By: Con Marshall
CSC Sports Information
Both of last year’s winners repeated as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s playoff champions during the last weekend. Regis won the women’s title and Fort Lewis took the men’s crown. Both were seeded second when the playoffs began.
The Regis Rangers’ closest game in the playoffs was in the opening round—a 61-58 win over Colorado Christian. After that Regis knocked off Adams State 67-47 and Colorado-Colorado Springs 76-64 in the finals.
In the championship game, the Rangers were led by Josey Ryan’s 31 points. She used her final year of eligibility at Regis this season, three years after last playing basketball at Wayne State. She was named the playoff’s MVP.
Colorado Mesa, one of the four teams to tie for first place in the RMAC’s regular season competition, all with 18-4 records, was upset 66-57 in the opening round of the playoffs by No. 8 seed Colorado State-Pueblo. That’s largely because Pueblo’s Alisha Little scored 20 points, grabbed 19 rebounds and blocked eight shots.
In the men’s bracket, Fort Lewis repeated as the playoff winner. Again, the Skyhawks’ first game was their closest. They beat Pueblo 102-96, then took out Colorado Mines 87-75 and bested Colorado Mesa 86-75 in the title tilt.
The Skyhawks were led in the final game by 6-3 junior Obi Agbim’s career-high 33 points on 10-of-12 from the field, including 4-of-4 on 3-pointers, and 9-of-11 at the free throw line. He was named the playoff’s MVP.
Mesa’s Trevor Baskin also had a red-hot game. He made 9-of-10 field goal shots, including 4-of-5 from behind the arc. Forty-two of the Mavericks’ 63 field goal attempts were 3-pointers.
Seven RMAC teams will be playing in the South Central Region Playoffs in Texas this weekend. They include the four women’s teams that tied for the conference championship—Regis, Mesa, Colorado Mines and Adams State—and three men’s quintets—Mesa, Fort Lewis and Mines.
RMAC Women’s Playoff Results
First Round
No. 8 CSU-Pueblo 66, No. 1 Colorado Mesa 57
No. 2 Regis 61, No. 7, Colorado Christian 58
No. 3 Adams State 83, No. 6 Black Hills State 63
No. 4 Colorado Springs 71, Colorado Mines 65
Semifinals
No. 2 Regis 67, No. 3 Adams State 47
No. 4 Colorado Springs 58, CSU Pueblo 54
Championship
No. 2 Regis 76, Colorado Springs 64
RMAC Men’s Playoff Results
First Round
No. 1 Colorado Mesa 84, No. 8 Chadron State 74
No. 2 Fort Lewis 102, No, 7 CSU-Pueblo 96
No. 3 Colorado Mines 90, No. 6 Regis 71
No. 4 Black Hills State 74, No. 5 Metro State 72
Semifinals
No. 1 Colorado Mesa 86, Black Hills State 58
No. 2 Fort Lewis 87, No. 3, Colorado Mines 73.
Championship
No. 2 Fort Lewis 86, No. 1 Colorado Mesa 75
South Central Region Playoffs
Women’s Games, Friday, March 15
No. 3 Regis (26-5) vs. No. 6 Texas-Tyler (25-8)
No. 2 Colorado Mesa (24-6) vs. No. 7 Lubbock Christian 21-9)
No. 1 Texas Women’s (29-4) vs. No. 8 Colorado Mines (21-8)
No. 4 Texas Permian Basin (24-7) vs. No. 5 Adams State (24-8)
Men’s Games, Friday, March 15
No. 1 West Texas A&M (26-4) vs. No. 8 Angelo State (19-10)
No. 4 Dallas Baptist (24-5) vs. No. 5 Colorado Mines (24-8)
No. 2 Fort Lewis (28-3) vs. No. 7 Lubbock Christian (23-10)
No. 3 Colorado Mesa (27-4) vs. No. 6 Eastern New Mexico (22-9)