With the goal in their minds, and the city of Denver behind them the whole way, the Metro State Roadrunners are advancing to the NCAA Division 2 National Championship Game after defeating the #1 team in the country, the West Liberty Hilltoppers 83-76 in the Final Four. Metro State is heading to Atlanta!
With quite an intimidating 110-84 win over Winona State in the Elite Eight, West Liberty was coming into this game to try and run the Roadrunners out of the building early. But quite the opposite took place. After opening the game on a 20-4 run, Metro State held the West Liberty offense, that was used to scoring 103 PPG, to just about nothing with the full-court press defense we had been seeing all season long.
But with that big lead, you knew the Hilltoppers would not go away. West Liberty would cut the deficit to 13 at the half, and with Metro starting guard Brandon Jefferson picking up his 3rd foul before the end of the first half, trust me, folks.. it would get much closer than that. This West Liberty team has the ability to mount a comeback with their 3-point shooting and their fast paced offense, but they just haven’t had to do so during the year, as they rarely were behind. West Liberty head coach Jim Crutchfield said while being wired at halftime that they are the most capable of a comeback, and they did just that.
With 14 minutes remaining in the second half, Metro State head coach Derrick Clark would be forced to call his last time-out of the afternoon, which would then give the Hilltoppers a chance to mount a comeback without giving the Roadrunners a chance to take a breather.
With about 5:43 remaining in the ball game, West Liberty would cut the lead to just one at 64-63, after being down 16 at one point. And most of that had to do with star-calibur play from their senior guard Alex Falk, who surpassed 2,000 career points in the contest and finished with 34 points.
But the leaders of this Metro State squad would not let West Liberty steal this one away in what would be a comeback of epic proportions, given how Metro completely controlled the game for most of the afternoon.
Without a very deep roster, it would only complete the afternoon to have all five Metro State starters finishing with at least 14 points, as Brandon Jefferson, Nick Kay, and Jonathan Morse all tied for 17 points to lead this Roadrunners squad to victory.
Metro State won this ball game by playing their game. Everyone and their mother knew that this Hilltoppers team plays by running a faced-paced offense and scoring an insanely high amount of points on you, scoring an average of 103 PPG. But Metro State head coach Derrick Clark said before this game that they needed to hold West Liberty to around 74 points to get the victory, and they held them to 76.
Not only did Metro play the perfect defensive game to get the victory against the Number 1 team in the country, but Metro played the smart ball on the offensive side that they have all season, to take advantage of West Liberty’s poor shooting day.
With the win in the Final Four, the Metro State Roadrunners are now advancing to Atlanta to get a shot at their 3rd National Championship in school history. The Roadrunners won titles in ’98 and ’02, and will now try for 2013. Metro will face the winner of Drury/ Western Washington in the title game.
Led by seniors Jonathan Morse and Demetrius Miller, I am now proud to pass on a common sentiment that is shared in the locker room. “The Magic Number.. is now 1.” Now go get head coach Derrick Clark that National Championship. You won the RMAC Championship, you were ranked #1 in the entire nation at one point during the regular season, and now it’s time to get the clean sweep. Go get it, fellas.
“We areeee METRO STATE. We areeee METRO STATE.”
Related Posts From Lightning Rod Sports
Metro State Roadrunners Are Final Four Bound
Metro State Falls in Nat’l Championship Game to Drury Panthers 74-73
Get To Know: Mitch McCarron
Metro State Makes History; Finish NIT Season Tip-Off 3-1
Metro State Defeats Fairleigh Dickinson 87-76, Leaves Tucson 1-1 in NIT Season Tip-Off
Metro State Men’s Basketball Readying for NIT Season Tip-Off
Anthony Rodriguez
Anthony is the Founder, Administrator, Editor and Publisher of Lightning Rod Sports. Originally from California, Anthony has been raised in the Rocky Mountains and Denver area for most of his life. Anthony works with the Emmy-winning student-run T.V. newscast at MSU Denver, The Met Report, as the Assistant General Manager, formerly the Sports Producer, as well as Lead Anchor and Production Assistant. He is currently the Play-by-Play Announcer, Color Commentator, and Production Assistant for the Metro State Broadcast Network, and calls games for Metro State soccer, basketball, volleyball, baseball, and softball as a “Voice of the Roadrunners.” In addition to that work with the Metro State Broadcast Network, Anthony also hosts the monthly 30-minute magazine show called "The Roadrunner Review" which airs on Altitude Sports and Entertainment. He hosts the bi-weekly "KMet Sports Show" on KMET Radio at MyMetMedia.com/KMETSportsShow. He is also the Founder, Administrator, Editor, and Columnist for his own Denver Sports website, LightningRodSports.com. Anthony is also part of the Social Media team at Examiner.com, and has worked with the Altitude Radio Network for the Avalanche and Nuggets. Anthony is a former Producer for Mile High Sports Radio, as well as a former Sports-Talk show host on the LightningRod Radio Network.
