The storybook baby bird from “Are You My Mother?” wasn’t safe until he was returned to his nest, and Metro State’s basketball team felt the same way.
After losing two Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference road games, the Roadrunners reign supreme in the sanctuary of their Auraria campus home court, fondly known as “The Nest.”
The Roadrunners increased their win streak at “The Nest” to 42 games with Friday’s 79-61 victory over New Mexico Highlands.
The home-court success is part of what coach Mike Dunlap calls “incremental signs we’ll be formidable at some time.”
It was odd to scan the RMAC standings after the first weekend and see Metro State at the bottom. The five-time RMAC champions have advanced to the NCAA Division II national tournament the past eight years and won national titles in 2000 and 2002. They went to the Final Four in 2004.
The current edition lost four starters from the 2005 Elite Eight team, including national player of the year Mark Worthington, and while it’s hanging on to the home win streak – so far – it is vulnerable. Along with losing two games in the Hawaii Hilo Shootout, Metro State lost at Adams State, 67-59, and at Fort Lewis, 67-64.
The latter game was played before 1,589 fans as Fort Lewis celebrated the national title won by its men’s soccer team. Fort Lewis men’s basketball coach Bob Hofman called for a pressure defense to rally his team from an 11-point deficit.
After the loss, the Roadrunners, previously ranked 14th, dropped out of the top 25.
With nine starters graduating or using up their eligibility in the past two years, Dunlap is rebuilding, not reloading.
“We haven’t been able to keep up with all those losses,” he said. “It’s a pretty big job now, considering every time the heat comes on the new guys.”
Returning players Drew Williamson, Greg Muth, Michael Bahl and Dustin Ballard have provided leadership and passed on the torch of high expectations to the newcomers. Bahl, a junior from Broomfield High, notched a career-high 18 points Friday with eight rebounds, four steals and no turnovers in 38 minutes. Williamson had seven steals and scored 17 points on 50 percent shooting, plus five assists.
Freshman Marquise Carrington, making perhaps more than incremental strides, ran the offense for 22 minutes with no turnovers, four assists and a career-high 10 points.
Around the RMAC
With their 84-78 victory Friday over University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, the Regis men have three RMAC victories, a fast start considering they won only seven RMAC games last season. … The Regis women are 63-17 in RMAC play since 2001 after a 66-53 win over UCCS on Friday. …
Dunlap and former Metro State players Lee Barlow and DeMarcos Anzures are on the NCAA’s list of potential choices for the Division II 50th anniversary team. Among the 28 players listed: Walt Frazier (Southern Illinois), Earl Monroe (Winston-Salem), Jerry Sloan (Evansville) and Phil Jackson (North Dakota).
