Grand Junction, Colo. - The Colorado Mesa University men's basketball team suffered its second straight loss Saturday afternoon when the Mavericks were brought down by the hot-shooting Cougars of Colorado Chrisitan University in a 75-65 decision at Brownson Arena.
Colorado Christian shot 68.42% in the second half to break away after the two teams were tied at halftime. The Cougars were 13 of 19 on shots made in the second half, with six of those makes being 3-pointers.
The Mavericks moved to 4-4 on the year and are still searching for their first conference win as they drop to 0-2. The Cougars improved to 4-3 with the win and are 1-1 in conference play.
Leading the squad offensively was the duo of Will Mortimore and Harvey White, who were the Mavs' only two players to crack double figures. Mortimore finished with 14 points with White scoring 11.
Mortimore also grabbed six rebounds to lead the team and Ty Allred had five rebounds.
Allred, who is the team's leading scorer this season, was held to just four points, with all four coming at the free throw line.
As a team the Mavs shot 45.7% from the field while going 33.3% from beyond the arc. The only area in which the Mavs outshot the Cougars was from the free throw line where they went 18-26 for 69.2%.
The Cougars shot 55.6 percent (25-45) from the field and made 12 triples on 23 attempts (52.2 percent).
Colorado Christian had three players in the double figures with Jacob Everson and Bradley Land both scoring 16 points and Christopher Barnes dropping 10 himself. Everson and Land were a combined 7-10 on three pointers to lead the team's second-half attack.
In the first 20 minutes. both teams played tight, with the largest lead of the half only reaching as high as five points. Both sides ended at 32 apiece entering halftime.
The game stayed close for roughly eight minutes into the second half before the Cougars' hot shooting began with them going on a 17-3 run and reaching a lead as large as 17 points. During that stretch, the Cougars hit three 3-pointers.
In the final 45 seconds, CMU brought the game within nine points but ran out of time in its attempt to mount a comeback as the Cougars hit a free throw to solidify their 10-point lead and the eventual final score.
Despite the loss, this was Colorado Mesa's first time this season where they recorded fewer than 10 turnovers, with nine in the game.
Saturday's game was the Mavs' final home game of the first half of the season with the team not returning to Brownson Arean until Jan. 9, 2025. They will continue RMAC action next week when they head to Denver to take on Regis University on Thursday, Dec. 12, before heading to Golden on Saturday, Dec. 14, to take on Colorado School of Mines. Both games will stream on the RMAC Network with live stats provided.
