The Mavericks advance to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament Championship for the first time since 2012.
The Mavericks upset number one-seeded Dixie State University (DSU) in the Trailblazers home arena.
Colorado Mesa University (CMU) had five scorers with double-digit scoring in their 86-79 upset victory over the Trailblazers. The Mavericks secured the win at the free-throw line as they went 17 of 20 in the second half.
“I’m really excited and pleased with our effort, I thought not only did we come out with great intensity and purpose,” CMU Head Coach Mike DeGeorge said. “The intensity of the environment particularly when they started making those runs in the second-half, was intense and our guys maintained incredible poise and confidence through all that.”
The Mavericks were on fire all game as they shot 58.3 percent from the floor and 53.3 from behind the arc. CMU held the lead for 31:41 minutes in the game behind their hot shooting.
Junior guard Jared Small led the Mavericks in scoring with 22 points as he went five of ten from the floor along with two steals and two blocks. Small made a living at the free-throw line as he went nine of ten from the charity stripe.
The RMAC Player of the Year Jack Pagenkopf led all scorers with 32 points, and he was one of the two Trailblazers in double-digits.
The Mavericks controlled the second half leading all 20 minutes. Junior guard Kolton Peterson scored all ten of his points in the second half. Peterson shot three of three from behind the arc including a four-point play with 13:33 left in the game.
DSU cut the Mavericks lead down to one-point with 7:37 left in the game before the Mavericks extended their lead back to nine. With one minute left the Trailblazers were within two-points and senior guard Tommy Nuno hit a jumper to get the lead back to four.
The Mavericks went seven of eight in the final thirty seconds of the game to defeat the Trailblazers for the first time this season.
CMU took the lead in the first half behind their 64 percent shooting from the floor and 66.7 percent from behind the arc. The Mavericks got big contributions from Small who scored 16 points and junior center Ethan Richardson’s 10 points to take a 41-37 lead at halftime.
Nuno finished the game with a near double-double with 13 points and eight rebounds through 38 minutes.
The Maverick’s next game is Mar. 7 at 7 P.M. against third-seeded Colorado School of Mines in the RMAC Tournament Championship game with a shot at the NCAA Tournament-bid.
