Metro State blasts Mountain Lions

It can only get better.

The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs men's basketball team (0-3) lost its home opener to the Metro State Roadrunners (3-2). That, by itself is no big news, since Metro State has won two of the past four national championships and five straight Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference titles. What was astounding, though, was the 101-43 score.

Despite that, first year coach Mart Fletcher saw plenty of room for optimism.

"I was pleased with the way we played the first ten minutes," said Coach Marty Fletcher. "We are going to build on that first ten minutes."

Chris Riedel stole a Metro State pass at midcourt and converted it into a layup to cut the Roadrunners' lead to 11-9 with 13:20 remaining in the first half. After that, Metro State's suffocating defense and superior athleticism took over and the Roadrunners closed the half with a 35-9 run.

The Roadunners opened the second half by scoring the first seven points. CU-Colorado Springs responded with a Dan Deveau 3-pointer and a field goal by Casey Gutting before Metro State reeled off another 11-point run.

Metro State never relented, outscoring the Mountain Lions' bench 9-1 over the final two minutes to produce the margin of victory.

Gutting led the Mountain Lions with 14 points. Gutting shot 5-for-10 from the field, and nailed two 3-pointers in the game.

"We learned a lot from the game," said Gutting, who was also a perfect 2-2 from the foul line. "Now the team sees how good we have to be if we want to compete."

Senior forward Jack Bain had a game-high 13 rebounds along with his 11 points before fouling out with 13:22 left in the game. Deveau, who came into the game averaging an RMAC-leading 2.5 blocks per game, swatted three before also fouling out. In all, CU-Colorado Springs was whistled for 28 fouls, leading to 34 Metro State free throws. The Mountain Lions shot only 14 free throws.

Metro State's C.J. Massingale, a transfer from Division I Washington, led all scorers with 20 points. Reserve center Ben Ortner added 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Jamar Bohannon and Mark Worthington each scored 10 points.

"I'm not discouraged at all," said Fletcher. "You play these games to get better."