GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Blaise Threatt escaped foul trouble to score 23 points, Trevor Baskin added 18 points with four steals and Colorado Mesa did enough to put away a resilient MSU Denver team, winning 82-72 in the RMAC Tournament quarterfinals.

The Mavericks win ensures that Brownson Arena will host the remainder of the RMAC Tournament, welcoming four national top-16 schools to Grand Junction. As the No. 1 seed, the Mavericks will face off against No. 4-seed Colorado School of Mines in the first of two semifinals at 5 p.m.

The second semifinal will feature No. 2-seed Fort Lewis against No. 3-seed Black Hills State at 7:30 p.m. All four schools are nationally ranked in the latest NABC Coaches Poll – Fort Lewis at No. 10, Mines at No. 13, CMU at No. 14 and Black Hills State at No. 16.

In order to secure the hosting rights for this weekend, however, the Mavs needed to take care of business tonight. MSU Denver, which handed the Mavericks their most recent home loss on December 3, came out ready to play and took early leads of 6-2 and 19-15.

With 6:35 left in the half, Trevor Baskin scored a layup that broke a 24-24 tie. With that bucket, Baskin became the 20^th member of the Colorado Mesa 1,000 point club, joining his father, all-time program leading scorer Jon Baskin. Like he did when Blaise Threatt hit the 1,000-point milestone earlier this season, Mike DeGeorge called timeout to allow Baskin to be congratulated by his teammates and get an ovation from the fans.

Elijah Knudsen was a factor in the first half, going 3-for-4 from behind the arc. Knudsen's third three came with 2:22 left in the period and gave CMU what was their largest lead of the first half at 40-32, yet another mini MSU Denver run meant the Mavericks only had a three-point 41-38 lead heading to halftime.  

In the second half, the Mavericks found success inside, with the first 12 made CMU field goals of the second half coming in the paint. Both teams had their way offensively, with MSU Denver shooting 56 percent while CMU shot 55 percent and both teams scored 46 points in the paint.

The only Maverick three field goals outside the paint in the second half were all huge. With the Mavericks hanging on to a 71-68 lead, Christopher Speller stepped into a three-pointer to double the Mavs advantage. Baskin made a three on the following possession that stood after a replay review to see if his foot was on the line. A minute later and with exactly 1:00 on the clock, Blaise Threatt hit another three after Speller kept the possession alive with an offensive rebound and drawn foul, giving CMU a 10-point lead to ice it.

Threatt's 23-point game was his fourth consecutive game above 20 points and came just a day after he was named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week. Threatt turned in another signature offensive performance despite picking up his fourth foul with nine minutes left in the game. Knudsen added a layup and a block – both rarities for the freshman – to finish with 11 points. Knudsen has two blocks and four non three-pointer field goals on the season.

In a poetic twist, the Mavericks will now face Colorado School of Mines, the only team other than MSU Denver to give CMU a home loss this season. The Mavs are now 25-4 overall, surpassing the 1988-89 squad Tuesday for the second-most single-season wins in program history behind last year's team with 26. A potential RMAC Tournament championship win would also be a single-season record-breaking win for the program.