Box Score

GOLDEN, Colo. - Metro State held off Northwest Nazarene 76-74 on Saturday at the Metro/Mines Classic in Golden, Colo.  The Roadrunners defeated Western Oregon on Friday to go 2-0 at the Classic and improved to 10-2 this season on Saturday.  NNU fell to 8-3 with the loss.

Metro State led by seven points at 72-65 with three minutes left, but the Crusaders chipped away in the final minutes.  Leading 73-67 with a minute to play after a free throw by Jonathan Morse (Boulder, Colo./Fairview H.S.), Kendall Gielow hit two free throws for NNU with 52 seconds left to cut the lead to four.  Metro State proceeded to miss a pair of free throws on its next possession and Gielow made a layup with 27 seconds left to cut the lead to 73-71.

Donte Nicholas (Washington, D.C./Oakton H.S.) hit two free throws for the Roadrunners, but Drew Eisinger answered with a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left to bring the Crusaders within 75-74.  Reggie Evans (Aurora, Colo./Rangeview H.S.) hit 1-of-2 at the line for Metro State, but Shakir Johnson (Los Angeles, Calif./Dorsey H.S.) forced a steal with two seconds left as the Roadrunners held on.

Metro State led most of the game, its largest lead being nine points.  NNU briefly held a two-point lead at 48-46 three minutes into the second half.  Brian Minor (Clovis, Calif./Clovis H.S.) sparked a 15-4 run with a layup to stretch the lead back to nine with 11:46 to play.

Minor scored a game-high 20 points, hitting 8-of-15 from the floor and 4-of-5 at the line.  He also had seven steals, the most since Marquise Carrington (Philadelphia, Pa./Bartram H.S.) swiped the ball eight times on Feb. 28, 2009, against UC-Colorado Springs.

Nicholas narrowly missed recording Metro State's first-ever triple-double, tallying 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.  It was his fourth career double-double.  Evans added 12 points and Morse had 10.  #A.J. Flournoy# added nine points and five assists.

Metro State a season-high 19 turnovers and shot just 55.6 (20-for-36) percent from the free throw line.  But the Roadrunners held a 38-33 rebounding edge and hit 48.1 (25-for-52) percent from the floor.

Gielow led four Crusaders in double figures with 15 points, shooting 5-of-10 from the floor.

Metro State will host Western New Mexico on Saturday, Jan. 9, at 3 p.m. for its next game.