Grand Junction, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa (23-8, 17-5 RMAC) men's basketball team closed their regular season last weekend, and turn their attention to post season starting with the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament and the quarterfinal matchup against MSU Denver (17-11, 11-11 RMAC), Tuesday in Brownson Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Maverick fans can stream the game and follow live stats at the cmumavericks.com
Run It Back
Sparking a late run in the second half, the Mavericks took the season sweep over Western Colorado, 62-57, quieting a rowdy Gunnison crowd on Thursday (Feb. 24) to open the weekend.
Jared Small led all players with 18-points, knocking down all his free throw attempts, including the two that pushed the Mountaineers out of range.
The weekend sweep was made complete two days later when the Mavs outlasted a late push by the Skyhawks of Fort Lewis, taking an 81-75 overtime victory.
Blaise Threatt made contributions on both ends of the ball, finishing the night with a 19-point, 14 rebound double-double.
Setting a New Standard
With the win over Mines the weekend prior, the Mavericks made it three straight seasons collecting 21 wins. With the pair of wins this past weekend they mark a new standard under head coach
Mike DeGeorge with 23 wins to date.
The last team to rack up that number of wins was the 2009-10 squad, who finished 23-6.
The next win will match a program record 24 wins, that set by the 1988-89 team who went 24-9.
Flawless February
The Mavs closed out the month of February with a flawless 7-0 record. Their 8-game win streak includes their 81-72 over Western Colorado in the first meeting on Jan. 28.
Key wins include their 91-79 win over Regis, their second time downing the Rangers this season and the revenge win over Mines (72-62) on Feb. 19.
In that time frame they outscored opponents by a 9.7 margin, their season margin of 10.5 ranking second in the conference. Behind a 45-percent clip, they also averaged 8.1, 3-point baskets, with 13-more made than their opponents.
Defensively, they averaged 9.0 steals and were a positive 3.4 in turnover margin, with opponents around 15.4 to their 12.0.
Posing a Threat(t)
Missing out on one of the games back in early February, redshirt freshman
Blaise Threatt returned without skipping a beat. The Scottsdale, Ariz. native put up 22-points in his first game back, and then combined for 46-points in the Mavs final home series.
His 27-points against Colorado School of Mines marked a career high, his 19-points the night aided by a perfect 7-7 from the floor. Last weekend he averaged 12.0 rebounds, with a career high 14 set against Fort Lewis.
We Meet Again…
Tuesday will mark the third clash between the Mavericks and Roadrunners this season. MSU Denver captured the previous two matchups, the last on Jan. 14 ending in their favor on a last second nearly full court buzzer beater.
Since then, they went on to take the first three games of February but dropped the last four of their five games including their RMAC finale to Black Hills State.
Reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Week, Laolu Oke continues to be the offensive and defensive leader for the Roadrunners averaging 14.4 points and 11.6 rebounds. He also leads the team in steals (47) and leads the conference in rebounds.
Similarly to the Mavs, they have multiple players averaging double figures, behind Oke is Ra'Shawn Langston (13.8), Miles Gibson (13.0) and Tyrei Randall (12.8).
