DENVER – What's the saying about choices?
 
Something like it's easy to make decisions when there are no bad options, right?
 
Consider the MSU Denver men's basketball team Thursday night in a 72-56 victory over South Dakota Mines.
 
Five players scored in double figures. Another had 17 rebounds. Another had five assists and three steals.

It seems the toughest decision is figuring out who to play.
 
"We have so many guys, it's hard for me to play everybody," MSU Denver coach Michael Bahl said. "We have guys who aren't playing much who are warriors. Those guys are doing everything they possibly could do. We just have a lot of depth and a lot of guys who can play. They're making my job hard, which is how it should be."
 
Consider the turning point of the game.
 
The Roadrunners had built a nice 39-30 halftime margin, but then South Dakota Mines responded with the first 10 points of the second half to take the lead.
 
MSU Denver plugged in Obi Agbim off the bench, and the true freshman scored the next seven Roadrunners points, including a 3-pointer in transition for a 46-43 lead.
 
MSU Denver never trailed again.
 
"Obi only played five minutes the first half, and he played well, then we were dead in the water in the second half and he comes in and gives us a huge spark," Bahl said.
 
Consider that the 11 points Agbim scored were just 1/3 of the 33 points that came off the bench.
 
Veterans Tyrei Randall and Tonje Durham each scored 10 in a reserve role.
 
"It's a testament to how deep we are," said Durham, a junior college transfer. "Certain games we play certain people more because we need a different look at the jump. Staying unselfish and playing for each other is the biggest thing. I like to see my brothers playing well, and that gives me energy coming off the bench. It's a collective thing."
 
Said Randall, a transfer from Division I Rider: "I just see it as being a leader, being able to come off the bench and give the guys a spark. It all starts on the bench. The bench sees what guys on the floor don't see. I don't have a problem with it. I just want to do what I do and make sure my team is in the right spots. It's fun."
 
Randall and Durham opened the season in the starting lineup, but haven't had any problems with a different role.
 
"At practice or in the locker room, there are two voices you are always going to hear – Tonje and Tyrei," Bahl said. "I went to those guys and I said, 'I need you to come off the bench.' And they said, 'Coach, you didn't even have to ask us. It's not a big deal.'
 
"That was nice. Some guys would take it personally. They just took it in stride and said, 'Coach, we get it, we don't even need to have this conversation.' That put me at ease. They understand what it takes to win, and those guys were a big part of it tonight."
 
After an 0-3 start, the Roadrunners are heading into a two-week break at 3-3. And considering that those first three losses were against the top three teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings, and one of them was by one point on the road, maybe it's time to start considering what this team might be capable of doing over the next couple months.
 
"We worked our tails off this spring and summer to rebuild the program the way we envision it," Bahl said. "It's taken some time, with as many new guys as we have, to mesh together and believe and trust."
 
True freshman Kobe Sanders, as is becoming a custom, and junior Mavrick Gildyard got the Roadrunners off to a good start Thursday, combining for all the points as MSU Denver took an 11-6 lead.
 
Sanders finished with 16, while Gildyard had 15. Sanders made 4 of 9 from 3-point range, while Gildyard was 3 for 3. For the night the Roadrunners converted 13 of 26 from beyond the arc.
 
"It's hard for the other team to focus on all five of us," Sanders said. "They can't guard all of us. If we just move the ball, it will come naturally."
 
Keyshaad Dixon was setting everybody up while recording five assists and ripping three steals, but now we've come to the point in the story where we talk about Laolu Oke.
 
No, Oke didn't get 20 rebounds again like Tuesday. He had to settle for 17, which is tied for second (behind himself) for the most rebounds by any Division II player this season.
 
Oke entered the night leading all Division II players with 5.8 offensive rebounds per game, and he had 10 more Thursday after getting 12 on Tuesday.
 
He's now averaging 11.7 rebounds per game after coming into the night second in Division II with an average of 10.6. The program record for rebounding average in a season is 9.5 per game, by Rich Grosz in 1987-88, and we may want to keep an eye on that one.
 
"Coach believes in us and he wants us to shoot," Randall said. "And we've got 'Lou' to rebound our misses and kick it right back out to us, so we've got a good system going."
 
Consider that, after the early hiccup to start the second half, it was all systems go the rest of the way.
South Dakota Mines scored 11 points in the first 3:58 and only 15 in the final 16:02 – with two of those coming on the Hardrockers' last possession.
 
"I thought the last 10 to 12 minutes was probably some of the best basketball we've played, maybe, since I've been head coach," Bahl said. "That's really good to say, and I think the future is so good with this team."