SALT LAKE CITY, Utah— A Dillon Pless goal with 31 seconds remaining in the first overtime lifted the nation's 15^th-ranked Colorado Mesa University Mavericks to a critically important 13-12 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men's lacrosse win over arch-rival Westminster University here at the Griffins' Dumke Field.
 
The Mavs saw a 12-9 lead evaporate in the final 90 seconds of the fourth quarter but scored on their third offensive possession of the extra period.  The win was their third straight in a span of just seven days game and gave them sole possession of the RMAC lead. 
 
They are now 7-2 overall and 4-0 in the RMAC.
 
The Griffins, who had three separate runs of three or more goals in Thursday's contest, fell to 4-4 overall and a game behind the Mavs in the conference standings at 3-1.
 
The fourth quarter was wild and featured ten goals after the teams had played the previous 16-plus minutes without a goal.
 
The Mavs led 7-5 at the half and were up 8-6 after the third quarter before the Griffins went on a 3-0 run over just 1:08 to take a 9-8 lead.
 
However, the Mavs responded with a 4-goal run of their own tying the game at nine on a Julius Petersen goal with 8:27 left.
 
Carson Points, Petersen and Camden Moody, who had scored the game-winner in CMU's previous overtime win over Florida Southern this season, then scored to give the Mavs a 12-9 lead with 2:14 left.
 
However, the Griffins' flew back into the game as Duke DeVault, who finished with six goals, scored with 1:21 and 21 seconds remaining to tie the game after Luke Sillstrop had made it 12-11 with 50 seconds left.
 
In the overtime, the Mavs' Dillan Thomas won the opening faceoff and ran down the field to put a shot on goal, saved by WU senior goalie Christian Jones, the reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Week.
 
The Griffins then turned the ball over before Petersen was shunned by Jones, who finished the night with 16 saves.
 
The Griffins then cleared the ball and called timeout.  Their first shot on that possession was blocked out of bounds before they once again turned the ball over.
 
Able to clear with ease after Brady Porter scooped up the ground ball, the Mavs then went deep into the shot clock before Pless swept across the net from left-to-right before running around the corner of the Griffin defense to beat Jones for the game-winner.
 
The Mavs had nine different goal scorers including senior Nik Moore, who registered hat trick of the season while adding an assist to finish with a career-high four goals. 
 
Pless and Petersen both scored twice.
 
Moody also had three points with two assists while Points, Connor Jensen, Jack Cooper, Eli Bibler and Ari Villano also added goals.
 
Devault and Sillstrop, who had four goals, were more autocratic for the Griffins, who had just four goal scorers.
 
The Griffins took 53 shots, 13 more than the Mavs.
 
However, CMU freshman goalie Boaz Brown made a season-high 18 saves.
 
Jones made seven of his 16 in the first quarter as the Mavs dominated the opening stanza but were only able to go ahead 3-2.
 
They did go up 5-2 thanks to Villano's goal and Moore man-up tally just 44 seconds later.
 
However, Sillstrop scored three straight over a span of 1:33 while converting a Maverick penalty for his middle goal of the run, which tied the game at five in the second quarter.
 
The Mavs then went up 7-5 at the half thanks to Cooper and Bibler's goals, the latter of which came just 17 seconds before the break.
 
Moore then took advantage of the momentum to lift the Mavs to their 8-5 lead in the opening minute of the third.
 
DeVault then scored with 11:29 remaining in the third quarter to make the game 8-6.
 
The game then got defensive and remained 8-6 for the next 16 minutes and 22 seconds before DeVault scored again with 10:07 left in the fourth quarter.
 
The Griffins then tied the game just 13 seconds later on a Charlie Phelps goal and took a 9-8 lead just 55 seconds after than through Liam Sweeney.
 
However, Petersen tied the game off a Moddy assist with 8:27 left before Points put the Mavs ahead with 7:01 remaining.
 
Petersen then doubled the lead to 11-9 with 5:51 remaining before Moody extended the advantage to three (12-9) at the 2:14 mark only to watch the Griffins win the final four faceoffs of regulation while going on their scoring spree to force the overtime.
 
The Griffins won 18 of the game's 28 faceoffs as Ashton Karch went 17-for-26 while racking up a dozen ground balls.
 
Despite that advantage, both teams finished the night with 43 ground balls as Cooper and Grant Schachet both finished with five.
 
Long Pole Reed Roughton also had four ground balls and three of CMU's 14 caused turnovers to help lead the defensive unit in front of Brown, who has now made 34 saves in his last two games.
 
The Mavericks will play their final official away game of the regular season on Saturday night at 6 o'clock when they take on RMAC newcomer Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, Idaho.
 
The Nighthawks dropped an 11-9 decision to Adams State at home on Thursday night and are now 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the conference.
 
CMU will then return home for three straight, including a re-match with Westminster on Apr. 9 before closing out the regular season back at Dumke Field, while taking on Dominican and CUI in neutral site games on Apr. 16 and Apr. 18, respectively.