DENVER – With a second chance on the college basketball season, MSU Denver is hoping for a quicker start its second time around against league-champion Colorado Mesa.
 
The Roadrunners (13-15 overall) grabbed the eighth and final spot in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament and head to Grand Junction, Colo., to play the Nos. 26 and 24 Mavericks (23-5) in a first-round game at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
 
"Everyone is very excited and enthusiastic," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Tanya Haave said. "We're excited to keep playing. It's a tough opponent on the road, but we're still playing, so it's great."
 
Against Mesa, the Roadrunners are hoping to play more like they did in the final three quarters of the first meeting between teams than they did in the opening stanza.
 
In Mesa's 70-61 win on Dec. 13, MSU Denver's first road game of the RMAC season, the Mavericks raced out to a 28-7 lead after 10 minutes. MSU Denver outscored Colorado Mesa 54-42 the rest of the way.
 
"If it's a three-quarter game we win," Haave said, laughing. "I just don't know if we were ready for their intensity, for the intensity of their crowd, which was a factor. Other than (senior) Bree (Wellington), none of our players had played there before. They have a great crowd and a great atmosphere, and we didn't know what to expect.
 
"They slapped us back into reality pretty quickly."
 
Haave said the Roadrunners can take solace in their play in the final three quarters as well as the fact that they missed eight open layups over the course of the game.
 
"We'll have to defend all their sets," Haave said. "And we've got to finish on offense, make them defend for 30 seconds, and rebound. We're excited for the challenge."
 
In Colorado Mesa, MSU Denver is going up the RMAC's best defensive team. The Mavericks are holding foes to 33.9 percent from the field and to an average of 49.1 points. Colorado Mesa ranks second nationally in scoring defense and 12^th in field goal percentage defense.
 
"They have a solid core and they play outstanding defense," Haave said. "It's no coincidence that they and Western (Colorado) are the two best defensive teams in the conference.
 
"But we know we can play with this team and be successful, because we've seen it on film, and we know the mistakes we made are correctable. No one expects us to win, but as long as the people in our locker room believe that we can, that's the important thing. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain."