DENVER – The size of the MSU Denver double-double club has, well ...  doubled.
 
For the second straight game, Miles Gibson joined Laolu Oke in posting a double-double, and the Roadrunners relied on defense and rebounding to post a 71-61 victory over San Francisco State in a non-conference men's basketball victory.
 
"Sometimes the two of us are fighting for the ball and it ends up going out of bounds," Gibson said. "But I'd rather have two of us going after it then no one at all."
 
Oke extended his school-record streak of double-doubles to seven games with 13 points and 15 rebounds and Gibson had 15 points and 14 rebounds as the Roadrunners improved to 3-0 while continuing to extend their best start to a season since 2014-15.
 
"When you have two guys who have a knack for it and want to go rebound the basketball," MSU Denver coach Michael Bahl said. "(Legendary NBA coach) Pat Riley says that rebounds win rings, and I think we have two of the best in the country. Lou has shown he can do it consistently, and so has Miles."
 
Ra'Shawn Langston added 16 points and point guard Keyshaad Dixon stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, six rebounds and five assists with just one turnover.
 
"We've got Lou and Miles cleaning the glass," Dixon said. "I'm on long-rebound duty. We've been doing a great job of rebounding. We're doing a great job of limiting offensive rebounds and setting the tone."
 
The overall tone appeared in the form a late wakeup call for the 10 a.m. game.
 
The Roadrunners trailed 21-10 with 12:47 left in the first half.
 
"For a team that practices at 6 a.m., we sure didn't look alive," Bahl said. "It's almost like we had to get punched in the mouth to wake up."
 
Gradually, though, the Roadrunners began tightening their defensive grip.
 
"They're a transition team, and in the beginning we were struggling to slow them down and match up fast enough," Dixon said. "The first four minutes they caught off us guard, but we picked up our sense of urgency and we figured it out and adapted to what they were doing."
 
San Francisco State (1-3), which dropped a three-point decision at Regis on Thursday, shot just 36.4 percent from the field for the game, including 6 of 28 (21.4 percent) from 3. In the second half the Gators connected on just 29.0 percent of their attempts (9 of 31), including 2 of 13 (15.4 percent) from 3.
 
"We're a defensive team, and this is the third game in a row we've held a team to under 40 percent from the field and under 30 percent from 3," Bahl said. "And we only gave them seven free throws, so that's doing what we needed to do."
 
Said Dixon: "The second half we hunkered down, took them out of transition and forced them to take tough shots. They were shooting a lot of contested jump shots, and it's tough when you play that way."
 
MSU Denver led by as many as 14 points in the second half, but the Gators had whittled the deficit down to five points before Dixon hit a clutch 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:50 left for a 67-59 advantage. The Roadrunners were plus-19 when Dixon was on the floor.
 
"Seniors want to win," Bahl said. "Key doesn't care about his stats. I have to tell him to shoot more. When you have a senior who's like that, it makes a world of difference."
 
Gibson and Oke combined to hit four free throws in the final 30 seconds to keep the game on ice.
 
MSU Denver made just 38.1 percent from the field and hit just 33.3 percent (9 of 27) from 3. But defense and rebounding will keep teams afloat until the offense inevitably developes.
 
"Someone once told me that good teams take the attitude of their coach," Gibson said. "Our coaches preaches defense every day. We take that attitude and guard 100 percent.
 
"As long as we play defense, the offense will come.  We preach that every day. Defense leads to offense."