GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Harvey White put on a show Saturday night for some very special people in the stands at Brownson Arena.
His family made the trip from Urrbrae, Australia, and the 6-foot-2 freshman guard for the Colorado Mesa men's basketball team made sure they liked what they were experiencing, scoring a career-high 25 points in the Mavericks' 74-67 victory over Emporia State (Kan.) to improve to 4-2.
"So super special to have my family especially come over from all the way from Australia," White said. "So yeah, it's always nice to, you know, get a win and have a good game in front of them. Super special, especially, first time over here in America."
White scored 19 of his points in the second half, and over a span of about five minutes, completely took over the game.
Up 44-39, White scored nine straight points for CMU, all on 3-pointers, pushing the lead to 53-43 with 13:45 remaining. The third 3 came from straight on after Ty Allred spied him from the corner. With just less than 13 minutes left, he came up with a steal and converted the breakaway layup.
He finished the game 9 of 11 from the field and made 4 of 5 from the 3-point line. He added two assists and two steals.
"I think our team just does such a good job of being unselfish and sharing the ball," White said. "We've got a lot of talent, anyone can go off on any given night. I was just the one that was getting open and getting shots and they were going in."
Allred added 14 points and eight rebounds, making 4 of 5 from beyond the arc and a layup.
It was a tough night inside for the CMU big men, with Will Mortimore taking only three shots, but Yaak Yaak finished with 10 points, six of which came at the free throw line. Christopher Speller had a dozen points and was not only a calming influence on offense, he helped create matchup problems for the Hornets' talented shooting guards. Malik Edwards finished with 19 points, Devin Conley 16 and Brayson Laube 14.
"First off, we felt that the way that Emporia State played, style of play, and that their 1 and 2 guards were really tough, that it would be the kind of game that it turned out to be," CMU coach Mike Dunlap said. "So credit to them, but every time out, we have an entirely new team, so we wrote another chapter where it was just pretty much a chess match and the way that it unfolded, and I thought our guys obviously did a great job.
"And if obviously Harvey doesn't do what he does, we're probably talking about a different outcome. And then same with Chris. Chris gave us a real lift when they were up. We sub Chris in, and a plus minus showed that it was a tribute to what Chris did tonight."
Speller graded out as a plus 12, which means while he was on the floor, the Mavericks outscored Emporia State by a dozen points.
"Coach, he's always been on playing defense and rebounding, so that's really been my main focus going into the games, doing the best I can on the hustle stats and then just on the offensive, trying to keep the guys composed," Speller said. "I know we're a young team, but just keeping everybody composed. Don't get too hurried or ahead of ourselves, and we'll be all right."
Emporia State (1-5) took an early lead when the Mavericks were turning the ball over in the half-court, committing seven in each half, but Allred hit a 3 to tie the game at 24-24 with 7:11 to play in the first half and White converted a fast break after Mason Honeyman grabbed a defensive rebound.
The Mavericks didn't trail the rest of the game, holding a three-point lead at the break and building it to 11 five minutes into the second half.
The Hornets' shooting kept them in range, pulling within four points, 66-62, with 3:46 remaining.
Speller drove for a layup and White drew a foul, making both ends of a one-and-one to ease te lead back to eight.
Colorado Mesa played its 1-1-3 zone for much of Friday's win over Bowie State, but switched defenses Saturday between zone and man, and Dunlap used a variety of lineups to the Mavs' advantage.
"One is we're smart, and so I worked through both of these young men (Speller and White) to change the defenses," Dunlap said. "And so you've got to be in tune, because you can get caught up in that too, and it ends up being a lot of slop, but definitely we're able to throw different pitches at them to keep them off-balance, because those guards could really shoot it, as you saw. So we just tried to do what we could, tamp them down as much as possible, and decide to just change up our defenses tonight."
Once again, CMU shared the ball, with 19 assists on 26 made baskets, but still need to work on ball security, with the Hornets scoring 18 points off turnovers.
With no games next week, Dunlap is giving the Mavericks a few days off, which White will spend showing his family around western Colorado — and learning about his first Thanksgiving.
The Mavericks open conference play Dec. 5 at home against CU-Colorado Springs, followed by Colorado Christian on Dec. 7.
