Stephan scores 27, Mavs end losing streak

While it has not been an ideal season thus far for the Mavericks and first-year head coach Andy Shantz, there was still a chance to capture some big time wins over the weekend for the CMU men’s basketball team.

The Mavericks faced the No. 13 ranked team in the nation in School of Mines, and the Orediggers showed how they have been able to get it done all season.

“They are extremely well coached, and they are a veteran group,” Shantz said. Veteran might be an understatement, as most of the players on the Mines roster are at least 21 years old. “They play really mature basketball. They will always make the extra pass for the right player to make the shot.”

The Mavericks hung in the game early, with a 15-15 tie early in the first half. Big man Ryan Stephan picked up a few quick fouls, and had to take a seat on the bench. Mines took advantage of the void down low and dominated inside the paint and started to pull away from the undersized Mavs. Both teams headed into the locker room at halftime, with Mines leading 31-19 behind 50 percent shooting from the field.

“They have a ton of huge bodies that they can throw out there, and they really took it to us,” Shantz said.

The Orediggers lived at the free throw line, shooting 15 of 20 free throws in the second half.

“Because of how physical they are, it is hard to keep them off the line,” Shantz said. “On the other side, we have to do a better job at getting to the line ourselves.”

The Mavericks only had nine attempts at the charity stripe the entire game.

The Mavericks stepped up defensively in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to slow down the Orediggers as they dropped the Mavs 65-48.

Saturday night was a prime opportunity for the Mavs to snap their four game losing skid, as they took on Colorado Christian University (10-9, 8-7 RMAC).

Stephan turned it on for the Mavs with a career night offensively, tallying 27 points off six of seven shooting, including a pair of three pointers, and notched 13 more points from the foul line.

“We really wanted to emphasize playing inside-out basketball,” Shantz said. “We are a lot bigger than them, and we really wanted to attack the basket. [CCU] had a hard time matching up with us down low and I was really pleased with the way the kids executed for the full 40 minutes. They really grew up tonight.”

The Mavs received a strong contribution from the rest of the supporting cast with four other players scoring in double figures. Clay Kame scored 13, Landon Vermeer had 12, and Jerry Duckworth finished with 11 while Carlos Perez scored 10.

The biggest advantage came from the Mavs’ bench scoring which totaled 41 points compared to the Cougars’ 15 bench points.

After a close 40-37 halftime score, the Mavs outscored the Cougars 56-47 in the second half to win 96-84 and end the losing streak.

“I guess the Basketball gods were watching out for me,” Stephan said about his career night. “It just feels great to kind of get the monkey off our back by getting this win, and hopefully it will give us some momentum heading into the road trip next weekend.”

The Mavs (9-10, 7-8 RMAC) travel to Black Hills State and Chadron State as they try eclipse the .500 mark on the season.

kparkhu@mavs.coloradomesa.edu

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This post was written by critedev