhawks proceeded to go on a 17-5 run to give themselves a 35-28 advantage. Will Whitman drained a three and Sparks hit a few step back three-pointers on the sizeable run.
FLC went into halftime with the lead and shot 59 percent during the period. The Skyhawks seemed like a confident bunch who let it fly and played like they were battling for a playoff spot. But this is what teams who are at the bottom of the conference do. They like to play spoiler.
With three lead changes and six different moments with a tie, it was anybody’s contest after the half.
Even so, the Skyhawks went on another commanding run, this time a 25-15 edge through the first 10 minutes of the second half. Iyekekpolor was a bruiser down low and pounded his way to 12-second half-points.
CMU seemed to inch back with a short run of their own, but the Skyhawks kept at it with a relentless pursuit for a victory. The Mavericks inched within 12 with 5:53 remaining, after a Nudo lay-in, but a Kireed Johnson steal and Semadeni’s three-pointer continued to close the bubble on CMU’s chances.
Nichols scored a team-high 16 points but was 5-of-13 from the field. Dubots added 12 while Nuno finished with seven points and six steals, but six turnovers.
While the Skyhawks (12-14, 7-13 RMAC) are out of the playoff picture, the Mavericks are still in it. CMU is 17-9, 12-8 in the RMAC and needs just one win over their final two games to punch their ticket to the RMAC tournament.
The sixth-seeded Mavericks can do just that and eliminate Adams State University Saturday night, which is the team chasing the 8th seed for the RMAC tournament.
