GUNNISON, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa University men's basketball team captured a 75-61 road RMAC win this evening as they took down the Western Colorado Mountaineers at Paul Wright Gymnasium.
The Mavericks bounce back from their loss this past Saturday at Adams State with tonight's win as this is their third game in the span of eight days with them play again later this week on Thursday.
CMU improves their record to 9-6 overall on the season now with them sitting at 5-2 in the RMAC and in lone third place. The Mountaineers fell to 5-10 with the loss and 3-4 in the RMAC.
The Mavs led the entirety of the first half in tonight's game with the first 20 minutes being a low-scoring affair as only 25 combined points were managed through the 10 minutes of play.
Colorado Mesa opened the game with an 11-4 run through the first six minutes as they shot 5-for-8 in that stretch while adding one three-pointer.
The Mountaineers responded by outscoring the Mavs 8-2 in the following four minutes to make it a one-point differential at the 10-minute mark but a strong run over the next five minutes allowed Colorado Mesa to gain a 17-9 advantage and regain the margin with them closing out the half leading 36-30.
The Mavs led by as many as 10 points in the first half before a trio of WCU three-pointers brought the game to within six in the final five minutes.
Both teams swapped field goals in the second half with the Mavs continuing to lead throughout the first 10 minutes by just a single-digit margin.
Western threatened to rally late bringing the game to within six points with just under four minutes left to play but strong defense limited the Mountaineers to just six points to end the game.
Eight free throw points in the final minute of play for the Mavs would solidify the win as well.
Ty Allred led CMU with 20 points on the night while grabbing eight rebounds.
Clayton Jewell added his second straight double-double on a 16-point, 11 rebound performance while both Ben Henderson and Cohenj Gonzales also reached double digit scoring with Henderson having 13 points and Gonzales notching 10 points.
Aidan McDowell, the nation's and RMAC's leading scorer, scored 35 points in game to pace the Mountaineers with him outscoring his entire team.
He would record five three-pointers but was out dueled by Colorado Mesa's paint presence which had a 30-18 advantage.
Continuing their week on short rest the Mavs will now return home to host Westminster University on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Brownson Arena. Tickets can be purchased online at cmumavericks.com/tickets or in person at the gate.
