DENVER – MSU Denver is showing its versatility.
 
The Roadrunners, who have played a slower, grind-it-out style at times this season, picked up the pace against a high-scoring Western State Colorado team on Sunday night and scored a season-high in points in an 86-75 victory.
 
"We're just getting better," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Michael Bahl said. "By no means have we figured it out, but we're starting to see that guys are getting more comfortable with how we want to play.
 
"We played pretty fast tonight. We got up and down the floor, and we only had nine turnovers. We've had games where we've played pretty slow and we've had 17 turnovers. I think we can play fast in transition, but we can play a half-court game as well. I think the guys are getting more comfortable with our system and our philosophies."
 
MSU Denver (4-4 overall, 3-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) also happily turned to some 3-pointers to produce a third straight victory.
 
The Roadrunners connected on a season-best 48.0 percent (12 of 25) from 3-point range, including 50 percent (8 of 16) in the first half.
 
"It helps when you make shots early, but we were getting the right shots," Bahl said. "And it wasn't just 3s. We made eight 3s for 24 points, but we scored 48. We made two free throws, and the other 22 points came right at the rim."
 
Druce Asah (Tracy, Calif./Tracy), who scored a team-high 16 points, was 4 for 10 from long range, including 3 for 6 in the first half.
 
"We were making everything, and that's what we do," Asah said. "We're not really surprised."
 
The Roadrunners had only three players score in double figures, but a total of nine players scored at least six points.
 
Garrett Carter (Rialto, Calif./Etiwanda), after leading the team in scoring with an MSU Denver career-best 20 points Saturday, matched his Roadrunners best with seven assists Sunday – while still making 5 of 6 shots from the field.
 
"How about that?" Bahl said. "That's a guy who's understanding how we want to play and doing what it takes for the team."
 
Kendall McIntosh (Oakley, Calif./Freedom) scored a season-best 14 points for the fourth time this season and the second game in a row, and he followed up his season-best nine rebounds from Saturday with eight more Sunday. The Roadrunners' primary inside scorer, McIntosh had scored a total of just seven points in two games last weekend.
 
"I've just tried to be more aggressive," McIntosh said. "I felt like I had let my teammates down, let guys guard me."
 
Jacob Inclan (Tucson, Ariz./Sunnyside) (nine) and Jaryn Taylor (Yucaipa, Calif./Yucaipa) (eight) matched their best scoring outputs of the season, while Cain van Heyningen (Amsterdam, Netherlands/Open schoolgemeenschap Bijlmer) scored a season-best six points while grabbing seven rebounds.
 
High-scoring Quincy Harding led Western State (3-8, 0-5) with 27 points, though he was limited to 8 of 21 shooting – including 2 of 11 in the first half when the game was in doubt.
 
The Roadrunners led by 10 points, 19-9, just eight minutes into the game and kept the lead in double figures the rest of the way. Their advantage grew to 35-14 with 5:46 left in the first half and it was 48-31 at the break – the Roadrunners' highest-scoring half of the season.
 
The final margin of 11 points was as close as the Mountaineers got in the second half, though they had also done it on three other occasions.
 
MSU Denver has worked its way up to a tie for fourth place in the RMAC and is just one game out of second place despite opening league play 0-2.
 
"We told them that last night's win (over Colorado Mesa) was great, but it meant nothing if we didn't validate it tonight," Bahl said. "We told our guys that this is how you define yourself as a good team, when you man up the next night and play better than you did the night before."
 
The Roadrunners play a non-conference game Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. against Northwest Nazarene (Idaho) before taking two weeks off from game action. Northwest Nazarene is 6-1 and has beaten Division I Idaho in a regular-season game.
 
 "We've won three games in a row, and we want to keep it rolling," Asah said. "We've got to stay positive and keep the same energy. We're hyped for each other."