The Mavericks found themselves down 85-84 with just under four seconds to play in the game. Inbounding on the sideline, Emilio Acedo threw the ball up to the far side of the rim where a curling Michael Skinner caught the ball over two Western State defenders and finished the layup with the foul to take the 86-85 lead. Skinner would miss the free throw, but the Mountaineers last-second heave came up short to give Colorado Mesa their fifth consecutive win.
 
CMU opened the game with a 12-2 run in the first four minutes of action. However, the Mountaineers stormed back to tie the game up at 26 all with seven minutes to go in the half. Their comeback was due in large part to eight first-half made three-pointers. Suddenly, the Mavericks found themselves down 43-38 at the intermission.
 
A big loss for the Mavericks in the first half was the team's leading scorer Acedo was only on the court for six minutes due to foul trouble. He had only four points when he exited for the half.
 
The second half opened with the Mountaineers coming out how they finished the first half. They bumped up their lead to 11 with 15:45 to play. Over the course of the next five minutes, the Mavericks would go on their second big run of the game. They would outscore WSU 14-1 over that time span to take a 56-54 lead. It was back and forth for the remaining 10 minutes until the final seconds of play.
 
For the third consecutive meeting between these two teams, the game finished as a one-score affair.
 
Defensively the Mavericks had troubles guarding the hot shooting Mountaineers throughout the game. WSU finished 15-31 from behind the three-point line and shot 45 percent from the field overall. They finished the game with four players with double-digit points.
 
However, the Mavericks offense finished better than that of the Mountaineers. CMU finished the night shooting 50 percent from the field and 80 percent from the free throw line.
 
Despite the limited minutes in the first half, Acedo finished as the Mavericks leading scorer on the night with 16 points. He was one of five Mavericks to finish in double figures in the contest. Skinner and Damon Dubots both had 15, followed by Brandon Hoffer with 14 and Connor Nichols with 13.
 
With the win, the Mavericks move to 5-2 overall on the year and 1-0 in the RMAC. CMU will look to continue their hot start on Thursday as they face off against the undefeated Westminster Griffins. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. at Brownson arena following the women's basketball contest.