The Mesa State men’s basketball team, riding a 4 game win streak, made a trip to Gunnison on Saturday to take on the Mountaineers of Western State. The matchup was important to improve seeding heading into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament. Mesa locked up a post season birth in the tournament with wins on the road earlier last weekend. The game was also important because a matchup with Western was a chance for the players and to avenge a loss to the Mountaineers earlier this season.
Both teams shot the ball well, clipping the 50 percent mark for the game. Mesa turning in  51 percent and Western following that up with a 50 percent field goal average. Western State started the first half hot, stretching the Mesa half court defense out by knocking down threes early on. The Mountaineers shot 68% from the field in the first and took a five point lead into halftime.
“We didn’t play smart in the first half, Western hit some threes early and shot the ball well in the first half, but we settled down and executed the second half,” assistant coach Andy Shantz said.
The second half, Western’s shooting started to cool off. Mesa battled back, lead by junior guard Kalonji Paschal’s 16 point effort. Mesa stayed true to their system by wearing down Western State in the second half. The Mavericks out rebounded Western by five for the game and took care of the ball, only turning the ball over 11 times. The result was a 66-60 road win for the Mavericks. The win stretched their streak to five. It also puts the Mavericks in position to move up in their standings in the RMAC heading into the tournament. The Mavericks, who currently sit in sixth in a top heavy and crowded conference, have a 17-7 overall record and 13-7 in conference.
“There’s a lot of parity in the league right now. It’s good parity. There’s a lot of good teams in the league. It just shows you that down the stretch here its gonna be exciting,” Shantz said.
The Mavericks, who have two games remaining before the conference tournament, have a chance with two wins this weekend to move up to third heading into the tournament. The conference, however, is still anyone’s guess at this point. Colorado Mines currently sits in first. This leaves Mesa’s destiny all to itself, a place where any team would like to be at this point.
“We had a couple bumps in the road this season, which every team does. You can see that from how crowded the top part of the conference is,” Shantz said. “It took a little while for this team to find it’s identity, but we have really good kids, quality people, and they’re all really close. Despite losing so much from last season we’ve come together down the stretch here a little bit. It helps that this team works as hard as it does. Putting in that work and playing for each other, as a team, we’re starting to see that success from executing our system.”
Mesa State hosts Adam State and Fort Lewis on Friday and Saturday to end their regular season. Tip offs are at 8 and 7 p.m.
u
chughes@mesastate.edu