When the Mavs came into Brownson Arena Friday night, they were looking to erase the memories from a bad weekend in Nebraska just a week ago. With New Mexico Highlands in town for the first time since they beat CMU with a buzzer beater that shouldn't have counted, the Mavs were looking to get revenge. After a ferocious start, the Mavs got just that.

“We were talking about that last game throughout the week,” Jeff Hart said. “Emotions were high during the game. There was a lot of chit chat during the game and it got pretty physical. That's how we wanted it. It was a dog fight and we came out winners.”

After going down 4-0 early, the Mavs exploded for a 23-0 run. Mike Melillo hit a couple key three's and Daniel Estes chipped in with three assists in the post to spark the run. During the run, play got physical after a few shoves. The refs issued the Mavs a flagrant foul, which calmed down the two sides. When the half ended, the Mavs used the early momentum to go up 21 at the half, 45-24.

Melillo lead the charge with 11 first half points. Hart was right behind with nine points and four rebounds. Nine of the 10 Mavericks players who got first half time scored to give the team a big lead.

The Mavs continued the hot shooting to start the half. The team scored 14 points in just the first four minutes to build their lead to up 29 points. The Mavs defense held the Cowboys to under 40 percent shooting on the night, despite giving up more points in the second half than in the first. By the time the horn sounded, the Mavs completed the dominate win, 78-60.

“We just proved to ourselves the type of team that we can be,” Hart said. “We beat Metro by 20 and we beat them by 20. We can beat anyone as long as we play like the way we did.”

 Hart finished with a game high 25 points and eight rebounds for the Mavericks. Melillo scored 17 points, including 12 points coming from behind the arc. Despite the high score, those were the only Mavericks in double figures. Kevin Screen and Colton Burgon each had six points, with Chandler Burgon and Blake Francom scored five points each.

With the win, the Mavs improve to 12-10 overall and 10-8 in conference play. The Mavericks will host Western New Mexico tomorrow night in Brownson Arena.