DENVER – No one scored in double figures for MSU Denver. No one cared.
 
You want to talk about a total team effort? The Roadrunners had six players score nine points and three others combined for 16 more as they clawed out a 70-64 victory over Westminster on Saturday night to complete a two-game weekend sweep that included a Friday win over nationally-ranked Dixie State.
 
"We just got to see what it was like to have a full team effort, and to see what everybody is capable of doing," said point guard Mitch Lombard, who scored, of course, nine points. "The strength of our team is our depth, and we're proud of everybody for stepping up."
 
Also dressed to the nines were Elijah Straughter, Maris Colton, Druce Asah, Garrett Carter and Kendall McIntosh. Demetrius Jackson had seven, Laolu Oke had five and Christian Wilson-Poole scored four.
 
"That's what this team is," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Michael Bahl said of the balanced attack. "It's next man up. We had (nine) guys play double-digit minutes, and you rarely see that. We're hard to scout because multiple guys can do multiple things."
 
Said Straughter: "We're all bought in, and it's a great feeling when multiple guys can contribute. It's just a real team win."
 
McIntosh had seven rebounds, while Straughter had six and Lombard added five. Lombard had four assists. Straughter also had two blocked shots and two steals.
 
MSU Denver (8-7 overall, 4-5 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) never trailed by more than one point and gradually pulled out to a 56-45 lead with 6:26 to play with a 19-7 run. Then the Roadrunners made just enough free throws to keep Westminster (9-6, 4-5) from getting any closer than four points down the stretch.
 
The weekend sweep, which included a Friday night win over Nos. 19/19 Dixie State, helped the Roadrunners move up to a tie for eighth in the RMAC standings.
 
"Everyone is preaching resiliency and getting the job done defensively," Jackson said. "And I think we're in a good spot right now. It's not exactly where we want to be, but we're going to get better.
 
"This weekend is a huge confidence boost for us. When you've lost a few games and then come back and win two games that you really needed to push you back up in the conference standings, everyone is happy. We're rolling and motivated to keep getting better."
 
Ultimately, as was the case Friday when Dixie State was held to 38.7 percent shooting (after coming into the game shooting 47.9 percent for the season), defense was the difference. Westminster, which had been shooting 45.4 percent for the season, connected on just 37.3 percent of its shots.
 
"That's our safety net," Bahl said. "Maybe we're not shooting the ball as well as we want, or maybe we're turning it over too much, but we can always fall back on our defensive intensity."