As detailed in my liveblog, Denver walloped struggling Louisiana-Monroe, 65-37 at Magness Arena on Friday — and in the process, took back sole possession of the Sun Belt West Division lead, thanks to Louisiana-Lafayette’s win over Arkansas State.
Here are the AP story and the Denver Post story on the DU-ULM game. Both include the money quote from leading scorer Brian Stafford, who had 14 points: “It’s good to be back in the driver’s seat and have control of our destiny on this side of the bracket. We know the position we’re in, and we want to reward ourselves. That makes the next three games that much bigger.” As soon as he said that, I knew everyone would quote it. Heh.
Speaking of quotes, you gotta love the bluntness of Louisiana-Monroe coach Ernest Vasquez: “We’re a bad team,” he said of his Warhawks, who are 6-22 overall, 1-12 in conference play, and #332 (out of 345) in the RPI. “And they’re a good team. … We’re struggling in all areas, and Denver is really tough here. They’re good.” He has a great southern accent, too. I might try to post the audio later.
Denver next faces South Alabama on Sunday, then hits the road for games at Louisiana-Lafayette and North Texas to end the regular season. Unfortunately, Bally and I won’t be able to make it Sunday, so tonight was our last visit to Magness Arena for the year.
Bally is happy to report, however, that the season ended with a bang — or rather a dunk:
Actually, I shouldn’t say “ended.” This was our last game at Magness this year, but it’s not necessarily out last DU game. If the Pioneers reach the Sun Belt championship game, we’ll be flying to Arkansas for it. Go Pioneers!
P.S. Below, video of the highlight of the night — the halftime performance by the Montbello High School Drumline:
Good win for the Pioneers. Time to take care of biz against South Alabama and then play some good road ball to finish up the year. Sure would nice to get a bye into the SBC tourney, That’s a slog when you have to play those extra games.
Did you ever shoot the Montebello Drumline video? Would love to see it.
I did tweet it later in the evening, after the game, so it’s in the liveblog, but I’ve also embedded a higher-quality version of the video above.