DENVER – Black Hills State showed Saturday why it is one of the hottest teams in NCAA Division II.
 
The Yellow Jackets won their 13^th straight game and took over sole possession of first place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference by grinding out an 83-69 victory over MSU Denver.
 
"They've gotten better since we saw them in the Conference Challenge (the first week of the season)," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Michael Bahl said. "Coach (Ryan) Thompson has done a phenomenal job with that group. They play unselfishly and they move the ball.
 
"It sort of mimics how we want to play. And at the end of the day it comes down to making some simple shots. We had stretches where we got the shots we wanted and we unfortunately didn't make them."
 
MSU Denver (10-11 overall, 6-9 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) bolted to a 26-17 lead with solid play in the first 13 minutes. But Black Hills State (16-5, 13-2) scored nine straight points to get right back into the game, then scored the final seven points of the first half for a 40-32 lead.
 
Another 8-0 run early in the second half made it 50-34 and the Roadrunners were facing an uphill battle against a quality team that shot 57.1 percent from the field, even better than the 51.5 percent mark it had been shooting heading to weekend – which was the sixth best in Division II.
 
"We just couldn't get consecutive stops in a row," Roadrunners guard Christian Wilson-Poole said. "That's what we pride ourselves on. And we struggled to get defensive rebounds after a stop, and that really hurt us."
 
MSU Denver is keeping its spirits high despite dropping two home games over the weekend. The Roadrunners were more disappointed in their Friday night showing, a surprising loss to South Dakota Mines.
 
"Last night we just weren't prepared, and we came out flat," Wilson-Poole said. "Last night, and this morning in shootaround, we talked about it. We had the best time in the conference coming in, and if we came out flat we were going to lose by 60.
 
"We just had to play hard. That's what we were missing last night. We faced some adversity and we just didn't push through and kind of folded. Tonight, even though they played well and made some tough shots, we stayed the course and kept trying to play hard."
 
Despite the tough weekend, MSU Denver is still only two games out of eighth place as it attempts to qualify for the RMAC Tournament.
"You're always playing for something," Bahl said. "Failure is not the opposite of success. It's a part of success. And that's the message we're telling our guys. We're still trying to build this program back up. This is nothing compared to the game of life. We're excited for our next opportunity. We've got two more home games ahead of us."
 
Wilson-Poole led the MSU Denver offense with a career-high 20 points while making 4 of 7 from 3-point range and adding three assists and two steals. Kendall McIntosh added 12 points and six rebounds, while Maris Colton scored 11 and Mitch Lombard added 10.
 
"We're still hungry, still locked in," Wilson-Poole said. "We're definitely disappointed. We played so well at home, this weekend was unexpected for sure. But we're going to be locked in this week in practice and getting prepared for UCCS and Mines."
 
Freshman sensation Joel Scott, a 6-foot-7 forward, led Black Hills State with 25 points and 11 rebounds.
 
"They're big and physical," Bahl said. "Joel Scott is the most dominant player we've seen all year, and that's not a knock on anyone. He does that all the time. They're big and physical. Their point guard (Tyler Oliver) is 6-4 and 215.
 
"Guys do their job and do their role to the best of their abilities."
 
Bahl saw positives in how his team played.
 
"There was definitely no quit in our guys," he said. "We played as hard as we could. We didn't play quite as smart as we could, just matching up (defensively) in transition. When our defense is set, we're a good defensive team."