Grand Junction, Colo. – Following their game on Tuesday, the Colorado Mesa men's basketball team returns to Brownson Arena for a single contest Saturday. The Mavericks (17-8, 11-5 RMAC) will play host to the visiting South Dakota Mines Hardrockers (7-14, 5-10 RMAC). Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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

Run It Back
After the weekend's games, the Mavericks turned their attention to a midweek matchup Tuesday at Westminster.

Using 11, 3-pointers in their favor Colorado Mesa took home the 63-52 victory. Reece Johnson finished with a team leading 14-points, combining his offensive efforts with seven rebounds and three steals on the opposite end.

Georgie Dancer and Trevor Baskin chipped in 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Just as they have done throughout most of the season thus far, the team's second half efforts have been key. The Griffins were grounded shooting just 28.0 percent, the Mavs taking advantage with a 44.4 clip, hitting six, 3-pointers.

Block Party
The Mavericks average 4.9 blocks per game, for an 11^th best mark, their 119 total blocks ranking second in all of Division II.
Baskin has racked up 37 thus far, etching his name into the top-10 season record books. With one more, he would tie Colorado Mesa great Ryan Stephen who denied 38 shots in 2014.

Raining Threes
208. That is how many 3-pointers Colorado Mesa has made so far this season. That number gives them the top-spot in the conference, those shots falling at a 36.2 clip.
Jared Small is credited with 44 of those buckets, not far behind is Johnson with 37. In fact, all players who have recorded minutes this season, have hit a shot from beyond the arc.

Scouting the Hardrockers
Coming off a Thursday loss to Westminster, the Hardrockers closed out the month of January with a pair of losses to New Mexico Highlands and UCCS.
Redshirt freshman, Brevin Walter has been a bright spot for the team averaging 15.9 points (9^th in the RMAC), leading a trio of players that contribute double-figures. Alejandro Rama favors shots from beyond the arc, defensively leading the team in steals (29) and pulls down the second most rebounds (5.7). Kolten Mortenson is in front of Rama with 7.8 rebounds, the fifth highest mark in the RMAC, also averaging 13.7 points.

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.