Energy and focus was something the Mavericks hoped to correct quickly after Friday night’s crushing loss to Dixie State. Those wishes were answered as CMU combined strong defense, timely offense, and a career night from Kenzo Nudo to stomp Westminster College 79-59.
Nudo, playing in just his sixth game as a Maverick, scored 30 points in 18 minutes and led a Maverick offense that flowed seamlessly for a large portion of the contest. The 6’4 guard has scored 48 points his last two games after scoring 17 in his first four contests.
“To be honest, I was kind of pissed off last weekend, I didn’t get to play much,” Nudo said. “I said to myself on Monday, I’m gonna go to work and I’m gonna be the old me again and I’m gonna bring the energy and communicate and that’s what I did and it helped.”
The loss to Dixie was so out of left field that it kept Nudo and other Mavericks from getting a good night’s sleep Friday night.
“Overnight I couldn’t sleep,” Nudo said. “I know my teammates were going through the same thing. We talked about it this morning. We need more energy from the start and we can’t let them get hot from the beginning. This time we got hot. That was a big win for us.”
The CMU offense came out much more aggressively against the Griffins with both teams tied at 11-11 through seven minutes. The Mavericks were active with their ball screens and found the open man at the three-point lane.
“Brandon [Hoffer] and Damon [Dubots] both, when we get them in that first ball screen action, Damon is such a good screener, Brandon is so good at getting downhill under the paint,” Head Coach Mike DeGeorge said. “Then Damon rolls so hard the combination is really lethal for people.”
Dubots was having his way in the pick-and-roll against the Griffins and went to work down low on multiple occasions with righty and lefty hooks against forward Jacob McCord.
Dubots finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds, his first double-double of the season.
The Mavericks began their trek towards victory late in the first half. Nudo nailed a three-pointer off a Michael Skinner pass to push their lead to 24-17. Three minutes later, Hoffer found Nudo racing across the paint for an easy layup to make the score 30-22 Mavericks.
Sam Walters sunk a three to send CMU into the half with a 37-25 lead.
The start of the second half was when the Mavericks began to run away with the commanding win. With the score at 42-31, CMU went on a 16-8 run for five minutes, which included a highlight reel play from Dubots.
On the fastbreak and a two-on-one, Hoffer dribbled close towards the basket but dished it off to Dubots who was trailing. The 6’9 center leaped in the air and delivered a thunderous two-handed slam over Westminster’s leading scorer Brandon Warr. Several Mavericks jolted off the bench while a hyped up Dubots felt the energy from the packed Brownson crowd.
“That dunk that [Damon] had was crazy,” Nudo said. “I was on the bench and I just jumped out, it was crazy. It was a really fun game today.”
Nudo began to find an even sharper rhythm with 10 minutes remaining in the game. He scored 14 straight points to extend CMU’s lead to 74-50 with a blend of three’s and a fancy and-one finish.
The Mavericks shot 53% (31-58) for the night and 47% (9-19) from deep. CMU played an all-around game, outplaying the Griffins in the rebound (36 to 27) and assist (18 to 11) department. 40 points off the bench aren’t so bad, either.
Hoffer added 10 points and five assists while Connor Nichols grabbed six rebounds and scored nine points.
Warr finished with 11 points on 4-13 shooting to lead the Griffins. It was a rough night offensively for Westminster as they shot just 38% from the field and 6-23 from three-point range.
The offense may have been the story, but all the little things the Mavericks did to put forth a strong defensive effort after losing two in a row deserves credit.
“The hedges and our ball screens are so important,” DeGeorge said. “We really got off to good possessions. Damon got some great hedges early in possessions which then blew up the rest of their play and they end up in isolation trying to play one-on-one. That was really the key on both ends.”
