Golden, Colo.- The Metropolitan State University of Denver men's basketball team fell 89-57 to No. 18 Colorado School of Mines on Saturday, February 25. The Roadrunners fell to 16-12 overall and 12-10 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Orediggers improved to 24-4 overall and 19-3 in the RMAC.
 
The Roadrunners were led by senior Brian Howard (Maywood, Ill./Saint Ignatius H.S.) who ended the night with 12 points and 6 boards. Juniors Bounama Keita (Saint-Louis, Senegal/Impact Basketball Academy (Fla.)) and Kyle Lawson (Tustin, Calif./Foothill H.S.) added 7 points for the Roadrunners. MSU Denver shot 33 percent from the field in the game while Colorado Mines shot 55 percent.
 
Both sides scored a pair on their first possessions of the game getting the game started. However, Mines took control two minutes in going on a 14-2 for a five-minute duration to take a 10-point lead at 16-6 with just over 13 minutes left in the half.
 
The Roadrunners were quick to answer back when a jumper from freshman Alvaro Reyes-Abad (Palencia, Spain/I.E.S. Fel Manzon Grau Basas) would send the Roadrunners on an 11-0 run to gain a one-point point lead half way into the half.
 
Mines regained the lead and momentum continuing to put the offensive pressure on the Roadrunners. The Orediggers took a nine-point lead after a three pointer started a 7-0 run with Mines having the edge 22-31.
 
Colorado Mines would continue to go on several runs, leading by as many as 13 with just over 20 seconds left in the half.
 
Junior Sunday Dech (Perth, Australia/Churchlands H.S.) scored a buzzer beater from downtown to cut the lead to 11 going into half with a score of 45-34.
 
The Roadrunners had a large scoring spread at half with Keita leading with 7. MSU Denver out rebounded the Orediggers at half 17-13.
 
The Roadrunners scored the first four points of the half off a layup from Dech and a jumper from junior Peter Møller (Værløse, Denmark/Falkonergårdens Gymnasium), however the Roadrunners would be held scoreless for nearly nine minutes as the Mines offense took over going on a 13-0 run leading by 22.
 
Despite a Roadrunners effort the Orediggers continued to pull away to gain the win 89-57.
 
The Roadrunners will compete in the quarter finals of the RMAC tournament on Tuesday, February 28.