CMU Mavs Down 28, Make Miraculous Comeback

The Colorado Mesa Mavericks' victory over Black Hills State this past weekend was one that will not be soon forgotten. Down 28 points in the second half, the Mavs made a miraculous comeback and won the game in overtime 83-75.

It's not that the Mavericks were playing so horrible as to get into a 28 point hole early in the second half. It had much more to do with the hot shooting of Black Hills State. The Yellowjackets put in a team record 17 three pointers for the game, shooting  63% from downtown in the first half. Speaking of the Yellowjackets shooting performance, Colorado Mesa Head Coach Andy Shantz said,

"I don't know if there's been a  better shooting exhibition in 20 minutes that I've ever seen."

The Mavericks went down by 28 two minutes into the second half, and with just over 15 minutes to play, where down 53-29 when they went on a 20-0 to make it a game. The Yellowjackets went 8 1/2 minutes without a field goal, and turned the ball over 6 times.

Julian Vasquez, who didn't play in the first half because of a "coach's decision," scored 20 second half points, while Ryan Stephan added 12. Although the Mavs grabbed their first lead on a layup by Joe Kiely with 1:50 to play in regulation, it was a jumper by Vasquez with 15 second left that sent the game to overtime.

In the extra period the Mavs were 7-8 from the free throw line, and three of four from the field including 2-2 from three point range with Stephan and freshman Derek Biale hitting from downtown.

Head Coach Andy Shantz said he's never seen anything like it. "I don't think I've ever been part of a game where we've been down 28 points and come back to win. For whatever reason, our guys got it going  and luckily were able to come back and win the game in overtime."

Here are some audio highights from the last three minutes of the game.

The Mavericks followed up Friday's win with a dominating performance over Chadron State on Saturday, 85-51 to improve to 16-7 on the season, 11-6 in conference play. The Mavs, with three weekends remaining in the regular season are at New Mexico Highlands and Western New Mexico this weekend.