DENVER— Reigning Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week Ty Allred scored 25 points as the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks held on for a key 74-70 road win over MSU Denver on Thursday night in the Roadrunners' Auraria Event Center.
 
The Mavericks withstood a strong Roadrunner challenge down the stretch and extended their winning streak to four while improving to 10-3 in conference play and 14-7 overall.
 
The Roadrunners (7-14, 5-8 RMAC) went on a 7-0 run to slice a 72-63 lead to just two points before the Mavs were able get a key stop and a pair of Wes Ball free throws in the waning moments to hold on for what was their sixth win in the last seven games.
 
The victory, which keeps CMU in third place in the RMAC standings by two games, was also a nice treat for second-year Maverick head coach Mike Dunlap, who won 248 games and a pair of NCAA Division II National Championships with the Roadrunners during his 9-year (1997-2006) coaching tenure in the state's capital.
 
Dunlap, who was coaching in the Auraria Event Center for the first time since moving on to the NBA with Denver Nuggets in the fallowing season, is now 2-0 against the Roadrunners since taking over the Maverick program in 2024.
 
Allred finished 9-for-17 from the field and hit on four of eight 3-pointers.  The senior out of Mona, Utah has now had 20 or more points in four straight games and seven times this season.  He also added eight rebounds and now has 950 career points.
 
Fellow big-man Clayton Jewell also added 12 points and eight rebounds while Cohenj Gonzales paced the Maverick back-court with 11 points, nine of which came on a trio of 3-pointers in just under 20 minutes on the court.
 
Harvey White also had a solid game with eight points and eight assists.
 
Ball finished with nine points and five rebounds off the bench.
 
Logan Threatt had a team-high 16 points off the Roadrunners' bench.
 
The Mavs took a 34-28 lead into halftime after holding the Roadrunners to 31.3 percent (10-32) shooting in the first half.
 
They then went on a 9-0 run early in the second half to build a 14-point (52-38) advantage at the first timeout.
 
However, the Roadrunners responded with a 17-2 run of their own over the next 5:40 to take a 55-54 lead.
 
Allred then dunked the ball home off a White rebound on the ensuing possession as the Mavs took the lead for good at 56-55 with 10:08 remaining.
 
Seven minutes later, the Mavs extended their lead to 72-63 after a Gonzales steal and two free throws.
 
However, the Roadrunners scored the next seven points to close the gap to 72-70 with just 1:25 left after they took advantage of a Maverick turnover to score four points on their next trip down the floor.
 
On that trip, Daniel Thomason made the first of two free throws before Brian Unachukwu grabbed an offensive rebound, which led to a nice Threatt step back jumper from the outside.
 
CMU was then unable to score on the next possession as Unachukwu grabbed the defensive rebound.
 
With a chance to tie or take the lead, the Roadrunners missed a contested jumper although Thomason grabbed the rebound with 22 seconds remaining to keep their hopes alive.
 
Following a timeout, the Roadrunners were again thwarted as Quave Propst-Allison missed a contested layup.  Ball was then able to grab the rebound and hit two game-clinching free throws after the Roadrunners were forced to foul.
 
The Mavs were a perfect 12-for-12 from the line throughout the night and shot at a 51.9 percent (14-27) clip from the field in the second half.  They also made six of ten 3-point attempts after the intermission.
 
The Mavs also registered 16 assists and committed just nine turnovers while finishing with a slight 34-31 rebounding advantage.
 
The Mavs will remain in Denver to take on Regis (1-18, 0-13 RMAC) on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.