Vermont athlete savors Mustangs' unselfishness

Maria Evans and Sam DeMasi met when they were working summer jobs at Yellowstone National Park. Maria was from a farm outside Balaton, Minn. Sam was from Vermont.

They were married. Vermont was the home base, although Maria continued to work as a seasonal carpenter at Yellowstone.

This created an unusual situation for their son, Ross. He spent the summer and fall at Yellowstone. He attended high school and played football in the small town of Gardiner, Mont.

Then, in mid-November, Ross and his mother would return to Swanton, Vt., where he played basketball at Missisquoi Valley High School.

Ross was on his way to being 6-8 and 215 pounds. He wanted to try both football and basketball in college. He sent videotapes to various Division II schools, hoping to attract interest and a scholarship.

Southwest Minnesota State was included on his list, what with the proximity of the Marshall campus to his grandparents' farm. Basketball coach Greg Stemen was impressed by what he saw on tape.

"I called Ross and he said he was set on going to a Division III school in Vermont [Norwich]," Stemen said. "I also found out he would be visiting his grandparents, so I said, 'Why not take a look at us?'"

He redshirted for a season and also played two seasons of football. He was the Mustangs' leading receiver in 2006.

"It got to be too much, with classwork and two sports," DeMasi said. "The last two years, I've concentrated on basketball."

Currently, that's also the case with the city of Marshall, where the Mustangs have emerged as the surprise late-season leader of the expanded Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

The additions of Augustana, Minnesota State Mankato, St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth from the North Central Conference have left the NSIC with 14 teams, the largest conference this side of the Big East.

Southwest opened conference play with losses to Mankato and Northern State, two strong contenders. The Mustangs lost again to Winona State, Division II's powerhouse for the previous three seasons, on Jan. 9, trailing 49-31 at halftime before falling 79-69.

"We played with great energy in the second half and made it a game. And we've continued to play that way."

Southwest will take a 12-game winning streak and the conference lead at 14-3 to Mankato on Saturday. Stemen calls the Mavericks "one of the best Division II teams in the country."

As for his team, the compliment Stemen uses most often is that this is the "most unselfish group I've ever coached." And he equates unselfishness to the part about playing with energy.

"We play 10 guys, and the goal we give them is to play so hard that they have to come out of the game," Stemen said. "Most players are trying to stay on the court, so they might find times to coast to avoid getting tired.

"Our guys have bought into playing with such energy, such passion, that they need to come out. That has led to a tremendous bond among our players."

DeMasi, a senior forward, leads with 9.2 points and 28.3 minutes per game. There are four more players averaging between 8.0 and 8.9 points per game, and two more averaging 7.3 and 7.4 ppg.

"We don't have anyone averaging double figures, but we have three or four scoring in double figures every night," Stemen said. "If it's your night with a hot hand, our guys are going to work to get you shots.

"Just last weekend, Ryan Krome, our point guard, had a career-best 23 points Friday. Then on Saturday he didn't score, but he did have eight rebounds ... another career best."

There's a 15-player roster, with seven from Minnesota, five from Iowa and two from South Dakota to go with DeMasi. So who does a guy from Vermont hang with?

"Everybody," he said. "This is the closest team you can find."