GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Good teams find different ways to win, and the Colorado Mesa Mavericks men's basketball team exemplified that this past weekend.

The Mavericks lit up the scoreboard in a 102-95 shootout overtime win over Chadron State, then relied on suffocating team defense to defeat Colorado Christian 82-43 the next day. The two wins have CMU in first place in the RMAC standings at 9-0 and with a new top-10 national ranking and 13-2 overall record.

This week, the No. 8-ranked Mavs welcome the RMAC's two South Dakota schools to Grand Junction, facing perhaps the program's biggest rival over the past few seasons on a weekend which could see Mac Riniker collect a major career milestone.

Looking Back
Colorado Mesa survived a scare in Nebraska before a dominant performance in Lakewood for a 39-point win over Colorado Christian.

RECAPS: Chadron State | Colorado Christian

Owen Koonce led the way with 22 points in the win over Chadron State while Mac Riniker had a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double. Trevor Baskin put up 16 points and five assists in the win over Colorado Christian.

Programming Note
For fans who tune into the Mavericks on the radio, there will be a slight change in how you listen to the Mavericks for Saturday's men's and women's basketball games.

Saturday's game against South Dakota Mines will be on 1100AM KNZZ radio. Friday's game against Black Hills State will be on 1340 AM/101.1 FM The Team radio, the normal home of CMU basketball games, but The Team will be carrying the NFL playoffs on Saturday night.  

Like normal, both games this weekend will be available to stream live on the RMAC Network.

Winning Is A Habit
Defensive dynamo Mac Riniker won his third RMAC Defensive Player of the Week award of the season. Riniker, the reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Year, had somehow won only one Defensive Player of the Week award in his career prior to this season, but has produced a string of eye-popping performances on the defensive end and in the stat sheet.

Player of the Week Release

In CMU's two wins over Chadron and Colorado Christian, Riniker averaged 14 points, nine rebounds, 3.5 blocks and 1.5 steals per game. Riniker tallied his first double-double of the season with a 19-point, 11-rebound effort against Chadron, before recording nine points, seven rebounds, four blocks and three steals against CCU.

Riniker leads the RMAC with 31 total steals and ranks tied for sixth with 15 total blocks.

Chase For 1K
Riniker's defense isn't the only noteworthy part of his game. With his 28 total points last weekend, Riniker will enter Friday's game against Black Hills State 12 points away from 1,000 career points.

The redshirt junior has taken his offensive game to another level this season, averaging 15.2 points per game, well above his career average of 9.4 points per game. Riniker has four games with 20-plus points so far this season, including a career-high 30 points against Texas A&M-International on November 18.

Colorado Mesa had two players reach the 1,000-point milestone last season, with Blaise Threatt and Trevor Baskin doing so in 2022-23. Baskin currently has 1,275 career points, which ranks ninth on the program's all-time scoring list while Threatt is now 10^th, having wrapped up his Maverick career with 1,195 career points. A total of 20 players currently have scored 1,000 points or more in the history of the Mavericks program.

Three Is A Magic Number
Colorado Mesa's up-tempo offense prioritizes quick ball movement and shooting the three-pointer, and the Mavericks are doing so at a volume higher than nearly everyone in the country.

The Mavericks rank second in Division II with 33.5 three-point attempts per game and rank fourth in Division II with 11.5 made threes per game. They lead the RMAC in both categories by a comfortable margin, as CMU's 497 attempted threes are over 100 more than the next closest team, which is South Dakota Mines, the Mavs' opponent on Saturday.

The Hardrockers have attempted 392 three-pointers on the season. Contributing heavily to that number is fifth-year guard Alejandro Rama, who currently leads the RMAC individually with 42 made threes and 120 attempted threes.

Colorado Mesa's willingness to pull the trigger from deep is also connected to the team's ability to pass the ball into open looks. The Mavs are averaging 18.4 assists per game, 2.2 more than any other RMAC school, and rank eighth in all of Division II with that per-game total.

Menzies Watch
After an emotional return to the court that was ultimately a cameo against New Mexico Highlands, forward and 2020-21 First Team All-American Ethan Menzies didn't play against Chadron State but played a season-high 13 minutes against Colorado Christian.

Against the Cougars, Menzies finished with two points, four rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal while shooting 1-for-2 from the field. Menzies connected on a layup with 17:23 left in the second half, just 16 seconds after subbing into the game, for his first basket since March 13, 2021.

For more information on Menzies' recovery and return to the court, check out CMU Athletics' feature story on Ethan here.  

In the Polls
Colorado Mesa vaulted into the top 10 of the NABC Coaches Poll, rising three spots to No. 8 in the region. The Mavs are the third-highest ranked team in the South Central region, trailing national No. 2 West Texas A&M and national No. 4 DBU – the only two teams to beat CMU this year.

The Mavericks are the highest of three ranked RMAC teams, with Fort Lewis dropping to No. 12 after suffering their first conference loss and Colorado School of Mines (who CMU has beaten with one head-to-head matchup still to come) rising to No. 16 in the polls. With the Lone Star Conference's Angelo State at No. 19 (after losing last weekend to West Texas), the South Central region has six teams in the nation's top 25.

The D2CSC Media Poll has the Mavericks at No. 14. That poll has a lesser view of the South Central region as a whole, with West Texas at No. 3, DBU at No. 7, Fort Lewis at No. 23, Mines at No. 24 and Angelo State unranked. CMU ranks third in the D2CSC regional rankings behind West Texas and DBU.

The Mavericks were picked to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in a preseason poll of the conference's head coaches. The Mavericks received eight of a possible 15 first-place votes and finished with 186 points to top the poll. Fort Lewis, who shared the regular season title with CMU and won the RMAC Tournament last year, got four first-place votes and 177 points. Colorado School of Mines received three first-place votes and 169 points while Black Hills State and Chadron State rounded out the top five.

About Black Hills State
The Yellowjackets of Black Hills State have been one of the most successful Division II basketball programs in the country over the last half-decade but are trying to find a new identity with significant changes to the roster this season.

Black Hills State is coming off back-to-back trips to the NCAA Division II Final Four in 2022 and 2023. For each of those runs, the Yellow Jackets featured Joel Scott, the two-time reigning RMAC Player of the Year and reigning Division II National Player of the Year, but Scott is now a starter for Colorado State, the top team receiving votes in NCAA Division I.

The Yellow Jackets have lost five of their top six scorers from a season ago and are currently 7-7 overall with a 5-3 record in the RMAC in 2023-24. In the RMAC portion of the schedule, BHSU has beaten UCCS, MSU Denver, New Mexico Highlands, Adams State and Western Colorado while losing to Regis, Colorado School of Mines and Adams State.

Black Hills still features Matthew Ragsdale, who is excelling with an expanded role in the BHSU offense. Two seasons ago, Ragsdale averaged 21.5 points per game with Western Colorado before transferring to Black Hills State to join forces with Scott, his high school teammate.

Ragsdale dropped to 13.5 points per game last season, taking a backseat to Scott and others in the offense, but is currently the RMAC's leading scorer this season, averaging 21.6 points per game. Ragsdale has 10 games with over 20 points this season, including 32-point performances against MSU Denver and Adams State.

Hoku Fisher (10.1 points per game) and Caelin Hearne (9.9 points per game) are a pair of reserves from last year's roster who have stepped up into the starting lineup and become scoring options for the Yellow Jackets. Center John Shanklin (7.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg, .590 FG%) controls the paint for BHSU.

Head Coach Ryan Thompson is in his sixth season at Black Hills State. In his previous five seasons, Thompson has compiled a 104-41 record with two RMAC Coach of the Year honors, two regular-season RMAC championships, one RMAC tournament championship and the two Final Four postseason runs. Under Thompson's leadership, BHSU is the only RMAC basketball program to finish in the top four of the RMAC in each of the last five seasons.

Colorado Mesa holds a narrow 11-9 edge in the all-time series with Black Hills State. The past two match-ups have each been noteworthy – during their first of two Final Four runs, Black Hills beat CMU in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, 72-62, in March 2022, ending the longest postseason run in Maverick program history.

The Mavs won the most recent matchup last season, upsetting a Black Hills team which was ranked No. 3 in the country at the time by an 80-69 score on the road in Spearfish. Interestingly, road teams have traditionally done just fine in this matchup, as the Mavericks are 6-5 on the road and have won the last three matchups in South Dakota but are only 5-3 at home vs. the Yellow Jackets.

About South Dakota Mines
Picked 11^th in the preseason RMAC poll, South Dakota Mines has been competitive, battling to a 6-9 overall record with a 4-5 RMAC mark thus far.

The Hardrockers tend to play close games, no matter the opponent. SD Mines has a one-point loss to No. 16 Colorado School of Mines and a two-point loss to No. 5 MSU Moorhead on its resume. The Hardrockers have come out on top in some down to the wire games, as well, beating UCCS by two points and CSU Pueblo by two in overtime.

South Dakota Mines, like CMU, also played Texas A&M-Kingsville and Texas A&M International during the nonconference season, losing to Kingsville 54-49 and beating International 84-66. The Hardrockers also have a nonconference win over Black Hills State and a win over Regis but losses to New Mexico Highlands and Adams State. They have been better away from home, compiling a 4-2 road record while going just 2-7 at home.

The Hardrockers have two primary scorers in junior guard Cameron Cohn (18.9 ppg) and fifth-year guard Alejandro Rama (18.4 ppg). Cohn has often risen to the occasion against top competition, scoring 21 points against MSU Moorhead, 32 against then-No. 18 MSU Denver and 29 against then-No. 10 Fort Lewis. Cohn leads the RMAC in free-throw makes (82) and attempts (109) and is shooting 43 percent from the field and 38 percent from deep.

Rama leads the RMAC in three-point makes (42) and attempts (120). Rama scored 31 points earlier this season against Texas A&M International, 26 against MSU Denver and 28 in a loss to Adams State. Aside from their main two scorers, fifth-year guard Kolton Frugoli (11.8 ppg) and senior guard Keagen Smith (10.9 ppg) give the Hardrockers four players averaging in double figures.

Head Coach Eric Glenn is in his sixth season leading the Hardrockers. Glenn holds a 57-77 record through his first five seasons, making two RMAC Tournament appearances in that span. His first head coaching experience came at Missouri Valley College from 2000-2003, but Glenn has a decorated assistant coaching career with stops at Chadron State, the University of Wyoming, Black Hills State and 13 years at South Dakota Mines before earning the head job.

Colorado Mesa is 8-1 all-time against South Dakota Mines and 4-0 in Grand Junction. The Hardrockers have made the series more competitive in recent years, getting their lone win in January 2020 and taking the Mavs to double overtime the following season in February 2021. Both of those matchups took place in Rapid City, however, the Mavericks won by 16 points in the most recent meeting in Grand Junction.

Coach's Corner
In his five seasons in Grand Junction, Mike DeGeorge has transformed the Mavericks into a perennial national and conference contender, winning two RMAC Coach of the Year awards in the process.

From 2018-19 through 2022-23, DeGeorge has compiled a 112-38 record at the helm of the Mavericks, topping the 20-win plateau in four consecutive seasons. He improved the Mavericks from 11 to 19 wins in his first season and crossed the 20-win barrier in 2019-20, leading CMU to an RMAC Tournament Championship from the No. 4 seed.

The 2020-21 campaign saw the Mavericks start the season with 14 consecutive wins on the way to the RMAC Regular Season and Tournament Championships and finishing the regular season ranked No. 1 in the nation. DeGeorge was named RMAC and NCAA West Region Coach of the Year.

In 2021-22, DeGeorge's team won a program-record 26 games, advancing to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for the first time in program history, a run that included a win over regional No. 1 seed Lubbock Christian.

The Mavs won a co-RMAC regular season championship in 2022-23, going 19-3 in the RMAC and 25-6 overall while making their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. The team stepped up in tough environments, going 3-0 on the road against top-15 opponents as DeGeorge nabbed his second RMAC Coach of the Year award.

Prior to CMU, DeGeorge was the head coach at Eureka College in Eureka, Ill. from 2000-04, Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa from 2004-09 and Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn. for eight seasons from 2010-2018. He has over 300 career wins as a head coach.