Winona State Opens NCAA Regional with Thrilling Win over No. 10 Metro State
Box Score
MARSHALL, Minn. - No. 6 seed Winona State received at least 13 points from three players to sneak past the third seed Metro State 60-59 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Central Region Tournament Saturday afternoon in Marshall.
WSU improves to 24-8, while MSC finishes its season with a 27-4 record.
"What a great team that we played against (Metro State)," said WSU head coach Mike Leaf. "We haven’t really played all year long against a team that runs that type of a matchup zone defense that really puts a lot of pressure on the perimeter. In the first half we had to weather the storm meaning that we have to adapt to it because the types of players we have weren’t able to do that in practice for us the last few days. Once we got out there, the intensity level was really high and I thought we broke it down early and we made some three’s."
David Johnson led the Warriors with 15 points, while Josh Korth and Joel Armstrong each added 13 points.
Senior Travis Whipple finished the game with five points and five assists.
"I think we came in as the underdog, which was fine," said Whipple. "We’re glad to be here and I think it’s a pride factor for all of us to defend the national championship."
Jesse Wagstaff led the Roadrunners, who are ranked 10th in the nation, with 15 points. Donte Nicholas chipped in 12.
"First off I want to say how proud I am of the way our guys competed," said Metro State head coach Brannon Hays. "Obviously what they’ve (Winona State) done here speaks volumes about them. They’re well coached, a classy organization. We were hoping to push them back a bit, I knew they were going to shoot a lot of three’s. We tried to make them shoot as many contested three’s as possible, which pushed them back a bit."
The Warriors held a four-point lead with just under one minute remaining before the Roadrunners' Jesse Wagstaff sank a free throw that was paired with a Ekeh Nelson layup to put MSC within one point with 27 seconds left.
On the ensuing possession, WSU had a chance to extend its one-point lead, but Ben Fischer failed to convert a free-throw attempt. MSC grabbed the board, giving the Roadrunners a chance to take the lead and win the game.
With 12 seconds remaining, Marquise Carrington drove to the hoop and was blocked by David Jonhson, but Carrington managed to come with the offensive board and one last chance for a Roadrunner game-winning bucket. Carrington, however, turned the ball over with just a second remaining on the clock.
WSU's Jon Walburg was quickly fouled, and with his free attempt off the mark, Metro State had no time to get a shot off.
WSU will face the winner of this afternoon's contest between St. Cloud State and Augustana.
