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'Runners' revenge spills over on Mines
Metro 64, Colorado School of Mines 48
By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

Photo by Molly Kreck • kreck@mscd.edu Metro guard Marquise Carrington, left, looks for an open teammate with Colorado School of Mines guard Robert Trujillo, right, guarding him at the perimeter. Carrington had six assists in the 64-48 victory.

Metro’s No. 11-ranked men’s basketball team used great pressure defense and another fantastic performance from guard Marquise Carrington to win their eighth straight game in a home victory against the Colorado School of Mines Jan. 19.

Both teams were ranked in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in scoring defense, so it wasn’t going to be a high-scoring affair. It came down to which defense would press more, and it turned out to be Metro’s. The Orediggers were ranked first in the RMAC in scoring defense, holding opponents to only 61.6 points per game, while Metro was fourth at 66.4 per contest.

The Roadrunners never allowed the Orediggers to settle into their offense, using a full-court press that forced 15 turnovers, including 11 steals. Metro converted those turnovers into 17 points.

“We knew this was a big game,” Carrington said. “We wanted to rebound from last year when they broke our streak, so we felt like we owed them something. It’s good to get the win.”

Carrington was speaking of the 47-game home winning streak that dated from Jan. 25, 2003 to Jan. 14, 2006. Mines came into the Auraria Events Center on Jan. 20, 2006, and ended the streak with a 69-65 victory in overtime. Another streak ended for the Roadrunners that day when their regular-season eight-game winning streak came to a close because of the Orediggers’ upset win.

Metro held Mines to 18 first-half points and only 33 percent shooting from the field. The few times the Orediggers managed to pass half-court in the first half, the Roadrunners put constant pressure on the perimeter, which led to poor 3-point shooting, with only one basket in 10 tries.

“We had to make a few defensive adjustments,” forward Jesse Wagstaff said. “We had to contest all shots, and we had to finish up the plays with rebounds.”

Mines kept it close for most of the first half and pulled within three points at the 4:13 mark. Metro then scored the next 12 out of 14 points, including a 3-pointer by guard Benas Veikalas with 29 seconds left in the half. But Metro allowed Mines guard Franklin Ryk, who had a hand in Mines’ upset last year, to find an opening in the lane for an easy layup at the buzzer. Metro carried an 11-point lead into halftime.

Carrington led the way for Metro in the first half by scoring nine points, dishing out three assists and grabbing one steal. The sophomore guard has been playing his best basketball as a Roadrunner in the past few weeks, including a 17-point game against New Mexico Highlands and scoring a career-high 22 points in a blowout win against Colorado Christian on Jan 16.

“It’s more of my teammates,” Carrington said. “My teammates look for me, the coaches are helping me with my game and getting me into positions where I can make plays. It’s really not me, it’s the system.”

Wagstaff said that Carrington has been playing great basketball and is continuing to back it up each night. He added that Carrington does everything on the court for this team, including scoring, rebounding and finding open teammates on the floor.

In the beginning of the second half, Mines figured a way around Metro’s full-court press and managed to cut the lead to six points after a jumper and a layup by forward Clayton Moores. The Orediggers made crisp passes to avoid the press, and once they got the basketball into the frontcourt, Mines found easy points in the paint with Roadrunner defenders still guarding the perimeter.

Carrington came to the rescue in the middle of the second half. Carrington made a nice steal on Mines forward Ian Elseth and pushed the ball up the court to what appeared to be an easy two points. Mines guard Kyle Pape rushed back to make a play on the ball but committed an intentional foul that sent Carrington to the line for two free throws and gave Metro possession of the ball. Carrington drained the free throws, and on Metro’s next possession, Metro forward Jesse Wagstaff was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer. Wagstaff hit all three from the line, giving the ’Runners a 15-point lead.

The lead got as high as 21 points, and the victory gave Metro their eighth consecutive RMAC win. Their only conference loss came in their first conference game against Mesa State back on Dec. 8.

With only one game this week after eight straight wins, and their next game eight days away on the road, what does the team do to keep the momentum in their favor?

“We need to keep focused,” Carrington said regarding what coach Brannon Hays told them with so much time between games. “He also said we need to enjoy the days but to be ready to go back at it on Monday. He said to enjoy because we have been putting in the work.”

The win gives Metro a 15-2 overall record with an 8-1 record in the RMAC. Metro heads back to work on the road Jan. 26 at Regis and Jan. 27 at CU-Colorado Spring to continue conference play.