The Mavericks go 1-1 to open Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) play on their road trip to Denver, Colo.
Colorado Mesa University (CMU) beat Colorado Christian University (CCU) 68-63 on Saturday, Dec. 4. The Mavericks then fell 50-73 against Metro State University-Denver (MSUD) on Sunday, Dec. 5.
The Mavericks struggled against the Roadrunners as they shot 28.3% from the field and 21.4% from beyond the three-point arc. MSUD’s Tyrei Randall scored a career-high 31 points and 24 of those points came in the first half against the Mavericks to help lift the Roadrunners to victory.
Redshirt freshman guard Reece Johnson was the leading scorer for the Mavericks against CCU as he scored 14 points. Johnson shot one for seven from the field but made a living from the free-throw line. He went 12 of 14 from the free-throw line to give CMU the boost they needed to win the game.
On Saturday, the Cougars got out to a fast start as they built a 9-4 lead in the opening five minutes of the first half. Redshirt senior guard Jared Small brought the game within two points as he buried a three-pointer with 14:22 left in the first half.
Two minutes later, Johnson got to the free-throw line and hit both to tie the game up at 11. Andy Stafford hit a three-pointer to give CCU the lead again, but redshirt freshman forward Trevor Baskin answered with a dunk on the other end to cut CMU’s deficit back down to one point.
Both teams traded baskets back-and-forth before redshirt freshman guard Christopher Speller tied the game at 17 with 7:11 left in the first half. CCU went on a mini-run to put themselves back up by four points, but Speller quickly cut it back down to two points.
Ross Williams put CCU back up by five points as he buried a shot from beyond the arc with 5:02 left in the first half. Redshirt freshman guard Mac Riniker quickly got into the paint to finish at the rim for the Mavericks on their next possession to bring them within three points.
Speller found a seam in the defense to get into the paint, and he fought through contact to finish at the rim. Speller also drew a foul on the play and went convert the and-one play to tie the game at 24 with 4:11 minutes left in the first half.
The Mavericks closed out the half by scoring three straight points to put themselves up 27-24.
Stafford opened the second half with a 15-foot jumper to bring CCU within one point. Small and Riniker hit back-to-back three-pointers to put CMU up 33-26 in the opening two minutes of the second half.
Both teams traded baskets for the next couple of minutes as the Mavericks built a 10-point lead with 14:31 left in the game. CMU’s offense continued to push CCU as they built a 13-point lead with 10:59 left in the game as Riniker buried a three-pointer.
One minute later, redshirt freshman guard Isaac Jessup gave CMU an 18-point lead with 9:40 left in the game as he nailed a shot from behind the arc. Dancer then got to the free-throw line and went one for two to give CMU a 52-33 lead.
CCU hit a flurry of shots to cut the deficit down to 10 points with 6:59 left in the game. Both teams traded baskets before the Cougars were able to cut the deficit under 10 points with 3:58 left in the game.
Both teams traded baskets until the end of the game, but the Mavericks prevented CCU from cutting the deficit down to five points until the final seconds of the game. With two seconds left in the game, Williams hit his fourth three-pointer of the game to bring the Cougars within five points but it was too little, too late.
CMU struggled shooting the ball against the Roadrunners as redshirt freshman guard/forward Owen Koonce led them in scoring with 11 points. Koonce was the only Maverick that finished the game with double-figures as they went 15 for 53 from the field.
MSUD’s Randall shot seven for 10 from behind the arc en route to his career-high 31 points.
Randall opened the game by scoring 11 straight points in the opening five minutes of the game to put MSUD up 11-3. Randall then hit another jumper to score his 13 straight points with 13:01 to put the Roadrunners up by 10 points.
Redshirt freshman forward Trevor Baskin then got the Mavericks offense going as he got the ball in the paint off an inbounds pass and made a layup through traffic. Both teams traded baskets for the next five minutes, but the Mavericks weren’t able to cut the deficit under six points.
Randall then scored eight straight points for the Roadrunners to put up 28-12 with 5:15 left in the first half. Miles Gibson then carved into the paint to finish at the rim to put the Roadrunners by 18 points.
The Roadrunner’s offense continued to execute at a high level to end the first half they built an 18-point lead. Randall wasn’t done just yet though in the first half as he hit another three-pointer in the first half with seven seconds left in the half over his defender to put MSUD up by 21 points.
Redshirt freshman guard Blaise Threatt started the second half off by nailing a shot from behind the arc. The Roadrunner’s Isaac Lungren answered with a three-pointer of his own, and Gibson added to it with a 15-foot jumper to put MSUD up 43-20.
MSUD’s offense continued to roll in the second half as they built a 25-point lead with 10:29 left in the game. The Maverick’s offense shot 37.04% from the field in the second half as their offense got into a little bit of a rhythm, but with each run that they went on, MSUD answered with a run of their own.
Speller scored the final baskets of the game from the free-throw line and made both shots with 2:16 left in the first half.
The Maverick’s bench scored 25 points in the game as they tried to get CMU into a rhythm offensively. CMU did finish the game with one of their lowest turnover margins of the season as they finished the game with 12 turnovers.
CMU’s next game is Friday, Dec. 10 against Black Hills State University which marks the start of a four-game homestand for the Mavericks.
