Denver- The Metropolitan State University of Denver men's basketball team defeated UCCS 65-59 on Saturday February 18. The Roadrunners advance to 16-10 overall and 12-8 in the RMAC. The Mountain Lions fall to 11-14 overall and 10-10 in the RMAC.
 
The Roadrunners had four in double figures with Senior Brian Howard (Maywood, Ill./Saint Ignatius H.S.) and Freshman Allec Williams (Albany, Ga./Westover High School ) leading all scorers with 14. Williams added five assists. Junior Peter Møller (Værløse, Denmark/Falkonergårdens Gymnasium) ended the night with 13 points and five boards. Sophomore Enrique Cortés-Zotes added 12 points for the Roadrunners. Junior Bounama Keita (Saint-Louis, Senegal/Impact Basketball Academy (Fla.)) led both teams in rebounds with 10. MSU Denver shot 40 percent from the field in the game as well as UCCS.
 
Møller got the game going for the Roadrunners scoring one from behind the arch to give a spark to the team. The Mountain Lions got right back scoring a lay up and converting a free throw to tie the game at three.
 
Each side exchanged buckets for the next couple minutes for the score to remain neck and neck. Two back to back three pointers from freshman Allec Williams (Albany, Ga./Westover High School ) and Senior Brian Howard (Maywood, Ill./Saint Ignatius H.S.) gave the Roadrunners their largest lead of the half at 13-10.
 
Elijah Ross of UCCS came right back at the Roadrunners scoring four straight points to put the Mountain Lions up one at 14-13 with 12:37 remaining in the half.
 
With a total of 10 lead changes in the half the remainder of the half went back and forth between the two sides. The Mountain Lions led by as many as four with 4:08 to go in the half however, the Roadrunners would follow up by going on a 7-3 run to finish the half, going out on top 33-32.
 
MSU Denver was led in points by Møller with eight, junior Brian Howard (Maywood, Ill./Saint Ignatius H.S.) and Allec Williams (Albany, Ga./Westover High School ) both added seven. The Roadrunners shot 40 percent from the field in the first half while the Mountain Lions shot 50 percent.
 
MSU Denver started the second half on fire forcing three Mountain Lion turnovers to score the first six points of the half just over a minute into the half. Allec Williams (Albany, Ga./Westover High School ) and Junior Bounama Keita (Saint-Louis, Senegal/Impact Basketball Academy (Fla.)) combined for the six with each converting a dunk and Williams scoring a layup. Senior Brian Howard (Maywood, Ill./Saint Ignatius H.S.) followed up the run with a jumper to put the Roadrunners up nine at 41-32 and making the energy in the Aurara Event Center soar.
 
The Roadrunners kept the energy up going up by 10 with 16:46 left in the game after a made three from Allec Williams (Albany, Ga./Westover High School ) for his 14th point of the game. But the Mountain Lions would fight back to go on a 8-2 run to cut the lead to four at 46-42 with just over 14 minutes remaining.
 
MSU Denver answered back going on 10-1 run ending with a shot clock buzzer beater from down town by Cortés-Zotes to give the Roadrunners the largest lead of the game at 13 with 10:37 to go in the game.
 
The Mountain Lions countered back scoring the next seven to cut the lead to six at 50-56. Møller broke up the run scoring a layup and bringing the Roadrunner lead back to eight.
 
UCCS kept the momentum going converting on several large possessions and going on another 7-0 run to cut the lead to two with 1:56 remaining in the game.
 
After a UCCS technical foul, Ketia converted a free throw to extend the Roadrunners lead to three with 54 seconds remaining. With the Roadrunners gaining possession after, Howard was able to convert a pair of free throws to extend the lead to five at 63-58 with 49 seconds left.
 
MSU Denver played strong defense to get the stop on the next possessions for the Mountain Lions. Junior Cameron Williams (Omaha, Nebraska/South H.S.) was then able to make one free throw on the next Roadrunners possession to make the score 58-64 with 30 seconds remaining.
 
One free throw from both sides would end the game with the Roadrunners on top 65-59.
 
The Roadrunners will travel to Golden Colorado on Friday February 24 where they will face Colorado Christian at 7p.m.