Box Score

Photo Gallery (game photos)

Photo Gallery (celebration photos)

PUEBLO, Colo. - Metro State overcame a 19-point deficit with 15 minutes left in the game to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship for the ninth time in school history and the second straight year, topping New Mexico Highlands 83-79 on Saturday in Pueblo.  The Roadrunners improved to 24-6 overall, while the Cowboys fell to 20-10.

The Roadrunners outscored Highlands 39-19 over the final 12:28.

The 19-point lead that was overcome was the largest in Metro State history since that statistic began being tracked in 2002-03.

Metro State fell behind 47-33 at halftime and NMHU continued to add to its lead early in the second half, leading 58-39 with under 14:30 left in the game.  But the Roadrunners came storming back as Chop Tang, one of the Cowboys' top players, picked up his fourth foul with 14:42 to play.

Donte Nicholas (Washington, D.C./Oakton H.S.) buried a 3-pointer with 14:25 left to cut the lead to 16.  After the teams traded points, Nicholas hit two free throws with 12:28 left, starting a 7-2 run to cut the lead to 62-51 with 10 minutes left.

Ryan Gonzales hit a 3-pointer with 8:29 left to cut NMHU back ahead by 12 points.  The Roadrunners came back with a 14-5 run over the next four minutes, chipping the lead down to five points as Metro State hit 6-of-6 at the line.

Highlands led by four points at 72-68 with 3:22 left, but #A.J. Flournoy# cut it to two points with a layup on the next possession.  After a steal by Brian Minor (Clovis, Calif./Clovis H.S.), Reggie Evans (Aurora, Colo./Rangeview H.S.) tied the game at 72-72 with 2:21 to play with a jumper from just outside the line.

Gonzales answered with a 3-pointer for the Cowboys, but Minor drained one of his own from the right corner to tie the game again at 75-75 with 1:35 to go.  Minor forced another steal, leading to a layup by Evans on a fast break on the next possession, giving Metro State a 77-75 lead, its first lead since 13:51 left in the first half.

Roman Andrade hit 1-of-2 at the line for the Cowboys and Evans scored again to put the Roadrunners up 79-76 with 22 seconds left.  Andrade and Flournoy traded a pair of free throws on the next possession for each team.

With Metro State leading by three points with five seconds left, Minor elected to foul Andrade again to not risk allowing the RMAC's leading scorer to hit his sixth 3-pointer of the game.  The senior made just 1-of-2 at the line, and Nicholas answered with 1-of-2 at the line for the Roadrunners.  But Flournoy rebounded his miss on his second attempt, as Metro State maintained possession.  The Cowboys put him on the line with 0.9 seconds left.  After making the first to put his team up by four points, he threw the ball hard off the rim to prevent any good shot attempt by Highlands.

Metro State did not turn the ball over once in the second half and outrebounded the Cowboys 25-18 in the second half.  The Roadrunners also hit 18-of-26 at the line and shot 46.9 percent, while holding NMHU to just 36.4 percent in the half.

For the game, Nicholas had 18 points and 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season.  The junior hit just 3-of-15 from the floor, but buried 11-of-13 at the line, including 9-of-11 in the second half.

Evans also scored 18, shooting 9-of-18 from the floor, while tying a career high with nine rebounds.  Flournoy scored 14 points, his first game in double figures since Jan. 23, making 7-of-10 at the line and adding seven rebounds, four steals and three assists.  Minor had 12 points, five assists, four rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.  Freshman Jonathan Morse (Boulder, Colo./Fairview H.S.) scored 12 points and had eight rebounds and three assists as all five starters scored 12 or more points.  Morse also hit 4-of-5 at the line, despite entering the game at 50 percent on the season.

Nicholas, Minor and Morse all played with foul trouble late in the game as each finished with four fouls.

Andrade finished with 25 points, hitting 5-of-11 from the outside and 8-of-12 at the line and had five rebounds and five assists.  Tang scored 10 points and had nine rebounds before fouling out with over nine minutes left in the game.  Gonzales scored 17 points, making 5-of-8 from the outside off the bench.

Nicholas, Morse and Evans were each named to the all-tournament team and Nicholas earned MVP honors.  Nicholas averaged 18.3 points and 6.0 rebounds in the three RMAC Shootout games, while hitting 22-of-29 at the line.  Morse averaged 12.3 points and 7.0 rebounds and Evans 15.0 points and 5.7 rebounds.

It was the second year in a row the Roadrunners rallied from a double digit deficit in the second half of the championship game.  Last year, Metro State trailed Fort Lewis by 12 points with 12 minutes left, but rallied to win 84-78.

The NCAA Tournament selection show will be held on Sunday night at 7 p.m. (MDT).  The selection show can be viewed at www.ncaa.com.