The Mavericks run away from the Cougars with a 101-66 victory behind a red-hot shooting night from behind the arc as they shot 57.1% from three.
Colorado Mesa University (CMU) shot 69.2% from the field in the game and compiled 21 assists as their offense was firing on all cylinders. The Mavericks finished the game with just 12 turnovers, and they had five different players score in double figures.
“If you think about it about half of our turnovers, we have a shot, and they don’t really close out on us. Then we drive it in there into a tight space and then we turn the ball over. We’ve been working on trying to get them to shoot that shot and it seems like we had a breakthrough on that this weekend. Not only is it a high-percentage shot for us, but it is also going to reduce our turnovers,” Head Coach Mike DeGeorge said.
The Mavericks also held Colorado Christian University (CCU) to 37.7% shooting from the field and 37.5% from beyond the three-point arc.
Redshirt freshman forward Trevor Baskin led the Mavericks in scoring with 23 points and he pulled down six rebounds in the game. He shot 90% from the field and he made the only three-pointer that he attempted.
“I remember watching the Black Hills game, they completely scouted for Georgie [Dancer] and Jared [Small] which left opportunities for Blaise [Threatt] and me to play. After that, I kind of got a little more comfortable playing on the perimeter and my confidence just gained from there. Seeing a couple of threes go in helped and then people can’t just sit on the drive,” Baskin said.
CCU got on the board first in the game, but the Mavericks made four consecutive three-pointers with redshirt freshman guard Reece Johnson making three of them. DJ McDonald answered with a three-pointer of his own to bring the Cougars within seven points.
Both teams traded baskets before redshirt freshman guard Mac Riniker hit another three-pointer to put CMU up 19-8 with 12:37 left in the first half. Ross Williams came back with a three of his own and he was fouled while coming down. Williams went to the free-throw line and converted the four-point play.
Redshirt freshman guard Levi Dombro lifted CMU’s lead back up to 12 points as he buried a three-pointer with 10:58 left in the first half. CCU attempted to cut the lead under 10 points after Dombro’s bucket, but each time they did the Mavericks came back with a bucket of their own.
Redshirt senior guard Jared Small answered a Cougar bucket with a three-pointer to put CMU up 32-22 with 8:39 left in the first half. Redshirt senior guard Georgie Dancer carved into the paint to finish at the rim on CMU’s next possession to put them up by 12 points.
The Cougars answered with two consecutive three-pointers to cut the Mavericks lead back down to six points. The Mavericks were able to lift their lead back up to nine points as Baskin hit a three-pointer with 3:15 left in the first half.
Baskin lifted the Mavericks lead up to 11 points with 52 seconds left in the first half as Threatt found him in the paint to finish at the cup. The Cougars ended the first half by scoring five straight points including Ross Wiliams buzzer-beater three-pointer to end the half down 38-44.
“It definitely gave me a little bit of a flashback to last night, but we just had to move on to the next play. When we got down to the locker room, we were like alright, the first half was our period to get used to the game, and the second half we made an adjustment, and we can normally do a lot better in the second half compared to the first half. It was just kind of, that sucked but we’ve got to move on and go out there and pull away from them,” Riniker said.
Andy Stafford got into the paint to convert through contact on the opening possession of the second half, and he drew contact while going up. Stafford went to the free-throw line and converted the three-point play to bring CCU within three points.
The Maverick’s offense kicked into gear, and they increased their lead to 16-points as Johnson hit his fourth three-pointer of the game with 15:07 left in the game. Both teams went back-and-forth after Johnson’s bucket, but the Mavericks held their lead as they were up 72-55 with 10:12 left in the game.
CMU’s offense continued to fill up the scoresheet as they built an 84-55 lead with 6:58 left in the game. Redshirt freshman guard Sam Goulet scored his first college athletics points as he carved into the paint to finish at the rim to put CMU up 93-63 with 3:53 left in the game.
The Maverick’s offense continued to push as they built a 34-point lead with 1:27 left in the game. Goulet scored the final basket of the game as he spun around his defender to finish at the cup to give CMU a 101-66 lead.
Threatt scored 16 points in the game as he shot seven of nine from the field to help the Mavericks get back in the win column. He pulled down eight rebounds in the game and he dished out three assists as well.
CMU scored 46 points in the paint along with 23 points off turnover. The Maverick’s bench contributed 27 points in the game as well.
The Maverick’s next game is Friday, Jan. 21 at 7:30 p.m. against the Colorado School of Mines in the rematch of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship.
