LAS VEGAS, N.M. — On any given night, any of the Colorado Mesa men's basketball players can make opponents pay.
Saturday, the Mavericks made themselves hard to guard by spreading the wealth, with five players scoring in double figures — and none of them were their season scoring leader — in a rugged 78-72 road victory over New Mexico Highlands.
Yaak Yaak had his third double-double — all in the past four games — with 14 points and 12 rebounds, but it was Mason Honeyman's clutch shooting that helped the Mavericks sweep the road trip and improve to 15-9, 9-7 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.
The win moved CMU into seventh place in the conference with four games to play, three of which are at home, putting the Mavs in position to claim one of eight spots in the conference tournament.
Honeyman led the Mavericks with 18 points, including four 3-pointers in the second half that allowed CMU to keep the Cowboys (10-14, 3-13 RMAC) at arm's length down the stretch. The big shot came with the Mavericks up only four after Christopher Speller's driving layup with just less than seven minutes to play.
Will Mortimore, who scored 10 points off the bench, snagged a defensive rebound and Honeyman found himself open on the other end for a 3, putting the Mavs up 64-57.
Yaak made a pair of free throws, then added a mid-range jumper to go up 11 with five minutes remaining. The Cowboys cut it to three, 68-65, with 3:37 on the clock but Speller sliced into the lane for an offensive rebound and layup and Harvey White drove for a layup and a seven-point lead with 1:32 remaining.
White finished with 13 points, as did Speller, with Ty Allred, CMU's leading scorer, adding seven points and four rebounds.
Once down 14 points, the Mavericks went on a 20-2 scoring spree in the first half to turn a 25-11 deficit into a 31-27 halftime lead. In that run, Allred hit a transition 3-pointer off a Highlands turnover, Speller scored after an offensive rebound, Yaak came up with a steal that led to a layup by White, and Mortimore put in a hook shot from the baseline.
That scoring run, during which the Mavs hit 8 of 11 field goal attempts, allowed CMU to shoot 50 percent from the field in the first half. And during that final 7:26 of the first half, the Cowboys had two turnovers, missed one layup, which Yaak blocked, and misfired on four 3-point attempts. They didn't score in the final 6:18 of the first half.
For the game, the Mavericks shot 51.8 percent from the field, hit seven 3-pointers and out-rebounded Highlands 34-28. The Cowboys made 10 treys, but couldn't overcome their poor shooting in the first half (8 of 27, 29.6 percent).
The Mavericks are back home this week, facing South Dakota Mines on Thursday night and hosting Black Hills State on Saturday afternoon.
