GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Senior
Connor Nichols scored a career-high 37 points to help lead the Colorado Mesa Mavericks to a 78-74 win over the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets on Saturday evening in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men's basketball action.
The win for the Mavericks snaps a five-game winning streak for the Yellow Jackets, who entered the night in a tie for first-place in the RMAC standings.
Nichols finished his night 15-of-25 from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 from the line, eclipsing his career-high of 32 points scored earlier this year against St. Edward's. He scored 23 points in the first half of action and helped keep the Mavs within reach after falling behind by as many as five points in the half.
The Yellow Jackets biggest lead of five came with 7:38 remaining in the first half while Colorado Mesa led for 19 minutes of the game. The Mavericks went on a 10-0 scoring run with that began at the 13:25 mark of the first half.
Colorado Mesa never led by more than six points but the score was within five points for the final 14 minutes of the game.
Nichols,
Tommy Nuno,
Jess Spivey,
Sam Walters and
Brandon Hoffer played the final 7:07 of the game without a sub and finished with a plus-10 plus/minus ratio for the game.
Nuno finished with 14 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field in over 35 minutes of floor time. This performance follows a night where he failed to score a point.
The Mavericks continue to shoot a high percentage from the floor as they shot 52.6 percent from the floor (30-for-57) despite making just three three-point baskets (21.4 percent).
Black Hills State's Fraser Malcolm finished with 20 points and three rebounds to pace the Yellow Jackets. He was 8-for-13 from the field including 4-of-7 from three.
Colorado Mesa improved their record to 10-3 on the season and 5-2 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play while the Yellow Jackets fell to 7-4 on the year and 6-1 in the conference.
The Mavericks will be on the road next weekend when they travel to Pueblo and Las Vegas, N.M. to take on the ThunderWolves and Cowboys.
