Mavs move to 2-0 after Central Region Challenge

The Mavericks were seeing only green lights on the road this weekend in Kansas City, Missouri. The Central Region Challenge provided the Mavericks a chance to hit the ground running, and that is exactly what they did. 

In their first game of the year, the Mavs were faced with an intriguing opponent in the Missouri Southern Lions. In the first five minutes of the game, the Lions jumped out to a 12-7 lead, but the Mavericks answered back, tying the game at 16 in the next three minutes. The teams took turns struggling for the lead until junior Malik Willingham gave the Mavs their first lead of the game at 5:41 in the first half. 

Sophomore Harrison Braudis enjoyed an efficient, and at times, dominant day, including scoring the final eight points of the first half for the Mavs. Going into halftime, the Mavs held a two point lead, 38-36.

Coming out of the break, the Mavs hit their stride, going up by eleven points at 16:37, bringing the score to 52-41. Braudis continued his excellent game, adding a pair of threes on the way to the Mavs biggest lead of the game, 74-54. 

The twenty-point lead proved to be the nail in the coffin for the Lions, as for the rest of the game, the Mavericks never let their lead drop below fourteen points. The win for the Mavs ended with a final score of 87-73 and gave a good start to the new season.

Braudis led the team in scoring with 24 points on 7-11 from the field, and 4-4 from beyond the arc. M. Willingham added another 19 points and 5 assists, while senior Kelby Kramer quietly had a solid game making his only shot, tallying 10 rebounds and protecting the paint with 3 blocks.

Riding their momentum into the next day, the Mavericks were looking to make the Henderson State Reddies their next victim. The first half began with both teams struggling to pull away from each other, as the score was tied at 15 midway through the first. 

Malik Willingham got out to a great start, providing the Mavericks with a bit of momentum with back-to-back threes at the end of the Mavs’ 18-7 run heading into halftime. M. Willingham led all scorers at halftime with 12 points, while sophomores Kyrese Willingham and Brady Williams added 9 points each to bring the Mavs’ halftime lead to 43-32.

The double-digit lead the Mavs earned before the half stayed that way throughout the remainder of the game to reach a final score of 84-64. In the second half, M. Willingham added another 13 points on his way to a career-high 25 point performance in Saturday’s win. The brother duo of Malik and Kyrese Willingham nearly combined for a triple-double with 39 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists on the day. 

Another impressive stat for the Mavs in this game was their shooting percentages, nearly eclipsing the coveted 50/40/90 mark as a team. As a unit, the Mavs shot 51% from the field, 39% from the three-point line and 93% from the free throw line, in an excellent offensive performance.

With a 2-0 start to the season, the Mavs are rolling. They will continue their season Tuesday on the road against St. Cloud State University, where tip-off is set to commence at 7 p.m.

Write to Hayden Lee at Hayden.Lee@mnsu.edu