SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Colorado Mesa University men's basketball team used an 8-2 run in the final five minutes to outlast the Colorado State University Pueblo Thunderwolves this evening as they captured an RMAC semifinals victory at Donald E. Young Center.
The Mavericks trailed by seven points with less than five minutes left to play in the game before coming all the way back to take the lead and force the Thunderwolves to miss the game-winning shot.
The Mavs now advance to the RMAC Tournament Championship game for the first time since the 2023-24 season with them playing No. 1 seed Black Hills State who defeated No. 4 seed Fort Lewis College in the second semifinals game.
This will be the Mavs' third time this season facing off with the Yellowjackets with them having dropped the last two decisions.
The last time Colorado Mesa was Tournament Champions was in 2021 with them now having a chance to win their fourth Tournament Championship in program history. They have reached the Conference Tournament Championship Finals 12 other times.
Tomorrow's Championship game will take place at 7 p.m. with the winner getting an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
The Mavs improve to 21-9 overall this season while the Thunderwolves end their campaign going 22-8.
There was a total of five lead changes in today's game with the Mavs leading for almost the entire first half and most of the second before the Pack overtook CMU prior to the late comeback.
The Mavs utilized a run of 10-3 in the first half to lead by as many as 11 points before battling off a late push by the Thunderwolves.
CSUP closed the half on an 8-0 run with the halftime score being 27-26 in favor of the Mavs.
The Thunderwolves then slowly clawed their way back to lead for the first time in the second half with them taking over with 13:52 left to play.
The two teams swapped the lead three times on the next three buckets before CSUP then went on a 12-2 run while hitting four three-pointers.
They led by as many as seven points during that time with the Mavs then making their push in the final five minutes.
After allowing a pair of free throws at around the five-minute mark, the Mavs scored eight straight points with Ben Henderson leading the push with four himself.
He would hit the go-ahead bucket as well with him knocking down a 12-foot jump shot inside the paint to take the 57-56 lead with 53 seconds to go.
The Thunderwolves missed consecutive three-pointers to follow before having to foul Ty Allred and put him on the free throw line.
Allred narrowly missed his free throw attempt which allowed the Pack to go all the way down court with a chance to win the game in the final nine seconds, but a missed shot allowed the Mavs to reign victorious.
Ty Allred led the Mavs' scoring effort with 16 points while four different players finished in double figures
Henderson and Harvey White each had 11 points while Clayton Jewell added 10.
Jewell also had 11 rebounds for his team-leading eighth double double of the season.
The Mavs shot 41.8 percent from the field while dominating the rebounding efforts with a 44-28 advantage. Four of the Mavs had five rebounds or more each.
Mac Terry led the Thunderwolves with 16 points while Dylan Sanders had 13.
They shot just 35 percent from the field.
