GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Adams State College men’s basketball team hit three 3-pointers in the first 2:37 of the game jumping out to a 9-2 lead over the nation’s 13th-ranked Mesa State College Mavericks. They built that lead to as many as 16 points and led by 12 at the half only to see the Mavericks go on a 15-0 run over five minutes early in the second half while avoiding what would have been a gigantic Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference upset with an 80-67 win over the Grizzlies, Saturday night here in Brownson Arena.
The first-place Mavericks, who outscored the Grizzlies 47-22 in the second half, have now won 10 straight games while improving to 19-1 overall while remaining perfect in 13 RMAC games.
The last-place Grizzlies have now dropped each of their last 12 conference contests and nine overall while falling to 4-17 overall and to 1-12 in conference play.
Jase Herl and Mike Dominguez took over the game in the second half combining for 27 points in the second stanza as the Mavericks erased a 47-35 deficit with their big run, highlighted by a Dominguez 3-pointer that gave the Mavericks their first lead with 16 minutes left.
The Grizzlies remained tough for the next two minutes and tied the game at 52 with an Eric Miller (Aurora, Colo.) bucket but watched a Herl 3-pointer trigger another 7-0 Maverick run that put the NCAA Division II Central Region’s top-ranked team on top for good.
The Grizzlies would pull to within four on two different occasions over the next few minutes and trailed by only six with five minutes left before another 9-0 Maverick run over the next four minutes put the game away.
Early on, it was all Grizzlies as freshman Colton Lauwers (Anchorage, Alaska) and senior Forrest Becker (Albuquerque, N.M.) combined to hit the Grizzlies first three shots, all from beyond the arc. Freshman Nick Fox (Colorado Springs, Colo.), who tallied 16 points and eight rebounds to lead the Grizzlies in RMAC play, then recorded a 3-point play helping the Grizzlies build a 12-4 lead.
After sophomore Brad Hernandez (Westminster, Colo.) added another trey putting the Grizzlies on top 15-7, the Mavericks pulled back to within three before a 20-7 Grizzly spurt extended the Grizzlies lead to 39-23, their largest of the night.
The Grizzlies shot an impressive 51.7 percent (15-29) from the field in the first half and hit 5 of 10 (50.0 percent) opening-period 3-pointers but were just 1-for-7 (14.3 percent) from beyond the arc in the second half that saw the Grizzlies hit just 9 of 25 (36.0 percent) of their field goal attempts.
They also turned the ball over 11 times in the second half after committing just five first half turnovers as the Mavericks heated up hitting 51.7 percent (15-29) of their second half shots.
Herl had 15 of his game-high 24 points in the second half and finished the night a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line while adding five assists. Dominguez also had five assists and tallied 18 points and eight rebounds. He was also 11-for-14 from the free throw line as the Mavericks went 25-for-31 (80.6 percent) as a team.
Miller had 12 points for the Grizzlies while Lauwers hit a trio of 3-pointers while finishing with a career-high 11 points.
The Grizzlies are now half-way through a 4-game road trip and will face Colorado State-Pueblo and New Mexico Highlands away from home next weekend before returning home to face the Mavericks on Feb. 19 in what will be the first of four straight home games to conclude the regular season.
All of the Grizzlies’ remaining games will begin at 8 p.m. and can be heard live on KSPK-FM (104.1 in Alamosa) and via the internet at www.kspk.com.