The Mavericks fell 76-79 in overtime to the Rangers in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament Semifinals.
Colorado Mesa University’s (CMU) streak of the two consecutive RMAC Championships comes to an end with the loss.
Both teams shot 50% from the field and scored 40 or more points in the paint. The game was tied six different times and six lead changes occurred as well.
Redshirt freshman forward Trevor Baskin led the Mavericks in scoring with 22 points and shot 9-11 from the field in the game. He pulled down four rebounds and recorded one steal.
Regis University (RU) jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the opening five minutes of the first half with Will Cranston-Lown and Brian Dawson scoring all nine points. The pair increased the Ranger’s lead up to eight points with 13:24 left in the first half.
Redshirt freshman guard Blaise Threatt answered with his first three-pointer of the game, but the Rangers lifted their lead back up to 10-points with 9:20 left in the first half.
Dawson got the Rangers lead up to 12-points as he made a layup in transition off a CMU turnover. Baskin carved into the paint to finish at the rim, and redshirt freshman guard Reece Johnson hit a three-pointer to cut the lead down to seven points with 7:05 left in the half.
The Rangers again got their lead back to double-digits with 5:21 left in the half as Kevin Ebiriekwe went 1-2 at the free-throw line. CMU answered with 10 consecutive points to tie the game at 27 with 3:17 left in the first half.
Dawson hit a three-pointer of his own to take the lead back for RU with 1:57 left in the half. Baskin threw down a dunk to bring the Mavericks within one point, but Ebiriekwe hit another three-pointer to put RU up 33-29 going into the halftime break.
The second half’s opening five minutes was fought hard by both teams as they traded baskets and the Rangers held a 41-37 lead. RU went on a seven-point mini-run to take an 11-point lead with 12:21 left in regulation.
CMU didn’t go anywhere as they were able to cut the lead back down to two points with 8:05 left in regulation as they scored nine unanswered points. Johnson tied the game up at 51 as he hit a three-pointer, and Threatt gave the Mavericks a 53-51 lead which was CMU’s first lead of the game.
RU answered with five consecutive points to take the lead back with 5:16 left in the second half, but neither team built a lead larger than three points in the final five minutes in regulation.
Johnson cut the Rangers lead down to one point as he stole the ball from Alex Cartwright and converted at the rim with 3:25 left in regulation. Aaron Bokol answered with a floater in the paint.
Johnson cut the lead back down to one point as he drove into the paint to throw a dunk down, and Threatt hit a three-pointer to give CMU a 62-60 lead. Troy Brady carved into the paint to finish at the rim with 1:45 left in the second half to tie the game at 62 for the final bucket of regulation.
Baskin started overtime quickly as he got into the paint to finish at the rim through contact. He hit his shot at the free-throw line to complete the three-point play to put CMU up 65-62.
The Rangers took the lead back with six consecutive points with four coming in the paint and two from the free-throw line to take a 68-65 lead. The lead went back-and-forth before the Rangers took a four-point lead with 1:02 left in overtime.
In the final minute of overtime, the Mavericks were forced to foul in hopes of extending the game. The Rangers went 3-6 from the free-throw line in the final minute of the game to hold to win 79-76.
Threatt was the second-leading scorer for the Mavericks with 17 points and pulled down eight rebounds. He shot 6-10 from the field and made three shots from beyond the three-point arc.
The Mavericks have to wait to see if they get an at-large bid into the NCAA South Central Regional to continue their 2021-22 season.
