The Madison Mavericks bounced back in a big way — earning two wins in the Official Basketball Association.
After taking a loss in the first game of the season, Assistant Coach DeVon Preyer continued to have confidence in his team.
“We are good,” Preyer said. “We got to see who we are and what we need to work on.”
Coach Preyer was spot on. The Mavericks came back a week later and dominated their next two games. Dave Turner took over with back-to-back 23-point games for the Mavericks, which propelled the team to multiple blowout victories over the weekend.
“He just continues to get better. He is a huge piece of our puzzle,” Head Coach Curtrel Robinson said about Turner.
The average margin of victory for Madison was 46 points in their two games this past weekend, defeating Rochester United by 34 points and, later, a whopping 58 points against St. Paul.
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“We really challenged the team in practice this week to be physical,” Robinson said. “I thought they showed that this weekend.”
Madison Mavericks vs Rochester United
Madison started the weekend with a road trip to Rochester, Minnesota where they took on Rochester United. The Mavericks asserted dominance on the defensive end by holding Rochester to just 72 points.
Turner took over the game with 23 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks while also shooting an efficient 71.4% from the floor.
Chris Costello had no trouble finding the bottom of the net either. He finished with 20 points in the game and shot 45% from the field.
Travis Kell found his rhythm and poured in 17 points off the bench. Damon Smith added 14 points and Stavon Staples finished with 13.
The well-rounded performance earned the Mavericks a 106-72 victory over Rochester United.
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St. Paul Panthers vs Madison Mavericks
Sixteen hours after beating Rochester United on the road, the Mavericks returned to Wisconsin to take on the St. Paul Panthers at an alternate site in Horicon, Wisconsin.
The game quickly got out of hand in the second quarter. The Mavericks went on a 40–6 run throughout the entire second quarter to take a commanding 70–30 lead into halftime.
“We talk a lot about how our defense is our offense,” Robinson said. “When we lock in on defense and we get transition buckets. It helps our offense flow a lot better.”
The run was sparked on the defensive side of the ball. A flurry of Panther turnovers led to easy offense for the Mavericks and six electrifying dunks in the second quarter. The Mavericks saw a dunk from Corvonn Gaines, Costello and Staples, along with three slams from Turner.
“Guys feed off that,” Robinson said about the showtime dunks during the second quarter. “They want to play harder on D.”
Staples finished with the game’s high of 26 points. Turner added 23 points in the contest and finished with seven dunks. Ricky Landais came off the bench to help extend the Mavericks lead throughout the second half. Landais finished with 18 points.
Joey Werner, a former Green Bay Packer, made his Mavericks debut against St. Paul. Werner scored 13 points in his first action as a Maverick. The outright domination resulted in a 126-68 win in favor of the Mavericks.
Road Ahead
Despite the two impressive performances, the Mavericks coaching staff is not fully satisfied just yet.
“We are still building though. We are still getting there,” Robinson said after the drubbing of St. Paul.
The Mavericks improved to 2–1 on the season and now focus their attention for a trip to Omaha, Nebraska. Madison will travel across borders for their second true-road game of the season against the Omaha Cuttaz.
Omaha is currently 1–1 on the season. The Cuttaz have allowed 116 points per game while the Mavericks have scored 108 points per game this season, giving the Mavericks a great opportunity to pour it on. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. Saturday, April 24.
