After a last second victory on Tuesday night, Colorado Mesa University was unable to keep their five-game win streak going on Thursday night against Westminster University. The Griffins came into Brownson arena and walked away with a 74-62 victory over the Mavericks to move to 5-0 on the season.
The first half was kept close between the two teams. Westminster held the largest lead of the half at 33-28 with just over three minutes to go before halftime. They entered it with a 36-33 lead.
Connor Nichols and
CJ Davis both had 11 points to lead the Mavericks entering the break. As for the Griffins, they were led by Dayon Goodman who had 16 points and seven rebounds in the first 20 minutes.
Goodman was a problem throughout the contest for the Mavericks. The Griffins leading scorer came in averaging just under 32 points per game, and he leaves Grand Junction with another 30-point performance. Goodman finished with 30 points, five assists, and 12 boards on 10-20 shooting from the field.
The second half was controlled by WU. The Griffins got to the line 16 times and made 13 in just the second half alone. That helped the Griffins outscore the Mavericks 38-29 in the half to take the 12-point victory.
Three-point shooting was not a strength for the Mavericks on Thursday night. As a team, they finished just 4-18 from behind the arc. The Mavericks shot just 37.5 percent from the field on the night.
Defensively, the Mavericks had a hard time covering the hot shooting Griffins. WU finished with four players in double figures to the Mavericks two.
Nichols led the Mavericks with 23 points on the night. He finished going 9-11 from the free throw line. After scoring 11 in the first half, Davis was held scoreless in the second but finished as the Mavericks second-leading scorer on the night.
With the loss, the Mavericks move to 5-3 overall on the year and 1-1 in the conference. CMU will now get a long rest before their next game on Dec. 8 against Fort Lewis. The game will be played down in Durango with the start time set for 7:30 p.m.
