BURNABY, B.C. -- The Simon Fraser men's basketball team fell 80-56 to the host Colorado Mesa Mavericks Saturday at the Holiday Inn-Airport Thanksgiving Basketball Classic in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Senior forward Julian Roche recorded 15 rebounds, including eight on the offensive end, three steals and 12 points. Wilfried Balata, a junior guard, posted 14 points to lead all SFU players. Sophomore guard David Penney had six assists.

Twenty CMU points came from Owen Koonce, while Blaise Threatt contributed 13 and seven rebounds.

After Balata hit a pair of foul shots early in the first half, junior guard/forward Jahmal Wright stole the ball from the Mavericks, and it led to a Lyons layup with 13:11 to go in the first half that got SFU to within a point of the hosts at 14-13.

CMU answered by outscoring SFU 17-5 over the next 6:03 to widen its advantage to 31-18.

The visitors posted six-consecutive points on a layup from Penney and two from Roche to trail 31-24, before the Mavericks restored the double-digit gap going into halftime (39-28).

CMU put the game away with a 12-0 run in the second half to go up 61-34.
 

SFU shot 35.5 per cent (22 of 62) from the field on Saturday, while the Mavericks were successful at a rate of 64.0 per cent (32 of 50). The rebounding battle ended 35-24 in favour of SFU.

Head coach Steve Hanson's team split its games at the Holiday Inn-Airport Thanksgiving Basketball Classic, defeating Western Colorado Friday before tonight's result.

SFU (4-3) will play its first Great Northwest Athletic Conference matchup on Saturday at Western Washington. Douglas College will visit the West Gym for a non-conference contest on Dec. 7.

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