Box Score
DENVER —
Moses Sundufu has a way of ruining team pictures.
The St. Mary's prankster has all but mastered the art of “punking,” contorting his face in some unusual fashion — bulging eyes here, a protruding lip there — whenever put in front of a camera for a group shot.
But when it comes to Sundufu's jump shot? Now that's picture perfect.
The St. Mary's sharpshooting guard scored 20 points in a 75-57 win over No. 7-seed Cameron in the NCAA Division II South Central opener, hitting everything from 3-point range (4 of 4) and going 7 for 11 overall from the floor at the Auraria Event Center.
The win marked the program's first-ever regional-tournament victory as a member of the NCAA, ending an 0-for-6 stretch. The No. 2-seed Rattlers (22-7), winners of 10 of their last 11, will move on to play No. 3-seed Fort Lewis in the regional semifinals at 6 p.m. Sunday.
“I'm just out there trying to play my game, do whatever I can to win,” said Sundufu (Sr., Hopkins, Minn.), who's riding a hot streak on the heels of being named the Most Valuable Player of the Heartland Conference Tournament. “We've put in a lot of work. I try not to disappoint the guys.”
In addition to his team-high 20 points, Sundufu chipped in seven rebounds and five assists in the win.
Daryell Taylor (Sr., Houston) also was one of four Rattlers to score in double figures against Cameron with 16 points, while post players
Isaiah Matthews (RS-So., Texas City, Texas) and
Joe Monroe (RS-So., San Antonio) tallied 13 and 10, respectively. Coming off the bench, Monroe added nine rebounds, while point guard
Christian Bower (Jr., Chandler, Ariz.) led the way with six assists.
“I thought our guys really played hard and for the most part did what we wanted to do tonight,” said head coach
Jim Zeleznak, whose team is ranked No. 23 in the nation. “Like we've said since September, we've got to defend and rebound first. I thought our guys did a pretty good job of that.”
Faced with constant double and triple teams, St. Mary's leading man
Kevin Kotzur (Sr., La Vernia, Texas) was held to a career-low five points on 2-of-5 shooting. The Daktronics South Central Region Player of the Year added 12 rebounds and two assists.
But with Kotzur's teammates shooting the way they were, the 6-foot-8 center was more than willing to play the role of decoy.
“Cameron had big bodies and pushed us around with double and triple teams,” Kotzur said. “DT and Mo picked up my point slack, as well as Joe and Isaiah.”
St. Mary's shot 45.8 percent from the floor, including 70 percent from beyond the arc, for a relentless offensive attack that kept the pressure on Cameron (18-9) from the start.
The Rattlers broke away from a tightly contested game late in the first half to take a 38-28 lead into the break. From there, it was all St. Mary's, leading by as many as 20 on numerous occasions down the stretch.
The Aggies converted 19 of 55 field goals and made just 4 of 20 3-point attempts, while the Rattlers' bench outscored Cameron's 18-5.
“It's a pretty big deal right now but we can't get satisfied,” Taylor said. “Coach (Zeleznak) was preaching in the locker room that we've got to have a short-term memory. This was a big win for us and all the guys who came before us, but we've got a big game the very next day.”
St. Mary's University, as a Catholic Marianist University, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community service, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence. The University has six athletic national titles: men's basketball (1989–NAIA), baseball (2001–NCAA Div. II), softball (1986–NAIA and 2002–NCAA Div. II) and an individual national champion in men's golf (2006–NCAA Div. II) and a national academic championship in men's golf (2009–NCAA Div. II). St. Mary's also had more than 40 percent of its athletes named to conference, regional and/or national honor rolls this past year. St. Mary's student–athletes graduation rate is 65 percent, higher than the NCAA Division II average of 55 percent. To learn more about St. Mary's, visit www.rattlerathletics.com.
