DENVER - Eric Rayer (Colorado Springs/Coronado H.S.) hit the game-winning jumper with 1.2 seconds left to help No. 14/15 Metropolitan State University of Denver win its third consecutive Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season championship with a 73-72 victory over No. 18/20 University of Colorado Colorado Springs Saturday night at the Auraria Events Center. With the victory, the Roadrunners go to 24-4, 19-3 in the RMAC. Following the loss UCCS, drops to 23-5, 17-5 in the RMAC. Along with the victory MSU Denver secures the No. 1 seed in the RMAC tournament.
Nicholas Kay (Tamworth, Australia/Newington College) led all scorers with 27 points, he also had six rebounds, and four assists.
Mitch McCarron (Brisbane, Australia/Genesis Christian College) had 13 point. He also spread the wealth with seven assists to go along with three steals. Rayer contributed with 10 points.
Sam Porter (Arvada, Colo./Arvada West H.S.) also had eight points.
Kay led all scorers in the first half with 13 points and McCarron dished out five assists. UCCS shot 44 percent from the field, and committed seven turnovers. At the same time MSU Denver shot 46 percent from the field including scoring 24 points in the paint in the first half. UCCS scored at the end of half to tie the game at 34.
MSU Denver and UCCS traded the lead back and forth early in the second half. McCarron hit a 3-pointer to push the Roadrunners' lead to eight at 60-52 with seven minutes to go. UCCS kept cutting into the lead until Derrick White hit a three with 58 seconds to go to tie the game at 70.
McCarron hit 1-of-2 free throws to take the lead back. White answered with an 18-foot jumper with 17 seconds to go to give the Mountain Lions a 72-71 lead. Rayer then hit the game-winning jumper, 15-foot shot from the left baseline off a pass from Kay. The last-second desperation layup from UCCS Darius Pardner was blocked by McCarron after an inbounds pass went the length of the floor.
Pardner led the Mountain Lion in scoring with 21 points.
MSU Denver will host the first round of the RMAC tournament Tuesday night as it takes on Colorado Christian at 7 p.m.
