Box Score GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa turned a tight rivalry game with Western Colorado into a rout, burying the Mountaineers with an avalanche of second-half points in an 82-46 victory in Brownson Arena.
The Mavericks outscored Western Colorado 47-16 in the second half, including an electric 36-4 scoring run that put the game out of reach. The Mountaineers did not score a field goal for the final 12:31 of game time and went without a point for 9:38 late in the game.
Blaise Threatt led the way with 25 points, shooting 10 of 16 from the field and 4 of 6 on three-pointers.
Trevor Baskin scored 13 of his 16 points during the second-half surge, and
Isaac Jessup had a well-rounded game with 10 points, two steals and a career-high seven assists.
The Mavericks started well, using threes from
Reece Johnson and Jessup to help build an 8-0 lead. Threatt caught fire from deep, hitting four of his five first half three-point attempts, the fourth of which made it 22-10 Mavs. Western Colorado looked like they were going to make it a game late in the first half, riding 12 points from leading scorer Robel Desta to get within two at 30-28 and eventually head to halftime only down five, 35-30.
The Mountaineers had no answer for the Maverick charge in the second half, however. The teams traded buckets for the first few minutes after the break, but after a made jumper cut the Mavs lead to three at 41-38, it was all downhill for WCU. The 36-4 run was kicked off by the Mavericks forcing a turnover in three consecutive possessions and getting fast break buckets on the other end. The run featured seven points apiece from Threatt, Baskin and Jessup, six points apiece from
Elijah Knudsen and
Mac Riniker and three from
Ty Allred. CMU shot 64.5 percent as a team from the field in the second half while Western shot only 19.2 percent.
Colorado Mesa dominated nearly every possible statistic. The Mavs outscored WCU 38-18 in the paint and 21-6 on the fast break, had 20 assists to WCU's eight, had five blocks to WCU's one and had only 11 turnovers while forcing 18. The team also got to celebrate a milestone moment as redshirt freshman forward
Eddie Kurjak scored his first career college basket on a silky reverse layup with 2:43 remaining. Including tonight, Kurjak has played 10 minutes over three games this season and has pulled down four rebounds.
The win puts the Mavericks at 16-4 overall and 11-3 in the RMAC. It is the 11th win in 12 games for CMU, which had a 10-game win streak snapped the last time they took the court. The Mavs have now won four straight at home, however, and will remain at home next weekend with games against Regis on Friday and UCCS on Saturday, February 4. The Saturday game will be the annual Blizzard in Brownson Presented by Coca Cola. Both games will tip at approximately 7:30 p.m.
