The Mavericks advanced to the NCAA South Central Regional Semifinals with a 69-55 win over Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK).
Redshirt senior guard Jared Small scored a game-high 20 points and shot 50% from the field. He pulled down six rebounds and blocked two shots to help the Mavericks advance.
Colorado Mesa University (CMU) shot 52.1% from the field in the game and scored 36 points in the paint. The Mavericks dished out 12 assists as a team and hit seven three-pointers in the game.
TAMUK took a 9-2 lead with 14:50 left in the first half and hit two three-pointers during that stretch. Both teams traded baskets, but redshirt freshman guard Isaac Jessup cut the lead down to five points as he buried his lone three-pointer of the game with 12:06 left in the first half.
Jake Majors lifted the Javelinas lead back up to eight points with a three-pointer of his own. CMU answered with six unanswered points at the rim to cut TAMUK’s lead down to 18-20 with 10:23 left in the first half.
Redshirt freshman forward Trevor Baskin gave the Mavericks their first lead of the game with 7:57 as he got into the paint to finish at the rim through contact. He went to the free-throw line to convert the three-point play to give CMU a 23-22 lead.
Baskin followed it up by throwing down a dunk one minute later to give the Mavericks a three-point lead. Derek Luna cut CMU’s lead down to one point as he hit a floater with 5:53 left in the first half.
Small and Baskin lifted the Mavericks lead up to 29-24 with 1:07 left in the first half. Tre Flowers got the final word in of the half as stole the ball from Baskin, raced down the court and laid it in with five seconds left to cut the lead down to three points.
The Javelinas quickly tied the game up at 30 with 18:49 left in the second half. CMU came back with eight consecutive points to take the lead back with 14:01 left in the game.
TAMUK hung around and cut the lead down to one point with 10:45 left in the game. Redshirt freshman guard Blaise Threatt lifted CMU’s lead back up to three points as he carved into the paint to finish at the rim to put CMU up 45-42.
Small and Threatt pushed the Maverick’s lead up to 12 points with 4:10 left in the game as they scored 11-consecutive points. Small hit a three-pointer to score the 14 straight points for CMU to put them up 59-44.
The Javelinas scored five straight points of their own to cut the lead down to 10-points, but the Mavericks quickly lifted their lead back to 65-49. TAMUK worked to cut the lead under 10-points, but CMU held strong as they held on to win the game by 14-points to send themselves to the regional semifinals.
Threatt finished the game with 14 points on five of seven shooting from the field. He pulled down six rebounds in the game and recorded three steals against TAMUK.
CMU’s next game is Sunday, March 13 at 6:30 p.m. against Lubbock Christian University which is the one-seed in the South-Central Regional Tournament and seventh-ranked team in the nation.
