ALAMOSA, Colo. (December 21, 2014) – A gut wrenching loss against Colorado Mesa University came to fruition as a lob pass to Ryan Stephan underneath the basket with two seconds remaining translated into an 84-82 defeat for the Adams State University men's basketball team. An out-of-bounds lob pass found Stephan as the 6-foot-10 center connected for the winning layup. The loss moves Adams State to 4-4 overall and 1-4 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) games.

Shakir Smith led the Grizzlies with 29 points off 10-of-20 shooting while Stephan contributed a game-high 35 points and 12 rebounds for the Mavericks.

Sunday's conference tilt amassed an astonishing 22 lead changes and 16 occurrences of a tied score.

The Grizzlies took a 75-74 lead after a Travante Williams layup with 2:22 remaining and expanded their advantage to three points after a pair of made free throws. Colorado Mesa quickly responded with a three-pointer from Julian Vasquez to knot the game up at 77-77.

From there, Smith took control of the Grizzly offense by contributing five points in the final 51 seconds of play. Although Smith's efforts kept ASU with a small lead, Vasquez connected on another three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining to move Mesa ahead, 82-81. On the next Adams State possession Smith quickly pushed the ball up the floor and drew a foul on Vasquez. The foul sent Smith to the line by virtue of the double bonus. Smith would go 1-of-2 to tie the game at 82-82 but the eventual game-winning bucket by Stephan made the difference; handing ASU their fourth RMAC loss.

Both teams tallied nearly identical marks from the field as Adams State shot 46 percent (29-63) from the field as Mesa amassed 47.5 percent (28-59).

Juwan Buchanan finished with 17 points while Mike Hemsley recorded his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The Grizzlies are off until Jan. 2 when they face Black Hills State University from Spearfish, S.D. That game is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. start.