GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - The Colorado Mesa University Men's Basketball Team will see action twice more this year as they close out the 2024 half of their season with a trip down to Texas this week to compete in the San Antonio River City Holiday Classic, hosted by Pittsburg State University.
The Mavericks will take on opponents University of Central Oklahoma and Pittsburg State University in the Classic for a pair of non-conference games before returning to RMAC play in the beginning of January.
CMU's games will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday this week with Tuesday's game taking place at 4 p.m. MST against UCO. Wednesday's game will be at 2 p.m. MST against Pitt State.
The Mavs take this trip down to Texas this year in place of the High Desert Classic which they participated in last year. That Classic took place in Las Vegas instead, but is recognized as the same event this year, with the same schools of UCO and Pitt State serving as partner hosts of the event.
Beyond the event, the Mavs will look to bounce back this week as they are currently on a four-game losing streak and are still searching for their first win since they defeated Emporia State at home on Nov. 23. Since that game they have lost all four conference games they have played in with each of them being decided by 10 points or less.
The team's overall record stands at 4-6 (0-4 RMAC).
LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS
This season the Mavs have been a team that is going through many changes and are still trying to figure out what their identity is.
As a team they are averaging 68.2 points per game while allowing 72.3 points per game to opponents. In their most recent game against #10/#11 Colorado School of Mines they would hold the Orediggers to just 65 points in the game for their lowest amount scored in a game this season.
From the field CMU is shooting 45.3% which is better than their opponents who are only shooting 44.7%.
The Mavs have struggled from beyond the arc though, as they are only shooting 31.5% and average 6.2 three pointers per game.
The team's main area they have done well this season is in the rebounding department as they are grabbing 33.5 boards per game while limiting opponents to 32.1. Their rebounding defense is marked for fifth in the conference with their 10.7 offensive rebounds per game coming in at sixth in the conference.
They have also seen success in their ability to grab steals from their opponents as the team is averaging 7.10 steals per game to rank in the top five of the conference.
Individually the Mavs have three players at this point of the season to average double-digit scoring with the group being led by Ty Allred who is averaging 14.5 points per game. Harvey White has averaged 10.9 points per game with Will Mortimore averaging 10.2 to round out the team.
Allred and Mortimore also serve as the team's rebound leaders with Allred grabbing 6.6 boards per game and Mortimore grabbing 6.4. In this past weekend of play, Mortimore would record his second double-double of the season against Regis University when he scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Mortimore has the team's only two double-doubles this season.
Harvey White is the team's assists leader with him dishing out 3.6 per game. He ranks fifth in the conference at assists per game.
Yaak Yaak has collected 10 blocks this season to lead the team and ranks him seventh in the conference for blocks per game.
ABOUT CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
CMU will take on the Broncos first in this week's classic and in doing so will be the first time that either school has faced each other in men's basketball. This is the second time the Mavs have faced a new opponent this season after having faced off with Bowie State back in November for each of the school's first time meeting in that matchup too.
Central Oklahoma enters Tuesday's game sporting a 4-4 record and through two conference games are also winless at 0-2. In the team's most recent game they suffered an 82-74 overtime loss to Missouri Southern.
Despite having a .500 record on the season the Broncos are a top five offense in the MIAA as they score on average 82.3 points per game. Leading that offense are four players who all are averaging double-digit scoring this season with the leader of that group being Israel Hart at 15.3 points per game. He is joined by Jordan Thompson (13.5 ppg), JV Seat (13.1 ppg) and Jacobi Sebock (11.8 ppg) to round out the team's balanced attack.
Sebock is also grabbing 7.1 rebounds per game to tie for the conference lead.
Central Oklahoma will take on familiar region foe in St. Edward's University on Wednesday after Tuesday's game against the Mavs.
ABOUT PITT STATE
The Mavs' final opponent of the week and the first half of the 2024/25 season is the Gorillas of Pitt State. This will be just the third time that CMU and Pitt State have ever faced each other and their first time meeting since 2005. The two teams are tied at 1-1 in their two lifetime games.
The Gorillas will take on University of Missouri – St. Louis first in the Classic on Tuesday before their game against CMU on Wednesday.
Prior to Tuesday's game, Pitt State enters this week with a 6-3 record and are 2-0 to start conference play in the MIAA. They are currently on a four-game winning streak with two of their wins in that stretch coming against teams receiving votes in the national polls.
While not as offensively high scoring as Central Oklahoma, the Gorillas still lead a balanced attack as well on offense as they too have four players who average scoring in the double digits.
Avery Taggart (15.6 ppg), R.J. Forney Jr. (12.1 ppg), Jordan Frison (12.1 ppg) and Tanner Mans (11.1 ppg) all serve as the team's leading scorers. Frison also serves as the conference leader in assists, averaging 5.8 per game.
THIS WEEK'S FORMAT
The River City Holiday Classic consists of two days of basketball with five games per day all taking place at Northside ISD Sports Gym. In total there are 10 different schools making the trip to San Antonio with Pitt State serving as the host school of the neutral venue. Below is the two-day event format with game times shown in Central Standard Time:
Dec. 17 11:00 a.m. Central Missouri vs Texas Permian Basin
Dec. 17 1:00 p.m. Rogers State vs North Georgia
Dec. 17 3:00 p.m. Pittsburg State vs Missouri - St. Louis
Dec. 17 5:00 p.m. Central Oklahoma vs Colorado Mesa
Dec. 17 7:00 p.m. Washburn vs St. Edwards
Dec. 18 11:00 a.m. North Georgia vs Central Missouri
Dec. 18 1:00 p.m. Missouri - St. Louis vs Rogers State
Dec. 18 3:00 p.m. Colorado Mesa vs Pittsburg State
Dec. 18 5:00 p.m. St. Edwards vs Central Oklahoma
Dec. 18 7:00 p.m. Texas Permian Basin vs Washburn
HOW TO WATCH
All 10 tournament games will be web streamed through the MIAA Network or can be accessed through the link https://www.themiaanetwork.com/miaa/. Cost is $20 per game and there is not a tournament pass option. Live stats will be provided to follow along with and both UCO and Pitt State will have radio options to listen to as well which can be found on their websites.
