DENVER – MSU Denver left little to chance in its Tuesday night nonconference matchup with Colorado College, rolling to a 49-15 halftime lead before eventually settling for a 79-47 victory.
 
"I was really proud of the way we kept our concentration, for the most part," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Michael Bahl said. "I was proud of the way we approached it."
 
Colorado College, a Division III program, scored five points in the final 1:09 of the first half, preventing MSU Denver from setting a program record for fewest points allowed in a half. The record of 12 points has been done three times – the last time came against Chadron State on Feb. 12, 2003.
 
MSU Denver (4-2) did tie one school record with 12 blocked shots. It is the fourth time MSU Denver has done that, and the first since swatting a dozen against Adams State on Dec. 12, 2008.
 
"We really take pride in the defensive side of the ball," said forward Elijah Straughter, who had 11 points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot. "As long as we can get it done on defense we give ourselves a chance to win the game."
 
Maris Colton had five blocked shots to go along with 11 points, and Christian Wilson-Poole broke loose for 16 points while adding two steals.
 
Cain van Heyningen had nine rebounds, Garrett Carter had four assists and Demetrius Jackson had four steals.
 
MSU Denver had 13 steals, the program's most since getting 14 against Western New Mexico on Jan. 3, 2015. The 47 points allowed ties for the lowest opponent total since New Mexico Highlands was held to 41 on Jan. 13, 2018.
 
"We challenged them defensively to hold them under 50 and we did that," Bahl said.
 
Offensive execution may have left a little something to desired, particularly in the second half when Colorado College (2-4) actually outscored the Roadrunners 32-30. The Roadrunners had 12 of their 16 turnovers after the break, and also shot just 40.7 percent from the field in the second half. For the game they made only 20.8 percent from 3-point range (5 of 24).
 
"We had too many turnovers and we got a little too unselfish, as crazy as that sounds," Bahl said. "I thought we overpassed the ball when we probably should have shot it instead of trying to make the spectacular play. But that can come with the territory when the game is the way it was."
 
MSU Denver had 11 players play at least 12 minutes and had only one player on the floor for more than 21 minutes.
 
Up next is the opening weekend of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play, with home games Friday against Regis and Saturday against Colorado Christian. Both games are at 7 p.m., and the Regis game will be televised locally on Channel 20.
 
Wilson-Poole said the Roadrunners need to just stick to their mantra of not getting too high after a win and not getting too low after a loss.
 
"We've got to keep working," he said. "We're not the best team in the world after this game. We're going to enjoy this tonight, but we realize what we have ahead of us."