DALLAS, Texas – The Colorado Mesa University men's basketball team concluded the 2025-26 season this evening as they fell to No. 15 Dallas Baptist University 99-66 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Burg Center.
The Mavericks came into the tournament as the No. 8 seed for the South Central Region with them taking on the No. 1 seed and host Dallas Baptist in the first round in what was a rematch for the Patriots after the Mavs defeated them in the first game of the season.
The Mavs now coincidentally started and finished their season with the Patriots.
Colorado Mesa finishes the season with a 21-11 record while capturing their sixth 20-win season in the last seven years.
In addition, this was the Mavs' 12th time returning to the NCAA Tournament with them making it this far six times in the last seven seasons as well.
Head Coach Mike Dunlap has now accumulated 10 trips to the NCAA DII Regionals with this being his first in his tenure with the Mavs.
The Patriots led the entire game this evening with them capturing a lead as large 40 as they shot a staggering 65 percent from the field.
After the first five minutes of the game the score was just 14-8 in favor of the Patriots before they went on a 10-2 run build their lead.
They finished the first half outscoring the Mavs 25-14 through the final 10 minutes with the halftime score being 53-26.
The Patriots continued to maintain their lead in the second half with it growing over 30 points multiple times.
They were boosted by a 6-for-13 three-point shooting performance in the final 20 minutes as well.
Despite the deficit increasing, the Mavs scored 40 points in the second half which was 14 points better than their first half as they shot 50 percent from the field.
They would finish the game shooting 45.6 percent.
Clayton Jewell was the Mavs' leading scorer with 14 points while recording six rebounds.
Ben Henderson added 13 points and Cohenj Gonzales had 12.
Lone senior on the team Ty Allred had 11 and finished the season with 587 points and his career with 1,136.
The Mavs now head into the offseason and will be back in action this coming fall in November. Other postseason awards will be announced in the coming weeks.
