Durango, Colo. - The Colorado Mesa University Men's Basketball Team would mark the first win of their 2024-25 season this afternoon as they defeated the Eagles of Northern New Mexico College by a score of 63-60 at the Skyhawks Hardwood Classic, hosted by Fort Lewis College.
With the win the Mavericks are now 1-2 on the year with this win being the first of Head Coach Mike Dunlap's career at CMU. Northern New Mexico drops to 1-8 following today's results.
In today's game there would be 12 lead changes with the score tied seven times, making for a climatic finish, which was highlighted by Mason Honeyman who made CMU's last six points. His three-pointer with 1:20 left would give the Mavs their final lead of the day.
Honeyman in total would score eight points as the team's leading scorers in today's contest would be Ty Allred and Austin Thyne. Allred would score 12 points while Thyne added 11 himself for a new career high. Allred has now scored in the double digits in all three games this season.
Yaak Yaak would grab eight rebounds to lead the team with Allred grabbing five himself.
While only shooting 34.5% from the field the Mavs would make a significant impact in the game by going 17-19 from the free throw line for a percentage of 89.5.
In addition to their performance on the line they would also outplay the Eagles by recording 18 second-chance points, 33 bench points and only committing 10 turnovers compared to the Eagles 15.
Northern New Mexico would be led offensively by Nigel Quaynor who scored a team-high 18 points to be the only player in the double digits for the Eagles.
In the first half of the game the Mavs would trail early as they were behind by four points seven minutes in but would flip the script by going on a 17-2 run over the next seven minutes to lead by as much as 13 and ultimately ending the first half with a six-point lead. During their run they would be led by Thyne who totaled six of the 17 points, with the Mavs making three three-pointers in that stretch.
Upon moving into the second half, Northern New Mexico would tie up the match with 11 minutes to go in the game. Both teams would battle it out over the next nine minutes with the Eagles leading by four with just over two minutes left in the game. Ty Allred would close that lead to two points on two free throws at 1:53 before Honeyman's dagger of a three pointer gave the Mavs' their final lead of the day as they held the Eagles scoreless to end the game.
Colorado Mesa will now conclude their stay at the Skyhawks Hardwood Classic tomorrow when they face off against Western New Mexico University. Western New Mexico would be defeated in the game prior to CMU's today by Fort Lewis College 71-62. Game time is set for 5 p.m. tomorrow with streaming to occur on the RMAC Network. Live stats will be available to follow along with as well.
