The Mesa State Maverick’s men’s basketball team wrapped up the regular season with home games against Adams State and arch rival Fort Lewis.
The first game was in every sense of the word a heart breaker. Mesa came out red hot from the floor, sharing the ball, and nailing almost every jump shot. Senior Lance Fite had 13 points in the first half as Mesa went into the locker room with a 33-24 lead.
That lead would increase to 13 during the second half. Then the Grizzlies caught fire taking a two point lead with 1:03 to go. Kalonji Paschal tied the score up with a pair of free throws. Free throws, however, cost Mesa the win as they missed five in the final two minutes to seal the deal. The end of regulation ended dead locked at 60-60.
Overtime saw back and forth lead changes. Adams State led by three when Paschal saw a good look at a three to send the game into double overtime. The shot went everywhere on the rim except in, as the Mavs came up short when time expired.
“We were disappointed with the way we played down the stretch Friday. We wanted to host one more game,” senior guard Russell Gregory said.
The Mavs couldn’t dwell on the loss for long as Fort Lewis rolled into town for Senior night at Saunders Field House.
Over 1,200 fans were in attendance for seniors Lance Fite, Russel Gregory and John Gabriel’s last home performance.
Mesa started the game with a sense of urgency scoring the first seven points. The seven point lead remained the differential at half with Mesa leading 35-28.
The second half saw chippy play from both sides as two flagrant fouls and a host of hard fouls were called. The Mavs didn’t let the rough play phase their performance as they stretched the lead to 20 with seven minutes to go. An exclamation alley-oop dunk on an inbounds play punctuated the home victory. The final score read 72-52 Mesa State.
Junior Michael Bear lead the Mavs with 16 points. Mesa turned the ball over just eight times and controlled the heated contest throughout. The win was not only big for the psyche of the team but was important to the seniors last home game.
“You really can’t express it in words, it feels so good,” Gregory said. “I think it was a big confidence boost, we’ve been on a good little winning streak, we can beat all the good teams in the RMAC. We came out and played hard and sent everyone out on a good note.”
The Mavs will see the Skyhawks once again on Tuesday in Durango for the start of the RMAC tournament. The winner will advance to quarterfinals in Pueblo.
“It’s not over, We’re gonna make some noise,” Gregory said. “We’re looking for the first Mesa State RMAC tournament championship. We’ve come up short the last couple of years but its time to bring home some trophies.”

chughes@mesastate.edu