The four-game road trip might be the most important series of games the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks play all season. With the CMU men sitting just two games out of being completely out of the playoff picture, a strong stretch of games is important to separate from the rest of the pack.
Through the first game of the road trip, so far, so good. CMU made easy work of the Westminster Griffins Friday night in their 77-56 win and had three players in double figures.
Through the first 12 minutes of the contest, it was a back-and-forth affair between the Griffins and the Mavericks. CMU took a 22-21 lead after Tommy Nuno perfected a spin move for an easy lay-in. Nuno is coming off a weekend where he was an all-around contributor for the Mavericks.
Kenzo Nudo, who scored 30 points against the Griffins at Brownson on Jan. 26, found another early groove. The guard had 10 points on 4-5 shooting through 16 minutes of play. It’s a matchup that Nudo relishes as his long-range shooting is lethal against the Griffin’s closeouts.
Ball hedges continued to be strong for CMU and limited Westminster with their ball screens. It certainly helped the Mavericks finish the half on a 16-9 run to head into halftime with a 36-30 lead.
Nudo and Nuno were the primary scorers for CMU. Nudo scored 14 on 6-8 shooting and nailed both his three-point tries. Nuno secured six rebounds with eight points and three assists.
Josue PerezA strong first half has been pivotal for the Mavericks this season, and they were effective in that department with a 55% first half from the floor while limiting the Griffins to 41%. Through the first 20 minutes, both teams experienced five lead changes.
Connor Nichols reached double figures with an early thee to start the second half. Another strong start coming out of the break gave the Mavericks one of their biggest leads of the night after a Nichols jumper to put CMU up 10.
The senior continued to shimmy and shammy down low and scored his 14th point on a fading floater with 12 minutes remaining to extend the Maverick lead to 48-35.
Although the Griffins were within six in the second half, the Mavericks dominated for the last 20 minutes to run away with their 10th conference win. Spacing the floor and spreading the ball were big reasons CMU outscored Westminster 41-26 in the latter half and outshot them 56% to 35%.
Efficiency and execution helped CMU with the lopsided score. The Mavericks won the rebound battle 38-26 and were led by Nichols who scored a game-high 18 points on 7-14 shooting. Nudo finished with 14 points and six rebounds while Nuno chipped in 12 points, nine rebounds, and six assists.
Brandon Warr and Alec Monson led the Griffins with 13 each. Westminster’s reserves didn’t help much in the lopsided loss. The bench scored 12 points to the Mavericks’ 26.
