GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa will host the first round of the 2019 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference/ Under Armour Tournament this Tuesday against Black Hills State University at 6 pm in Brownson Arena. The Mavericks have now hosted a first round game in the RMAC Tournament five of the past seven years, all under the direction of Head Coach Taylor Wagner. Wagner has qualified for the RMAC Tournament in each of his seven seasons and now has won four RMAC Regular Season Championships. He will be going for his third RMAC Tournament Championship this weekend.
If the Mavericks win tomorrow night the remaining four teams of the tournament will travel to Grand Junction and play in Brownson Arena since the Mavericks are the highest seed. The Mavericks are a perfect 13-0 at home this season.
A Glimpse of the Mavs
The Maverick team features the best defense in the RMAC only allowing 50.9 points per game and the best scorer with Jaylyn Duran who is averaging 18.4 points per contest. The Mavericks 50.9 points per game ranks them second best in the nation.
A part of that defense is Sydni Brandon who has totaled 65 steals on the season which is second best in the RMAC. At the point guard position Brandon leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio only committing one turnover for every 3.24 assists.
Kelsey Siemons leads the conference with 42 blocks and recently added a career-high six blocks to her season in the Mavericks win over Western State last Friday.
The Mavericks are shooting 41.6 from the field and 32.0 from the three-point line.
Scouting the Yellow Jackets
The No. 8 seeded Yellow Jackets finished the RMAC season with a 12-10 conference record and a 16-10 overall record.
The last time these two teams met was when the Yellow Jackets were ranked No. 19 and the Mavericks were yet to be ranked. In that game at Bronson Arena the Mavericks defeated BHSU 72-48 and Jaylyn Duran drained a school-record nine three pointers.
This was the Mavericks and Yellow Jackets only meeting of the season.
The Yellow Jackets are shooting 40.7 percent from the field and 36.1 percent from the three-point line.
A Look into the RMAC Tournament
The Mavericks will square off with the No. 8 seeded Yellow Jackets and the winner of that game will face the winner of the No. 4 seeded Colorado School of Mines and No. 5 seeded CSU Pueblo.
Colorado Mesa has only seen everyone on their side of the bracket once this year based on the 2018-2019 RMAC schedule.
For a look at the bracket click the link provided above.
