If fans expected a competitive game at Burns Arena Saturday night they got exactly that when the Colorado Mesa Mavericks faced Dixie State University and both teams sporting identical records in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (10-6).
CMU was playing the second game of a road back-to-back and arrived in St. George, UT at 3:30 a.m Saturday morning. After coming up with a strong win Friday night against Westminster, the Mavericks couldn’t come up with the weekend sweep as the Trailblazers came away with an 80-73 victory and pushed their winning streak to eight games in a physical battle.
Both teams had strong first halves. The play was physical down low and Julien Ducree displayed plenty of physicality against the Mavericks. The California native had 13 first-half points and five rebounds.
CMU shot 54 percent to DSU’s 48 percent and both squads nailed three long-range shots.
Nichols led the Mavericks with 20 points, netting half of CMU’s 40 points through 20 minutes.
CMU was about to head into the half with a 40-38 lead but Zack Hampton launched a three that sank as time expired to give the Trailblazers a 41-40 lead.
Dixie jumped out to a 56-49 lead eight minutes after halftime. Jack Pagenkopf and Matt Conway started a stretch that gave the Trailblazers a 15-9 run. Kenzo Nudo made a three to cut the lead to five but Conway scored a nifty layup on the other end before the media timeout.
The Mavericks erased the Trailblazer’s six-point lead when Jess Spivey and Nudo hit back-to-back triples to tie the game at 60-60.
CMU lost Dubots for the rest of the game when he was called for a technical foul with five minutes remaining after getting tangled up down low. As Pagenkopf corralled the rebound, his momentum took him out of bounds with Dubots. Dubots stepped toward Pagenkopf and appeared to stay something, resulting in the technical.
Unfortunately for CMU, the Trailblazers went on the most important run of the game and outscored the Mavericks 20-10 for the last six minutes to seal the win. Mesa did pull within four with thirty seconds remaining but Nudo’s three-point miss all but ended it.
The second half was interesting as both teams kept the other on their toes until the final six minutes. Dixie had a strong rebounding game with 43 rebounds including 16 offensive rebounds. CMU shot 33 percent while DSU shot 32 percent, but the difference was at the free throw line.
The aggressive Trailblazers went to the line 29 times and converted 21 of those. They finished the game 31-43 from the charity stripe. A few technicals didn’t help the Mavericks either as Dubots and Head Coach Mike DeGeorge picked up late technicals. CMU attempted 11 free throws but converted just five for a free throw percentage of 45.
CMU shot 41 percent (23-57) for the game and 35 percent (7-20) from three. They missed 10 free throws throughout the contest and ended with an 18-28 mark. DSU shot 40 percent (23-57) from the floor and didn’t connect on a single three-pointer in the second half.
Five Trailblazers finished with double figures. Matt Conway led the way with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Pagenkopf and Ducree added 13 each while Frampton and Dub Price both chipped in 12 points.
Nichols scored a game-high 28 points but was limited in the second half. The Arizona native scored eight points in the last 20 minutes on 3-13 shooting. Nudo finished with 15 points and Sam Walters had 10 as the only other Maverick in double figures.
CMU falls to 15-8 and 10-7 in the RMAC while DSU surpasses Mesa in the standings with an 11-6 RMAC record.
The Mavericks rank 7th in the RMAC and are still in position for a postseason berth. The men will look to improve on that mark next weekend with another two-game road trip against Colorado Christian University and Regis University.
