Denver – The Metropolitan State University of Denver men's basketball team opened up Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play with a 69-66 win against the UCCS Saturday night at the Auraria Event Center.   The Roadrunners move to 3-4 overall and 1-0 in the RMAC.
 
In the first half, the Roadrunners were down by 6-0 early before sophomore Bounama Keita (Saint-Louis, Senegal/Impact Basketball Academy (Fla.)) made a layup to get them started.  The game went back-and-fourth before the Mountain Lions went on a 9-0 run to extend their lead to 26-10.  MSU Denver would fight back before the end of the half with senior Jourdan Hunter scoring a three-pointer with three seconds left to bring the score to 26-37.
 
The Roadrunners came out in the second half ready to battle.  Senior Eric Rayer (Colorado Springs/Coronado H.S.) helped the team cut the lead to seven within the first two minutes of the half.  Senior Tony Dobbinson (Stamford, Conn./Westhill H.S.) cut the lead to three with back-to-back baskets with 16:33 left on the clock.  MSU Denver took its first lead of the game at 47-46, with 8:30 left when senior Deshawn Phenix slotted a pair of free throws.  It became a shootout between the two teams after that point.  Phenix made the score 67-62 with a two-pointer from the field with 1:14 left on the clock.  Spohomore Peter Moller made three free-throws in the closing minutes to seal the game for the Roadrunners.
 
MSU Denver was led in scoring by Dobbinson who had 24 points off of 9-of-15 shooting from the field.  He also dished out two assists.  Moller added 20 points, shooting 7-of-9 from the field.  UCCS's Alex Welsh scored 20 points and gave out four assists.
 
The Roadrunners will travel to Salt Lake City to face Westminster on Friday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m.