by Bryce Reedy
Following a 99-97 come from behind victory on Tuesday, Jan. 31, against Western State Colorado University, Colorado Mesa University played host to a top four team in the RMAC in Westminster on Saturday.
After being down as many as 16 in the first half the Mavericks came storming back to bring it within one at the half. However, the length of the Griffins was too much to overcome when the final buzzer sounded, and the Mavericks walked away with an 89-82 defeat.
“We didn’t do enough to win the game tonight,” head coach Andy Shantz said.
The Griffins key to winning the game was dominating the glass 46-30, which includes hauling in 17 offensive rebounds. That led to 18 second chance points for the Griffins throughout the game.
“It is kind of hard to rebound out of a zone,” guard James Sylvester said. “We just didn’t do a good enough job of locating after they put up a shot. And they were grabbing some offensive rebounds so that hurt us down the stretch.”
Sylvester was a spark off the bench, especially in the second half where he scored 14 of his 23 points. His 23 points led the team along with his 15 free throw attempts, of which he made 12.
“In this league I have one of the fastest first steps, so when I can attack I try to attack,” Sylvester said.
Sylvester was one of five Mavericks to score in double figures, and one of two to hit 20 on the night. The other was guard Eimer Lopez who finished the game with 20 points and three rebounds.
“We did a pretty good job tonight [offensively],” head coach Andy Shantz said. “[Westminster] is the best defensive team in the league, statistically. So we knew we were going to have to loosen them up.”
However, one of the Mavericks that was not in double figures was guard CJ Davis who finished the game with only five points on 1-8 shooting from the field. Davis came into the game averaging 16 points per game, but couldn’t get any separation from the Griffins defense throughout the matchup.
“They did that last game too,” Shantz said on the guarding of CJ Davis. “[…] Those kids are about 25 pounds heavier than our kids and they can move their feet just as well so it is a tough matchup.”
CMU lost the first matchup against Westminster on the road 89-68 back in early December. Davis was held scoreless in that contest.
With the loss CMU moved to 7-16 on the season and 6-11 in the conference. This is not where the Mavericks were hoping to be at this point in the season, but the team is moving forward and playing with one another.
“We are just sticking together,” Sylvester said.
The team will now head out on the road for two games this weekend against Adams State University on Friday and Fort Lewis College, who is currently atop the RMAC standings, on Saturday. Both games are set to start at 7:30 p.m.
