The Mavericks advance to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament Championship with a 78-66 win over the Grizzlies.
Colorado Mesa University (CMU) advanced to their second consecutive RMAC Championship to play Colorado School of Mines (CSM).
Five different Mavericks scored in double-figures tonight as redshirt freshman guard Mac Riniker led the team with 14 points. Riniker also registered four rebounds in the game.
“I think [Riniker] was more aggressive offensively. I think he saw that he had an advantage offensively, with the guy that was guarding him. A lot of times he kind of hesitates to make a move offensively, but he had a lot of confidence,” sophomore forward Ethan Menzies said.
Menzies nearly had a double-double as he ended the game with 13 points and nine rebounds.
The Mavericks finished the game with 14 assists and had 11 turnovers which is six under their season average.
“I thought body movement and ball movement were the keys to keep them from getting steals which they are so good at, and I thought that flow helped us,” Head Coach Mike DeGeorge said.
Adams State University (ASU) jumped out to a four-point lead in the game, but the Mavericks answered with three straight three-pointers.
Destan Williams got into the paint to hit a high arching floater to cut the Maverick’s lead to three points. Menzies was quick to answer with a three-point play as he got into the paint, drew the foul and converted the layup along with the free-throw.
CMU went five for nine from behind the arc in the opening ten minutes of the game to earn a seven-point lead.
Kaelin Crane got into the paint and shot a jumper over his defender to cut CMU’s lead to three points. Crane stole the ball from senior guard Jared Small, and Crane raced down the floor, made the layup, drew the foul and converted the layup to tie the game up at 24.
Menzies got to the free-throw line and went two for two to break the tie, but Rylan O’Brien immediately answered with a three to give ASU the lead. Menzies scored four unanswered points to give CMU a three-point lead.
Small gave the Mavericks a four-point lead to end the half.
The Grizzlies scored the first basket of the second half, but the Mavericks answered with nine unanswered points to take an 11-point lead. Each time ASU scored, CMU was quick to answer with baskets of their own.
The Mavericks were able to keep their lead above five-points for 19 minutes of the second half.
CMU separated from ASU in the final ten minutes of the game behind their shooting from the floor. The Mavericks shot 56.5% from the floor in the second half, and Riniker scored all 14 of his points in the half.
“That’s the thing about this team, if you look at the box score, we had five guys in double figures, and then at least one with nine and another with six,” DeGeorge said. “We have nine guys that can score in double figures any given night, so if they are going to give us something, we’ll take it and we have guys that can take advantage of it.
The Mavericks recorded their second straight 20-win season with their victory over the Grizzlies.
CMU’s bench played a huge factor in the game as they scored 32 points compared to the Grizzlies’ six bench points.
The Maverick’s next game is Saturday, March 6 against the Orediggers in an RMAC Championship rematch against CSM.
