Home > Sport

Win streak ends at 15, Metro falls to Lopers
By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

The men’s basketball team had a rough road trip to Nebraska as they barely pulled out a 69-65 victory over lowly Chadron State Feb. 15 and were upset 90-87 by Nebraska-Kearney Feb. 17 at Kearney’s Health and Sports Center.

The fourth-ranked Roadrunners held a 17-point lead over the Eagles of Chadron State (6-19, 4-13 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) at halftime, but allowed them to work their way back into the game and even allowed the Eagles to take a six-point advantage with 5:32 left in the game.

Metro then went on a 15-5 run to end the game and take home their 15th straight victory.
Forward Michael Bahl led Metro with 14 points, while center Moussa Coulibaly contributed 13 points and six rebounds. Chadron State’s Fernando Bonfim, a 7-foot center who played well against Metro in their last meeting on Feb. 3, scored a career-high 18 points.

“Chadron is always a tough place to play no matter their record,” Metro head coach Brannon Hays said. “After playing well in the first half and letting them back in the game, it was a wake up call for us.”

The Roadrunners then headed to Kearney, Neb., where the Lopers looked to avenge the 92-75 beating they took from Metro on Feb. 2.

Kearney forward Dusty Jura, the RMAC’s Preseason Player of the Year, scored 30 points and pulled down 17 rebounds to hand Metro its first loss in almost two months.

After overcoming an 11-point first-half deficit, the ’Runners pecked their way back and eventually took an 82-80 lead with three minutes remaining. But Kearney hit consecutive shots, a 3-pointer from forward Chad Burger and a layup by Jura, to put Kearney up by three with 2:02 left on the clock.

Metro guard Terrell Burgess hit a three to tie the game at 85, but Kearney guard James Lane came right back to hit a three of his own to bring Kearney back to a three-point lead.

Burgess put in a layup to cut the lead to one with 1:06 left in the game, but a three-point shot by guard Jeff Martin and consecutive free throws by Burger sealed the win for the Lopers.

Coach Hays said that playing in front of a hostile environment with 5,000 students was a lesson learned for his team especially with the RMAC tournament right around the corner.

The 1-1 weekend gives Metro a 21-4 overall record and a 15-2 record in the conference.

They finish their regular season Feb. 24 at the Colorado School of Mines, where they hold a 27-11 lead in the all-time series against the Orediggers.