ST. GEORGE, Utah – The Metropolitan State University of Denver men's basketball team couldn't find an offensive groove on Friday night at Dixie State, scoring less than 20 points in each half in a 69-38 loss. Junior guard Druce Asah (Tracy, Calif./Tracy) scored 13 points, his 10^th double-digit scoring effort of the season, to lead the Roadrunners.

"Hats off to Dixie State," MSU Denver head coach Michael Bahl said following the game. "They played a very good game. We need to bounce back quickly off this and regroup for Westminster tomorrow night."

Early on, it didn't seem an offensive struggle would be the tale for MSU Denver on Friday night. The Roadrunners (6-6, 4-4 and T-7^th Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) started the game on a 9-0 run in the game's first 3:56 and led by as many as 10 points at 12-2. However, the Roadrunners netted just two field goals and two free throws in the final 14:08 of the opening half. Despite MSU Denver's sputtering offense, it took a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Trailblazer Jack Pagenkopf to give Dixie State (5-7, 3-5 and T-10^th RMAC) the lead at the break.

The Roadrunners were just 6 of 28 from the field in the first half, but the Trailblazers weren't much better – 6 of 27. The two teams shot a combined 21.8% from the field in the first 20 minutes of play. Junior guard Garrett Carter (Rialto, Calif./Etiwanda) contributed six points for MSU Denver in the first half, while senior guard Enrique Cortes-Zotes had eight rebounds in the opening period.

Asah hit two of his three makes from distance less than a minute apart early in the second half as MSU Denver took a 24-21 lead. Just as it seemed the Roadrunners had started to break through the Dixie State defense, the Trailblazers took off on a 17-1 run to build a 38-25 lead. They never looked back, outscoring the Roadrunners 31-13 the rest of the way.

MSU Denver was solid on the offensive glass, racking up 13 offensive rebounds, but converted those to just nine second chance points on a night when buckets were certainly hard to come by. Three of those offensive rebounds came from junior forward Kendall McIntosh (Oakley, Calif./Freedom), who also had three blocks for his fourth game of the season with at least that many.

Carter ended up with seven points and three assists for MSU Denver while redshirt freshman forward Elijah Straughter (Fresno, Calif./Clovis North) added six points. Cortes-Zotes pulled down nine rebounds in total while senior forward Jaryn Taylor (Yucaipa, Calif./Yucaipa) had six in the loss.

MSU Denver looks to rebound in tomorrow night's matchup with Westminster, which is set for a 7:30 p.m. MT tip-off at Behnken Field House in Salt Lake City. The Griffins (5-7, 3-5 and T-10^th RMAC) are coming off a 93-86 home victory in overtime against Chadron State on Friday.