DENVER – The stretch run is about to start for the Metropolitan State University of Denver men's basketball team.
 
"We've told our guys we want to be playing our best basketball now," Bahl said. "We've got nine games left in the season, and this where we've got to make a march. If we're going to have any postseason aspirations, it has to happen in these next nine games – and six of them are on the road, and that's where we've struggled big-time. Hopefully we've improved mentally. It's not necessarily physically, but mentally, from when we went to Dixie and Westminster to now."
 
MSU Denver (8-9 overall, 6-7 and tied for ninth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) travels to South Dakota for games Friday at 7:30 p.m. against South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (8-13, 5-8 and tied for 11^th) and Saturday at 4 p.m. against Black Hills State (9-8, 8-5 and tied for fifth). The Roadrunners are attempting to finish in the top eight in the league in order to qualify for the RMAC Tournament.
 
 
The Roadrunners are coming off one of their best wins of the season after cruising past the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs 93-81 on Saturday, knocking the Mountain Lions out of second place in the league. That game, though, was at home, where the Roadrunners are 7-5. They are 1-4 on the road and had a rough weekend the last time they traveled, the aforementioned two-game trip to Dixie State and Westminster on Jan. 11 and 12.
 
South Dakota Mines has lost three of its last four games, but that includes a one-point road loss to UCCS and a three-point home defeat to New Mexico Highlands, which is tied for third in the RMAC with UCCS. Logan Elers is the reigning RMAC defensive player of the week after averaging 15.5 rebounds (along with 10.0 points and 3.5 assists per game).
 
"They are a solid team, and they've played a lot of close games," Bahl said. "They play better at home (6-4), just like we do – so it's going to be a tough matchup. They're just a good, solid team that you are going to have to beat. They aren't going to beat themselves."
 
Black Hills State is led by 6-foot-6 Fraser Malcolm, the reigning RMAC offensive player of the week who averages 17.6 points per game. He averaged 27.0 points and 9.0 rebounds last week.
 
"Black Hills plays really well at home (4-2), too," Bahl said. "They are senior-loaded, which I think is why they're having a lot of success. They play incredibly hard. They can score a lot of points, but they can also grind out games defensively."
 
MSU Denver is led by Druce Asah (Tracy, Calif./Tracy), who averages 17.0 points while making 39.1 percent from 3-point range (54 of 138). He is on track to have one of the top 10 seasons of made 3-pointers in program history.
 
As dynamic as Asah had been – and he made 5 of 7 from 3 to lead MSU Denver a 52-41 halftime lead against UCCS – the Roadrunners have gotten an increasing dependable low-post presence in Kendall McIntosh (Oakley, Calif./Freedom), who averages 11.8 points while shooting 54.2 percent from the field. The 6-foot-8 McIntosh had developed a nice jump hook to his arsenal.
 
"He's getting more comfortable," Bahl said. "He's really done a good job of buying into what we want him to do. He was a little more perimeter-oriented when he came in, and I think he does have those types of skills, but I think he's best on that low block because he's a matchup nightmare. He finishes really well around the basket. And he's the one who's done all the work. If he continues to develop that side of his game, it's only going to help him when we do move him out to 15 to 17 feet."
 
MSU Denver has also had three different freshman guards step up to play major reserve roles in the past three games. Demetrius Jackson (Lake Forest, Calif./El Toro) had 13 points and five rebounds in 27 minutes in the double-overtime loss to Highlands on Jan. 19, Marcus Jefferson (Lewisville, Texas/Lewisville) had nine points in 20 minutes in the six-point loss to nationally-ranked Colorado School of Mines on Friday, and Andrew Mörk had 12 points in 16 minutes in Saturday's victory.
 
"It comes down to preparation in practice," Bahl said. "They've been doing a great job in practice, which allows me to have the confidence to play them more in games. All three have been doing a great job. It's nice to have three guys – and we have more, too – who can really come in and give us a spark off the bench."
 
The key for everyone this weekend, Bahl said, is not getting too caught up in it when things don't go the Roadrunners' way.
 
"We talk about the next play," Bahl said. "No matter what happens, it's always (worry about the) next play. Whether you make it or miss it, you should always be the same player. I think sometimes when we make shots we're really good, and when we don't make shots our defense isn't as good, and then we don't move the ball as well on offense. That's where we have to grow up and realize that each possession is a new possession. And that's really hard."