The CMU men’s basketball season came to a close Tuesday night in Denver after losing to No. 1 Metro State 83-74 in the RMAC Shootout quarterfinals. The Mavs made it tough for the top team in the nation, playing to just a one point affair by halftime. CMU’s Ryan Stephan, an All-RMAC First Team selection, finished with a team-high 17 points and eight rebounds. Landon Vermeer continued his sharp shooting, hitting three of Mesa’s seven three-pointers to finish with a total of 13 points. Mike Melillo chipped in with 12, and Joe Kiely dished out five assists with eight points.

With the end of the game came the end of the first season for head coach Andy Shantz. It could not have been more of an up and down season for Shantz and the Mavericks, who finished .500 in the regular season at 13-13 overall and 11-11 in RMAC play before falling to the Roadrunners last Tuesday.

“I’ve been around college basketball a long time,” Shantz said. “I know all about the ups and downs, and I was pretty prepared with that. Overall I was really pleased with this team and being able to handle that and keeping it together. Down the stretch we really competed and played hard and earned a playoff spot. That is pretty hard to do with that many new guys coming in.”

Entering the season, there were many uncertainties about this team, especially with who would fill the void down low left by Chandler and Colton Burgon. However, sophomore Ryan Stephan quickly stepped up to the challenge and developed into what many consider to be the best big-man in the conference. Stephan averaged 18.4 points per game and 6.6 rebounds per game while shooting just under 60 percent from the field, good enough to garner All-RMAC First Team honors.

“There’s no question that Ryan’s the best center in the league,” Shantz said. “I may be a little biased, but with his skill set and just what he can do on the floor, he is easily the best.”

It is going to be an interesting off-season for the Mavs, who are only losing two seniors to graduation, Clay Kame and Mac Alexander.

“I am extremely excited for the off-season,” Shantz said. “We are returning a large part of our nucleus, and toward the end of the season all the guys saw how we started clicking when we executed the game plan. They are a real close-knit group and are all looking forward to getting better for next season.”

With a number of close games lost by the Mavs this season, Shantz feels that another year of experience for the team, as well as himself, could be the ingredient to winning five or six of those type of games next season.

“There’s no question that we have enough talent with this group of guys,” Shantz said. “I think where we need to improve most on is defensively, and toward the end of the season guys really started to buy in, and it showed. Most importantly though will be the continuity. You look at teams like Mines and Metro, and even Christian this year, they have a lot of experience playing together, and it helps.”

Shantz said he tells his players every year that getting older doesn’t mean getting better. It’s either getting better or getting worse.

“Obviously I’ll gain experience too,” Shantz said. “As a coach, you just got to keep doing what you’re doing. We are going to continue to recruit great student-athletes like we always have. We finished with a first semester GPA of 3.44, and I was extremely proud of that. It’s just the type of people that we have in our program that’s going to allow us to be successful.”

ksparkhu@mavs.coloradomesa.edu