Grand Junction, Colo. – Colorado Mesa men's basketball closes out a three-game road swing this weekend, heading up to Spearfish, S.D. to take on Black Hills State for the second time this season.

Maverick fans can stream the game and follow live stats at the cmumavericks.com

Run It Back
Coming back from the Christmas break, the Mavericks continued what they started adding two more wins to their season total, taking down
UCCS (78-71) to cap off 2021, and starting the new year with a victory at New Mexico Highlands (85-61).

Against the Mountain Lions, the Mavs found themselves down 36-31 at the half but strung together 47 points in the second for the final score.

Georgie Dancer and Jared Small led CMU players in double-figures with 20-points apiece. Small was one rebound shy of a double-double, finishing with nine boards. Trevor Baskin added 11, along with three blocks, Mac Riniker and Blaise Threatt with 10-points each.

Having to come from behind in the second the past two occasions, the Mavs found themselves working to maintain the lead against New Mexico Highlands. They did just that outscoring the Cowboys in both periods, hitting over 50-percent of their shots, for their fifth consecutive win.

Small had season high 22-points, finishing 6-for-9 from beyond the arc. Riniker picked up a double-double with 15-points and 12 rebounds. Dancer, Baskin alongside Reece Johnson added 10-points to the team's offensive output.

RMAC Offensive Player of the Week
Senior guard, Jared Small picked up his first RMAC weekly honor, named Offensive Player of the Week after two 20-plus point outings for the Mavs. The Aurora, Colo. native was efficient across the board at 52-percent from the field, and 60-percent (9-of-15) from deep on the weekend.

Against UCCS, he put in a season high 20-points only to surpass that scoring total and net a new season high with 22-points the following night against New Mexico Highlands. He finished 6-of-9 against the Cowboys from deep, which also set a season high.

Synonymous Seniors
Georgie Dancer and Jared Small have been steady for the Mavs this season, and continue to bring a wealth of leadership, as well as what it takes to win championships. Both of them made their way over from Fresno Community College, and have helped the team to an RMAC Tournament Championship during the 2019-2020 season, the first in the Division II era. Last season the team captured the regular season title, and claimed back-to-back tournament titles with a 75-54 win over Colorado School of Mines.  

Small is averaging 9.7 points and 3.8 rebounds, sits third on the team in blocks with 15, dishing out 25 assists doing a little bit of everything on both sides of the hardwood. Dancer in a similar boat, averaging 8.6 points and 3.6 rebounds. The Modesto, Calif. native is behind a lot of the team's scoring, creating opportunities and dishing out 54 assists, a good chunk of those connecting with Small.

Evenly Distributed
Four players are averaging double-figures, but it could be anyone's game on any given day. Despite missing a couple games, Blaise Threatt remains the team's leading scorers averaging 12.0 points, along with 5.1 rebounds.

Mac Rinker who is a consistent starter, averages 11.9 points and leads the rebounding efforts with 5.5.

Trevor Baskin is close behind at 11.5 points and 4.9 rebounds, and leads the team with 24 blocks. He has turned away multiple shots in the 5 of the last 6 outings, and is six shy to tie for 14^th/15^th single season record. With seven more he would tie his father, Jon Baskin who collected 31 in 1988 and 1989. Small holds the No. 9 spot in single season blocks with 32 during the 2019 season.

No Easy Points
While the offensive presence has been clear thus far for the Mavericks, their defense has kept opponents to a 39.2 field goal percentage the top mark in the league, outscoring the opposition by a 12.8 margin, second best in the RMAC.

The team averages 35.1 rebounds, adding to their defensive prowess an average of 4.6 blocks per game, closing in on 100 for the season, with multiple blocks in each of the 17 outings with a season high nine on two occasions.

Scouting Black Hills State (9-3, 7-0 RMAC)
Two team remain unbeaten in the conference, the Yellowjackets being one of the them, Regis being the other. BHSU is riding a seven-game win streak since starting conference. They played just one game last weekend, after Regis postponed their contests due to COVID-19 protocols.

However, they kept their clean conference record with a 78-72 triumph over Colorado School of Mines. The team's success comes in large part of having the league's top player in their lineup, Joel Scott. The junior out of Monument, Colo. averages 24.1 points and is second in the conference with 11.2 rebounds. His points add up due to a efficient 64.1 field goal percentage, second behind the Mavs Mac Riniker who is at 67.8 percent for the year.

Sindou Cisse and Adam Moussa are also amongst the top-scorers with 15.5 and 12.8 points respectively.

When the two last met back in December in Grand Junction, the Yellowjackets escaped with a 75-73 overtime win. Despite the Mavs outscoring them in the second, a last second shot tied it up forcing the extra minutes, ultimately using a 10-8 advantage in during the overtime period. Jared Small led CMU with 18-points, Joel Scott with 27 for his team in the win. 

NABC Preseason Poll
Reaching the pinnacle of the program, claiming a No. 1 ranking in the final National Association of Basketball Coaches poll last season, the
Mavericks continue to garner national recognition heading into this season, coming in at No. 4 in the preseason poll, and picking up a first-place vote.

Reigning national champions Northwest Missouri State garnered 15 out of the possible 16 first-place votes to take the top-spot. Flagler came in at No. 2, followed by West Texas A&M, Colorado Mesa, and fellow RMAC member Colorado School of Mines at No.5.

RMAC Favorites
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference released their preseason poll, Wednesday as the Mavericks were favored to repeat.
CMU snagged 12 of the 15 first-place votes for 192-points. Colorado School of Mines, Black Hills and Fort Lewis each picked up one of the other three votes, projected to finish 2^nd, 3^rd and 5^th respectively. UCCS garnered 134-points to take the No. 4 spot, completing the top-5.

The Mavericks finished the condensed 2020-21 season with a 21-2 mark, 18-1 in conference play. The team went on an 11-game win streak from the get-go, going on another 10-game streak following their only loss in the loop, which included claiming back-to-back RMAC Tournament titles in a 75-74 overtime thriller over Colorado School of Mines, completing the season with a perfect 6-0 record when pushed into extra time.

With the automatic bid, the team returned to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year, this time as the No. 1 seed in the West Regional.