Men's basketball: Jefferson's last second shot wins RMAC championship - Mar 13, 2013

DENVER - No. 4 Metro State defeated No. 22 Fort Lewis 61-60 on Brandon Brandon Jefferson (5'9''-PG-91)'s shot with 1.0 seconds remaining to win the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament. The win gave the Roadrunners their 10th RMAC Tournament Championship as they improved their record to 27-2 overall. The loss dropped the Skyhawks' record to 21-7 overall.

Brandon Jefferson drove the length of the floor following Marcus Ayala's go-ahead layup for FLC with 8.9 seconds. Forced into the right corner by a tight defense, Brandon Jefferson fired an 18-foot fadeaway in the right corner to win the game.

Metro State pulled ahead 59-58 with 1:34 left in the second half on Jonathan Morse (6'7''-F-91)'s layup to give the Roadrunners their first lead in over six minutes. After several missed shots from both teams over the last minute, Fort Lewis took the lead back on Ayala's layup.

With Metro State leading 61-60 and no timeouts left for either team, the Skyhawks inbounded the ball and Mike Matthews' heave from three-fourths of the court was off the mark as time expired to give the Roadrunners the victory.

Metro State was led by RMAC tournament MVP Brandon Jefferson with 20 points. Also paving the way for the Roadrunners in double figures was Jonathan Morse with 14 points and Demetrius Miller (6'1''-G-91) with 12 points.

Brandon Jefferson hit 6-of-11 from the floor and 6-of-7 at the line. Morse had nine rebounds and shot 5-of-9 in the second half after being limited to four first-half points. Miller scored all 12 of his points in the first half and led the Roadrunners with four assists.

In the first half, the Roadrunners were not able get in a groove as they committed six turnovers (Metro State averages 10.2 per game) while only forcing 5 from the Skyhawks. Metro State took its first lead of the game at the 15:53 mark when it pulled ahead 7-5 but was unable to take the lead again until the 5:44 mark when it led 24-23.

While the Roadrunners were not able to take control throughout most of the first half, they kept it close as the Skyhawks largest lead was only five points. Metro State was also unable to stop the bench from Fort Lewis as it was outscored 21-0 from points off the bench.

In the second half, Fort Lewis was able to continue to control the pace of the game as Metro State only led for one minute and 41 seconds of play. While only leading for such as small time, it was a very important amount of time that Metro State led by as it was able to pull out the victory 61-60.

Metro State's largest lead for the game was two points which is the smallest lead that Metro State has had in any game all season including its two losses. Overall for the game, Metro State shot 44.2 percent on 23-of-52 shooting including 5-for-11 (45.5 percent) from behind the arc.

Courtesy of RMAC

RMAC Tournament Final: Metro State - Fort Lewis 61-60
RMAC Tournament Semifinals:
Adams State - Fort Lewis 69-70
Metro State - Colorado Mesa 93-64

All-RMAC 1st Team 2012-2013
#s#	Jefferson	Morse	Herrera	Pruitt	Jackson	#e#5