PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado Mesa men's lacrosse ended the regular season on a high, scoring from start to finish in a 24-7 win over CSU Pueblo which secured the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament for the Mavericks.

The No. 17-ranked Mavs finish the regular season at 10-4 overall with a 7-1 RMAC record. They will officially be RMAC regular season co-champions with No. 15 Westminster, who defeated Adams State Sunday, but CMU outpaces Westminster by one goal on the conference head-to-head goal differential tiebreaker which will enable the Mavs to host next weekend's RMAC Tournament for the second consecutive season.

JJ Brummett scored five times for CMU, while Levi McCoy and Paden Chastain each tallied their first hat tricks of the season with three goals apiece. Chastain, a true freshman, recorded the first hat trick of his career and now has scored multiple goals in three of the five career games he has played.
Hunter Holcomb tied a program record with five assists in a single game, tied a career-high with six ground balls and led the team while setting a new career high with four caused turnovers. Eli Bibler paced the Mavericks with seven ground balls.

Colorado Mesa scored at least five goals in every period while outshooting CSU Pueblo 62-17. The Mavs snared a 20-13 advantage in faceoffs and went 4-for-6 on extra-man opportunities throughout the contest.

CSU Pueblo scored first and scored again early as the game was tied 2-2 after five minutes, but the Mavs went on an extended scoring run with nine unanswered goals to seemingly put the game out of reach in the first half. CMU's 9-0 run featured two goals apiece from JJ Brummett and Levi McCoy while Shawn Ferguson, James Steinke, Dylan Checketts, Micah Payton and Dalton Goodale also found the net.

Pueblo had one counterpunch late in the second, as Chris Easley completed a hat trick with back-to-back goals to make it 11-4 with four minutes to play in the first half. Although Hunter Holcomb to push the lead to eight at halftime, the ThunderWolves tallied the first goal of the second half via Kevin Gallagher to make it a 12-5 game.

Needing to win by at least six goals to clinch hosting rights, CMU removed all doubt by scoring 12 of the next 13 goals. Paden Chastain recorded a second-half hat trick while twin brother Luke Chastain added one goal and fellow freshmen Jack Cooper, Eli Bibler and Stefan Dingbaum found the net. Holcomb recorded three of his five assists in the second half, with the final two going to JJ Brummett as the junior attacker finished the regular season with 48 goals after his five-goal performance on Sunday.

Luke Parrish played the first three quarters in goal for the Mavs and made four saves against five goals conceded. Mac Bayless played the fourth quarter and allowed two goals.

The loss ended CSU Pueblo's season, as the ThunderWolves did not qualify for the RMAC Tournament in their final season as a varsity program before moving to the club level. Up next, Colorado Mesa will face Adams State in the 1-4 matchup of the RMAC Tournament on Friday, March 26 at 7 p.m. from Community Hospital Unity Field. Westminster and CUI will face off in the other semifinal in Grand Junction at 4 p.m. on Friday, with the championship game scheduled for Saturday.