GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa set a school record for wins and reached the finals of the RMAC Tournament with an 86-59 win over No. 4 seed Black Hills State.

Owen Koonce scored 20 points to lead a balanced effort in which 12 different CMU players scored. Trevor Baskin recorded a 13-point, 12-rebound double-double in just 20 minutes of action while Ethan Menzies doubled his season total by hitting a pair of three-pointers.

The victory moves Colorado Mesa to 27-3 overall, breaking the 2021-22 roster's mark of 26-10 for the most single-season wins in program history. The No. 1 seed Mavericks will advance to the finals of the RMAC Tournament on Saturday night at 6 p.m. from Brownson Arena, facing the winner of No. 2 seed Fort Lewis and No. 3 Colorado School of Mines, who are squaring off later Friday night.

Anxious to break a two-year streak of losing in the tournament semifinals as the higher seed, Colorado Mesa was locked in from the start and didn't leave the outcome in doubt for very long. The Mavericks opened on an 11-2 run, led by 22 points at halftime and led by as many as 35 in the second half.

The Mavericks shot 47 percent from the field (31-66), 34 percent from three (12-35) and 86 percent from the line (12-14). They outrebounded Black Hills State 50-35 and never trailed in the contest.

While the Mavs got going eventually on offense, it was CMU's defense that kept them afloat when its shots weren't falling in the game's opening minutes. Neither team made a field goal for the first four minutes of game time until an Aidan Kuhl layup made it 6-2 Mavs.

Black Hills State didn't make its first field goal until seven minutes into the first half and didn't make one outside of the fastbreak until over 10 minutes of game time had passed. Black Hills State shot 30.3 percent for the game, the first time that the Yellow Jackets shot lower than 35 percent in a game all season.

The Mavericks finished with five blocks, including two apiece from Baskin and Menzies, and 11 steals, including three apiece from Christopher Speller and Isaac Jessup. CMU dished up 27 assists, including a perfectly-threaded bounce pass from Ethan Menzies between two defenders that found a cutting Owen Koonce, who cocked way back before slamming home a one-handed dunk to make it 67-40 CMU with 8:32 to play.

Koonce grew more and more confident offensively in the second half, hitting back-to-back transition heat-check threes at 5:06 and 4:41 of the second half, the second of which pushed the Maverick lead over 30 points for the first time at 78-47. Three-pointers on back-to-back possessions from Christian Speller and Michael McCurry brought the lead to its high point of 35 points at 84-49 with three minutes to play.

Colorado Mesa got to work some of its bench guys in, with a total of 15 players seeing action. Guard Levi Dombro, fresh off winning his third consecutive RMAC Summit Award, played four minutes and collected two rebounds, an assist and a steal.

The Mavericks are now in the RMAC Tournament finals for the first time since 2021, when the Mavs won the second of their back-to-back RMAC Tournament championships under head coach Mike DeGeorge.