Grand Junction, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa University men's basketball team opened the 2020-2021 season with a dominant 80-60 win over the visiting Colorado Christian Cougars Friday night in Brownson Arena.

Friday's win brings the Mavericks winning streak over the Cougars to six.

After a bit of a slow start, the Mavs found their groove with seven and a half minutes left in the first half gaining a double-digit lead off a jumper from David Rico. Ethan Menzies drained a pair of free throws and a block by Reece Johnson ended the first half with CMU up by eight.

Midway through the second half the CCU offense fell quiet going on a six-minute scoring drought. Meanwhile, CMU started to pull away going on a 21-0 scoring run to go up by as many 24. The Mavs never relinquished the 20-point advantage for the rest of the night, giving them a 1-0 start to the season.

Ethan Menzies had a career night for the Mavs racking up 26-points to lead all scorers, to go along with seven rebounds. He was 11-of-16 from the field, and connected once from deep and was flawless in free throws.

Freshman, Reece Johnson made a statement in his Maverick debut, scoring 13-points in addition to three assists, two steals and six rebounds.

Redshirt freshman, Mac Riniker was a force on both offense and defense tonight tallying 12-points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

The Cougars were led Andy Stafford who knocked down 20-points on the night, and teammate Ross Williams followed up with 16-points.

The Mavericks will turnaround and host MSU Denver tomorrow in Brownson Arena, tipping off at 7:30 pm. The Roadrunners fell to Westminster Friday in Salt Lake City, 56-55