When Colorado Mesa University took a 38-22 lead into halftime Friday night, it was easy to expect a blowout win, an easy second half, and a similar fate Colorado Christian University experienced when these two teams met in the Maverick’s 94-63 win a few weekends ago.
To predict and assume in sports can be a dangerous proposition, and that assumption is why the game is played in its entirety. Even Patriots fans left during Super Bowl LI and we all know how that turned out.
The Cougars played a fierce second half and pulled within two with five minutes left, but the Mavericks closed this one out and kept their playoff hopes strong with a 69-58 victory.
CCU outscored the Mavericks 36-31 in the latter half and outshot them 50 percent to 35 percent to keep things interesting. Stefan Hackethal scored all 15 of his points with 12 minutes remaining, which included a three-pointer at the 5:45 mark that cut CMU’s lead to 54-51.
Braxton Tucker brought the game to 55-53 with a short jumper, but CMU ended the game on a 14-7 run with some help from Tommy Nuno (six points) and a few mid-range jumpers from Connor Nichols.
Nichols had another strong night from the floor with 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting. The senior has put together another fine campaign in his last season, leading CMU in scoring with 20.0 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game. It’s his second straight 20+ game and his 12th overall.
Tucker made some key plays late tonight for the Cougars and put together a record-setting performance. The senior from Tacoma pulled down 20 rebounds, which broke the school single-game record of 17 and accounted for nearly half of CCU’s 41 total rebounds on the night.
He also scored 15 points to notch the monstrous double-double.
There wasn’t much trouble in the first half for the Maverick offense as they shot 55 percent on 15-of-27 shooting. Nichols scored 14 of his 24 with a near-perfect 6-of-7 from the floor. What makes the Cougars late run more surprising is the lead the Mavericks had just before the half.
CMU was up by 24 points with a 38-14 lead after another Nichols jumper. The Maverick’s inability to score within the first five minutes of the second half gave the Cougars life. CCU outscored CMU 31-17 until the Maverick’s late run all but sealed it.
Although the Cougars had a strong second half, they had moments of sloppy play throughout. The team finished with 21 turnovers and allowed CMU to score 20 points off turnovers. These Mavericks forced 24 turnovers in their last meeting, which means CCU gave up 45 possessions in 80 minutes against CMU this season.
Kenzo Nudo was the only other Maverick in double-figures with 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting. The sophomore continued his resurgent season with his seventh double-figure performance in 11 games, solidifying his role as a steady scoring option off the bench who provides good minutes on both ends of the floor.
CMU moves to 16-8 with an 11-7 RMAC record. Although an upset from CCU (6-18, 4-14 RMAC) on Friday wouldn’t have taken them out of the playoff picture, it would have dampened their spot in the standings. The Mavericks sit in a tie for 6th in the RMAC with New Mexico Highlands but are two games ahead of ninth-place Adams State (9-9) with four games left to play in the regular season.
A date with No. 2 Regis University awaits Saturday night. CMU lost to Regis at home to Jarrett Brodbeck’s buzzer beater in early February.
