LAS VEGAS, N.M. – On a night filled with records, pinch-yourself moments and shot after shot hitting the net, Colorado Mesa survived an absolute shootout in a 116-108 win over New Mexico Highlands.
Trevor Baskin scored a career-high 43 points while
Christopher Speller added 21 to lead the Mavericks over the Cowboys in a game where the Mavs set records at both the program and the national level.
For starters, the stat of the night – after going 33-for-33 from the free-throw line as a team last weekend against Colorado School of Mines and MSU Denver, the Mavericks made their first 25 attempts from the stripe tonight to set a new NCAA record with 58 consecutive made free throws as a team.
The Mavs' new mark of 58 shatters the previous Division II record of 37 straight, set over three games by Southern Indiana in 2003, and also beats the Division I record of 54 in a row set by the University of Missouri over two games in 2020. The official NCAA Division III record book does not include consecutive made free throws as a team stat, so Colorado Mesa appears to have the new documented NCAA record across all divisions.
Additionally, with a 12-for-30 performance from behind the arc tonight, the Mavericks set a new school record with 298 (and counting) made three-pointers in a season, breaking the previous mark of 293 set in 2021-22. The Mavericks managed to break the three-point makes record before breaking the three-point attempts record, although they're all but assured to do that too at some point. The 2021-22 team attempted 840 three-pointers, and this year's Mavs are at 812 with three regular season games remaining plus any RMAC and NCAA Tournament matchups.
Baskin's 43 points are the third-highest single-game scoring total in program history, just two points behind the program record of 45 shared by former D2CCA National Player of the Year Ryan Stephan and program career all-time leading scorer Jon Baskin, Trevor's dad. The 43 points is also the highest single-game total in the RMAC this season.
The Mavericks shot 52 percent from the field (38-73), 40 percent from three (12-30) and 97 percent from the line (28-29). CMU needed every single one of those historic three-point and free-throw makes to beat an inspired Highlands squad, which shot over 52 percent from the field (36-69) and 50 percent from beyond the arc (13-26) while getting to the line plenty themselves (23-32, 72 percent).
Once again, Baskin's stat line was simply absurd – in addition to the 43 points, the redshirt junior grabbed nine rebounds, dished out six assists, had four steals and collected two blocks. Baskin shot 14 of 29 from the field and 4 of 12 from three-point range. The only thing Baskin did wrong all day was become the only Maverick in the last three games to miss a free throw – and he still went 11 of 12 from the line.
Christopher Speller joined Baskin in the 20-point club for the evening, his 21 points matching a season-high achieved in the previous game against MSU Denver. Speller went 8-for-13 from the field, hitting the only three-pointer and all four free throws that he attempted.
Isaac Jessup (14 points),
Owen Koonce (12) and
Sam Goulet (11) also finished in double figures.
The game featured seven ties and five lead changes. New Mexico Highlands led from the jump, with Colorado Mesa not taking the lead until a 7-0 gave the Mavericks a 17-15 edge with just over six minutes gone in the first half.
New Mexico Highlands re-took the lead on a Kenard Richardson three-pointer to give the hosts a 32-29 advantage with 8:59 left in the first half. The Cowboys led by as many as 10 late in the first half, but three-pointers from
Michael McCurry and
Trevor Baskin helped trim down NMHU's lead to just four at halftime, 53-49.
Just like in the previous matchup with Highlands, the Mavericks trailed at halftime but slowly built up a tidal wave of offense that was too much for the Cowboys to handle. Colorado Mesa scored 67 points in the second half, tied with the second half from the first Highlands matchup for the highest-scoring CMU half this year.
Baskin scored 29 of his 43 points in the second half and the Mavericks went to the free throw line 25 times as a team after halftime. The Mavs shot 19-for-34 on field goal attempts (56 percent), allowing them to ward off a Highlands team that shot 53 percent from the field.
New Mexico Highlands took the lead for the final time of the night with 11:12 remaining after a Nathan Hasberry layup made it 78-77. On the ensuing possession, Baskin missed a three, but crashed the glass to get his own rebound and finished the layup to make it 79-78, CMU. From there, Speller hit a layup before Baskin got a steal and slam at the other end to make it 83-78. After a Highlands bucket, another Baskin dunk and a three-point play from
Sam Goulet gave the Mavs an eight-point lead.
The Mavs hit the century mark with 5:12 left in the game on two free throws by Baskin, while the Cowboys hit 100 points on a layup with 1:34 left to play to cut the CMU lead back to 10 points.
Colorado Mesa has a quick turnaround, facing CSU Pueblo on Saturday night at 6 p.m. in Massari Arena. The ThunderWolves (11-13, 7-11 RMAC) hosted Westminster on Friday night.
