Wins Starting to Pile up For CMU Mavericks Basketball

The CMU Basketball Mavericks are on a roll! The men’s and women’s teams are a combined 15-1 heading into the final weekend of action before the Christmas break. Grand Valley basketball fans should stand up and take notice of what’s happening in Maverick Land.

The CMU women, led by Coach Taylor Wagner, in his first year with the Mavericks are off to an 8-0 start, 4-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. This past weekend the Mavericks defeated Western New Mexico 63-50, and New Mexico Highlands 85-52.

The Mavericks have been dominant so far, winning by an average of 30 points per game. They are scoring an average of 77 points a game, giving up 46, and defensively holding their opponents under30% shooting from the field. Four players average in double figures including seniors Kelsey Sigl, Katrina Selsor, and Bruna Deichmann, and Sharaya Selsor. Sigl was the RMAC pre-season player of the year. The women are on pace to have their best season since 2001-2002 when they went 27-5 and won the RMAC championship. The Mavericks are currently alone in first place in the RMAC and ranked #25 in the nation in the USA Today/WBCA coaches’ poll, and they certainly look like a team that can contend for an RMAC championship.

The Maverick men are also making things happen early in the season, having won 6 games in a row enroute to a 7-1 record, and a perfect 4-0 conference record. This past weekend, the Mavericks earned a dramatic final seconds win over Western New Mexico 58-57, and then survived New Mexico Highlands 81-75. The Mavericks are tied for first place in the RMAC with Western State Colorado which is also 4-0, while Metro State and Adams State both sit at 3-0.

Last year the Mavericks had a somewhat disappointing regular season going 12-10, but eventually made it all the way to the RMAC Shoot out championship before losing to Colorado School of Mines. Coach Jim Heaps, in his 17th season with the Mavericks, has a deep squad, but leans heavily on 6-8 senior Colton Burgon from Sandy Utah, averaging 18 points and 8 rebounds a game. Senior Jeff Hart and sophomore Mike Melillo are also averaging in double figures.

Of course, there is a lot of basketball left to be played…..and the toughest games of the season remain ahead for both of these teams. This coming Sunday and Monday the Mavericks play on the road against Fort Lewis and Adams State.

These Maverick  teams are definitely worthy of community support and home attendance for their games should be better than it is. The men are drawing an average of 818 fans, while the women are drawing 487 in the 2000 seat arena. Brownson Arena should be packed for both of these teams.

The next chance for you to see the Mavericks at home is January 4th and 5th when they take on Colorado Christian and Colorado Mines.

(CMU Basketball games can be heard on AM 1230 KEXO)