#15 DBU (27-6, 18-2 LSC) vs COLORADO MESA (21-10, 15-5 RMAC)
March 14 | 5:00 PM | Dallas, TX | The Burg Center
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MULTIMEDIA COVERAGE
Tournament Central: DBU Athletics
Video: NCAA
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
X: DBUBasketball
Instagram: dbubasketball
Facebook: DBU Athletics
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COUNTDOWN TO TIP-OFF
No. 15-ranked DBU serves as the one-seeded host school for the South Central Region portion of the NCAA DII Men's Basketball Tournament for the second consecutive season, following a historic run to the final four in 2025. The Patriots open their win-or-go-home schedule against Colorado Mesa, a group that defeated DBU at The Burg Center back in November.
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LAST TIME OUT
Sunday night, the Patriots took down Eastern New Mexico 76-74 in the Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship at the Comerica Center in Frisco. With the win, DBU claimed its second LSC title in as many years.
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Xavion Brown, who was later named the Tournament MVP, led the team with 17 points, but it was Trevor Frank who played hero for the Patriots. With time winding down and the score knotted at 74, Frank launched a deep two from the left-wing side and drilled it, giving DBU the lead with less than a second on the clock.
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Read more about the LSC championship win here.  
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PATRIOT STORYLINES
Climbing The Ladder: The Patriots came in at No. 15 in Monday's national coaches poll (NABC).
Back to Back: For the second year in a row, the Patriots took home both the LSC Tournament and LSC Regular Season Championships.
All-Tournament: Xavion Brown, Trevor Frank, and TJ Thomas were named to the All-Lone Star Conference Tournament team.
Reigning Royalty: Xavion Brown brought home the Lone Star Conference Defensive Player of the Year Award for the second consecutive season.
All-Conference Names: Brown (First Team), Trevor Frank (Second Team), and Drew Calderon (Third Team) all earned spots on a 2026 All-LSC team.
Run It Up: In its active 12-game win streak, DBU owns an average scoring margin of +16.7 points.
Quick Draw: The Patriots lead the country in steals per game (13.3), and are second in the country in turnovers forced per game (21.58).
Reinforcements: DBU leads the Lone Star Conference in bench points per game with 38.61 (fourth in the nation).
Offensive Glass: The Patriots lead the Lone Star Conference with 14.06 offensive rebounds per game.
Our Brand: DBU leads the Lone Star Conference in average turnover margin, sporting a +7.5 clip (third in the nation).
Separation: DBU's total forced turnover margin is currently +248 (712-464).
First 20: The Patriots have held the lead going into halftime in 27 of their 33 games this season.
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SCOUTING COLORADO MESA (21-10, 15-5 LSC)
- Entering the RMAC Tournament as the No. 2 seed, the Mavericks fought off New Mexico Highlands (91-90 OT) and CSU Pueblo (57-56) before falling to Black Hills State in the Championship round (89-77).
- Colorado Mesa leads the country in team free-throw percentage (81.3%), nearly 20 percentage points higher than DBU's percentage (61.7%).
- The Mavericks are second in the RMAC in field goal percentage (48.8%).
- Colorado Mesa is led offensively by Ty Allred. The 6'9'' senior guard is averaging 18.6 points per game, on top of 7.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.
- Clayton Jewell leads the group with 7.5 rebounds per game, and is the team leader on the offensive glass (2.5 offensive rebounds per game).
- The Mavericks own a -36 forced turnover differential on the season (353-379).
- Head coach Mike Dunlap is in his 23rd season as a collegiate head coach, and his second with Colorado Mesa. Dunlap holds a career head coaching record of 462-252.
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SERIES HISTORY
DBU holds the all-time series advantage over Colorado Mesa, 6-5. However, the Patriots fell to the Mavericks 78-77 to open the South Central Region Challenge earlier this season, as Ty Allred drilled a walk-off three as the clock read zeros.
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UP NEXT
The winner of Saturday's contest will go on to face the winner between (4) Western New Mexico and (5) St. Edward's on Sunday at 7:30 pm.