GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Adams State Men's Basketball was tripped up on the road Saturday night in a 96-82 loss to Colorado Mesa. The loss moves the Grizzlies record to 10-16 overall and 10-11 in conference play.
The Grizzlies shot 44.4% for the game on 32-72 made shots but a 3-16 shooting performance from three-point range did not help their cause. The Mavericks were 31-58 shooting for 53.4% and went 11-21 from deep for 52.4%.
The game started off as a back-and-forth affair for the two squads. The Grizzlies scored the game's first bucket but never led again the rest of the night.
Through the first minutes of play, Adams State never trailed by more than three points. A pair of
Davere Creighton free throws got the visitors within one, 10-9, with 15:3 to play in the half.
Colorado Mesa answered outscoring Adams State 16-6 over the next five minutes to lead 26-15 at the midway point of the half.
The Mavericks quick surge helped as they maintained a double-digit lead for much of the remainder of the first half. The Grizzlies managed to get within six point twice in the final 10 minutes on two different made shots from
Shemar Johnson.
Going into the locker rooms, the home team led 49-31.
John Dewey had 11 points in the first half as the Grizzlies shot 42.9% on 12-28 made shots but were just 1-7 from three-point range. The Mavericks were 17-31 from the floor overall for 54.8% and 5-11 from deep for 45.5%.
CMU used an 8-0 run to start the second half to extend its lead to 26 points, 57-31, before a dunk in transition by Johnson ended the drought for Adams State. The dunked sparked a 7-0 run to cut the Grizzlies deficit to 17 points, 57-40.
Despite the quick surge from the Grizzlies, the Mavericks managed to push their back to 20-plus points and kept it that way for the majority of the second half. The Grizzlies managed to cut their deficit to under 20 points in the final 90 seconds but it was too late by that point as they fell by 14 points, 96-82.
Dewey scored 30-plus points for the second straight games with a game-high 33 on 11-23 shooting. He was also a perfect 9-9 at the free throw line and dished out nine assists to go along with five steals and five boards. Johnson added 13 points and also had five rebounds.
Rickey Norris chipped in 11 points and pulled down eight rebounds.
Miles Banks led the team in boards with nine.
Two Mavericks scored 20-plus points in Connor Nichols with 27 and Kenzo Nudo with 26. Nichols shot 10-15 on the night and had a team-high five rebounds. Sam Walters added 16 points to go along with five boards to round out the double figure scoring.
The Grizzlies will wrap up the regular season next Friday, March 1 at Fort Lewis College. Tip-off will be at 7:30 p.m. in Durango, Colo.
