March in Grand Junction. A season of prosperity and promise. Leaves are coming back, flowers are starting to grow, and people are generally in a happy mood. It is also a thriving time for Mesa State athletics. All the practices are in session, baseball, golf, soccer, and softball are thriving, and there is not a care in the world. However, one sport that doesn’t get to see March very often but had experienced a resurgence.
The Mesa State men’s basketball team got to see an unfamiliar territory this season: a regional tournament. Although the Mavericks have made the RMAC tournament 13 times in the last 14 seasons of Coach Heaps’ tenure, rarely have they seen a berth outside of the division. Since 1996, Mesa State has qualified for the D-II’s “Big Dance” a total of three times including this season. Some would view this as success but not Mesa State. There was a monkey on the back of Coach Heaps that was removed this year but had eluded him so many years before: a tournament win.
Mesa State had not experienced a tournament win outside of regionals. This is a statistic not normally talked about during the season because it’s a blemish not normally taken with pride. In this particular case, this scenario is no more.
Mesa State posted their first regional tournament win on Saturday, March 13th 2010 in Mankato, Minnesota. The opponent was Winona State. Score 73-68. At the game, everyone was firing on all cylinders. Four players scored in double figures. Throughout the whole game, the Mavericks were down to the Winona State Warriors. It wasn’t until Michael Dominguez, the Central Region Player of the Year, pulled up with a jumper with 7:59 remaining in the 2nd half to make the score 51-50. Brian Kenshalo drained one of his 5 three pointers on the night to put Mesa State up 54-50. Free throw shooting was probably the most crucial part of the game as the Mavericks were able to convert 23 of 24 shots. When the game ended with the score in Mesa State’s favor, one could only think of the teams before them who had strived for the goal achieved this day.
Although the Mavericks ended up losing the next day to Augustana (SD), the disappointment can be short lived, due to the history that this squad has made. No one can take away what hard work and dedication can do to a team. The spirit was evident in the Mavericks season and the future is only looking up.