Rapid City, S.D.- The Metropolitan State University of Denver men's basketball team defeated South Dakota Mines 61-58 on Friday, December 1 to begin 2017-17 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.
 
Senior Cameron Williams (Omaha, Nebraska/Omaha South H.S.) came out of the gates strong for his team opening the game with a big bucket from downtown.  The Hardrockers followed up scoring a pair of their own to take a 5-4 lead over the Roadrunners.
 
The score remained close for much of the first half, with the largest lead for the Hardrockers being 16-12.  Seniors Peter Møller (Værløse, Denmark/Falkonergårdens Gymnasium) and Cam Williams both scored layups for their team to tie the game back up at 16 with 8:25 remaining in the first half.
 
South Dakota Mines took a four-point lead over MSU Denver but the Roadrunners tied the game up at 26 heading into the second half.
 
Williams exploded in the first half scoring 16 of the Roadrunners 26 points.
 
Williams started the second half off strong for the Roadrunners scoring the first four points of the half to put his team up 30-26.
 
MSU Denver held a small lead over South Dakota Mines the following minutes until a three from Møller and a made layup from sophomore Cain van Heyningen (Amsterdam, Netherlands/Open schoolgemeenschap Bijlmer) gave the Roadrunners a solid seven-point lead.  Senior Bounama Keita (Saint-Louis, Senegal/Impact Basketball Academy (Fla.)) would go on to extend the lead to nine.
 
The Hardrockers scored a pair of three to put themselves right back into the game cutting the lead to 44-41 in favor of the Roadrunners.
 
Williams converted a three-point play to re-gain a six-point lead with 9:14 remaining in the game. That would kick start a 8-2 run for the Roadrunners allowing the team to take a 52-44 lead.
 
The Roadrunners were able to maintain a 5-7 point lead until just over one minute was left on the clock when the Hardrockers were able to knock one from downtown to bring the score within two with 55 seconds left on the clock.
 
Following a Hardrockers timeout, a jumper from Møller gave the Roadrunners a 59-54 lead and the Hardrockers were unable to pull off a comeback with MSU Denver taking the 60-58.
 
MSU Denver was led by Cam Williams, finishing the night with 24 points. Møller scored 19 for the Roadrunners going 6-9 from the field and 3-5 from the three. Keita and Jaryn Taylor (Yucaipa, Calif./Yucaipa High School) both posted nine boards for the Roadrunners.
 
MSU Denver will take on Black Hills State tomorrow Saturday, December 1 at 6 p.m.