James Williams
The Paw Print
The Adams State College men’s basketball team nearly pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference this season, building a double-digit lead in the first half only to see it vanish early in the second half before eventually falling 80-67 on the road to the nationally ranked Mesa State College Mavericks on Saturday night.
Freshman guard Colton Lauwers nailed two 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the game, helping to open up a 9-2 lead over the 13th-ranked team in the nation. Senior guard Forrest Becker added a 3-pointer as well, and freshman phenom Nick Fox contributed a 3-point play to help the Grizzlies extend the lead to 12-4.
The Mavericks would cut that lead to three points before the Grizzlies erupted on a 20-7 run that stretched the lead to a game-high 16 points with just under four minutes remaining in a first half that was dominated by the Grizzlies. The Mavericks added a couple of buckets before the close of the half, but the Grizzlies still held onto a solid 45-33 lead entering the break.
The Grizzlies, as they have many times this season, showed their ability to score effectively, knocking down 51.7 percent of their shots from the field and 50 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc.
While the Grizzlies have shown flashes of potential this season, they haven’t been able to get past the mistakes that have kept them from accumulating more than four wins thus far, namely inconsistency shooting the basketball and a lack of commitment on the defensive end of the floor.
The Grizzlies and Mavericks almost reversed their shooting percentages in the second half. The Mavericks made the identical 51.7 percent that the Grizzlies did in the first half, and the Grizzlies shot only 36 percent from the field in the second half, unable to continue the success they had in the first half.
Fox nailed a jumper less than a minute into the second half, but the Mavericks erased the 12 point deficit that faced them in the next five minutes of game play, taking a 1-point lead on a 3-pointer from senior guard Mike Dominguez.
The Grizzlies tied the score twice in the next couple of minutes, following another 3-point play from Fox and a jumper from senior forward Eric Miller. The Mavericks took the lead for good on their next possession, as senior guard Jase Herl drained a 3-pointer that sparked a 7-0 run that buried whatever chances the Grizzlies had at pulling off the upset over the NCAA Division II Central Region’s top-ranked team.
Herl and Dominguez controlled the second half, combining for 27 points. Herl finished the game with 24 points, 15 of which came in the second half, and Dominguez finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. In addition, both players had five assists. Overall, the Mavericks outscored the Grizzlies 47-22 in the second half.
The Grizzlies had three players in double figures. Fox finished with a team leading 16 points, Miller had 12 points, and Lauwers finished with a career-high 11 points.
The Mavericks have now won 10 straight games, improving their record to 19-1 overall and 13-0 in the RMAC.
The Grizzlies fell to 4-17 overall and to 1-12 in the RMAC. They will wrap up their final two road games of the season this upcoming weekend at CSU-Pueblo and New Mexico Highlands.
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